• 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

Our research indicates that highly engaged people are more productive and have a positive effect on profit and shareholder value. We aim to improve employee engagement and business performance by involving our people in decisions and supporting their understanding, trust and decision-making with effective staff representation. Our approach is based on a relationship with our staff associations that has been established for nearly 20 years.

Staff associations
During 2007 we worked with our staff associations to make necessary changes to the UK defined staff benefit pension scheme. The changes proposed were not well received initially by those affected. After a period of consultation, employees were able to make an active choice between what were, by then, materially different options for their future pension provision. At that time, there were 5,842 active members of the defined benefit pension scheme. 98.4% made an active election and 96% of all members chose the revalued career average salary option. 2% decided to take a group money purchase option.

Based on extensive feedback from the consultation, Standard Life agreed to staff association proposals that there should be further enhancements to pension provision – including reducing investment charges and increasing the company’s contribution to the defined contribution scheme from 4% to 9%.

The staff associations are the cornerstone of staff representation in the UK, because they share Standard Life’s engagement and business objectives and are not likely to be distracted by external issues. They also have extensive access to information and senior management. We have an established Group-wide forum called Connect, where the staff association’s central office team meets monthly with our Group Chief Executive, members of the executive team and other senior staff to talk about the things that are important to our people. The staff associations are available to all employees in the UK and are involved at the early stages of decisions that may have an impact on our employees.

To respond to changing needs, our staff associations have been working on a new constitution and partnership agreement for discussion with the company. This new representational framework will redefine their relationship with the Company and enable employee views and opinions to be voiced even more effectively in the future.

Standard Life Connect
Standard Life Connect is a forum involving the five staff associations, employee relations and the senior management team.

It aims to produce a high quality flow of information and consultation between Standard Life’s UK businesses and our employees by providing the mechanism to inform and consult across the Standard Life group of companies.

The requirements for information and consultation provisions within organisations have been set out in a variety of legislation including the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004.

Benefiting both employees and the business
We believe Connect benefits both employees and the business by enhancing our employee relations framework and allowing our Staff Association Heads the opportunity to meet regularly with our Group Chief Executive. The minutes of these meetings are published on the group intranet, further supporting open and honest internal communication.

Connect first met in August 2006 and ordinarily meetings take place twice a year. Membership of Connect is made up of representatives from a number of areas:

• Group Chief Executive
• Business Unit Chief Executives
• Employee Relations
• Business Unit Staff Association Representatives