• Definition
• Our approach to CR
• Key impact areas
  - The environment
  - Investing in the community
  - Life at work
  - Our external stakeholders
  - Being a responsible investor
  
• CR report
• CR Committee
• Contacts

Commitment

Our people are at the heart of everything we do, so we invest in them and their future. We want to highlight and unleash their talent, so they can make a real difference to our business.

A study carried out by the Gallup Organisation showed that the most engaged quarter of teams within Standard Life had significantly lower levels of absence and turnover than the least engaged quarter of teams. It also calculated the financial benefit arising from this.

Over 800 new employees joined our UK business units in 2007.

Recognition

Our UK life and pensions business again received the Investors in People award (IIP). We have held IIP status since 1994 and were one of the first companies in our sector – the first in Scotland – to achieve this recognition.

Our 2007 IIP assessment identified key strengths in our:

• Business strategy
• Learning and development linked to business objectives
• Recognition of contribution
• Ownership and involvement by individuals

Issues

Our seventh Q12 staff engagement survey benchmarked our results against the Gallup Global Database for 2007. 

We saw an improvement and have now set ourselves the goal of reaching the 75th percentile of this global database by the end of 2012.

Standard Life Germany achieved initial accreditation in Audit Berufundfamilie. This high-profile German government-sponsored initiative aims to help employers develop flexible strategies to combine business objectives with a healthy work-life balance for their people. Our German business demonstrated a high level of work-life balance initiatives as part of its overall business plan and committed to a three year plan to keep improving.

Strategy

Our strategy is to develop a strong performance culture built on the principles of engagement which will ultimately make a positive impact on the bottom line. Working on the issues identified by our engagement survey will help us improve levels of engagement, year on year. Our performance will be measured by an improved position within the Gallup global database and overall business results.

During the year we developed a one-day workshop to share our company’s vision and history with them and this has been very popular. We also carry out exit interviews to help us understand why employees leave – and how we can improve the overall employment relationship.