A community builder that takes a far-reaching responsibility
At Peab we work sustainably. This means eliminating risks and creating as much value as possible in our community. To attain this we practice long-term responsible entrepreneurship based on our core values, business concept, vision, strategic goals and our Code of Conduct. This means we also follow the UN Global Compact. The sustainable areas Social, Environment and Economic are thoroughly integrated into the Group’s focus areas and business plan goals and constantly steer towards sustainable work methods and practices. We have local roots and always strive for locally produced community building. Responsible entrepreneurship permeates every aspect of Peab.
Peab is the Nordic Community Builder and we want our stakeholders to experience us as such. Part of our contribution to a sustainable society is, for example, building homes or modern infrastructure but another part is contributing to the best possible conditions for the people who will be in these environments that we plan and build. It is also equally important for us to ensure our employees have healthy, safe and inclusive workplaces. In our role as a major yet local employer it is crucial for us to attain through cooperation and dialogue a good insight into local community needs. Our ambition is to then convert this knowledge into a concrete and locally produced community commitment where we can truly be useful to the people around us.
As a big Group we can do a lot ourselves but the best results are achieved through working on critical, sustainable issues with others. Peab is Sweden’s largest construction company and a significant actor in Norway and Finland. We take a big responsibility for forming a sustainable industry that can contribute to positively developing society. By working sustainably, transparently, ethically and lastingly we create value for ourselves, our stakeholders and the rest of society.
We are in constant dialogue with our stakeholders
Peab’s stakeholders’ needs and demands greatly influence how the Group prioritizes and acts. An extensive and open dialogue with our stakeholders provides us with a good comprehension of what the most important issues are for different groups. In a changing world where needs are continually shifting, an ongoing stakeholder dialogue is key to quickly picking up on new needs and striving to fulfill them. These discussions take place in both informal meetings with customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders and in more structured contexts such as supplier reviews, meetings with politicians, investor dialogues and workshops at colleges.
The accumulated result from these dialogues informs our materiality analysis and is the basis of our sustainability work priorities. A number of stakeholder dialogues were held in 2019 which gave us valuable guidance in decisions and measures concerning matters like our environmental goals, our sustainable supply chain, our work on equal treatment and efforts to create a safe work environment.
Peab’s definition of sustainability
For Peab sustainability means responsible entrepreneurship. Everything we do should be ethical and sustainable long-range Socially, Environmentally and Economically.
| Stakeholder | Expectations of Peab | Dialogue examples |
| Shareholders | Responsible ethical entrepreneurship, long-term financial value development that creates annual dividends, responsibility throughout the value chain, ongoing risk mapping and risk management, climate awareness and measures to reduce climate and environmental impact, community involvement through, for example, integration programs, internships and contributions to job experience and free time activities for youths | AGM, analyst meetings, surveys from ethical and environmental funds, investor meetings, national and international evaluations |
| Employees; existing and potential | Responsible ethical entrepreneurship, good work environment and high degree of safety, skills development, good leadership, equal treatment, equality and diversity, good and attractive work and employment conditions, climate and environmental awareness and measures to reduce climate impact, community involvement through, for example, integration programs, internships and contributions to job experience for youths, responsibility throughout the value chain | Daily dialogue, employee surveys, Work Environment Evaluation, work environment dialogues, student surveys, workplace meetings, union collaboration, internal training, incident follow-ups, management meetings, goal and developmental discussions, external surveys concerning employer brand, student relations and collaboration with educational facilities |
| Customers | Responsible ethical entrepreneurship, professional businessmanship, competence, resource capacity, quality, availability, experience and expertise exchanges, good work and employment conditions, certifications, climate and environmental awareness and measures to reduce climate and environmental impact, community involvement through, for example, integration programs, internships and contributions to work life experience for youths, responsibility throughout the value chain | Meetings in person, daily contacts, networks, partnership projects, dialogue meetings, customer meetings, fairs, customer surveys, questionnaires from customers, procurements and reviews |
| Local community | Contributions to local community development, cost-efficient construction and housing in different price categories, climate and environmental awareness and measures to reduce climate and environmental impact, care for the environmental locally, community involvement through, for example, integration programs, internships and contributions to job experience for youths, sponsoring local youth activities, responsibility throughout the value chain | Receiving visits, partnership projects, information meetings, networks, contacts with county boards/municipalities, environmental reports, vision work, mentoring, sponsor projects, citizen and resident dialogues |
| Suppliers | Responsible ethical entrepreneurship, professional businessmanship, ongoing risk mapping and risk management, climate and environmental awareness and measures to reduce climate and environmental impact (preferably with the supplier), responsibility throughout the entire value chain | Procurements, supplier evaluations, meetings in person, daily contacts, supplier meetings, supplier reviews, sustainable dialogues and partnership projects |
* (replaces aspects Local community building projects and Sustainable sponsoring, read more in section Social)
Social, Environment and Economic are one sustainable unit
We work sustainably at Peab and we treat our prioritized sustainable aspects as one unit, where every part affects, and is affected by, the others. Our sustainability work is formed through collaboration, internally and externally, in the three areas Social, Environment and Economic. This means that the sustainability areas previously identified as the most relevant for our business to manage, monitor and report on are still the same in 2019. During the year we have continued to work on ensuring the quality of the data in all our sustainable aspects – a challenging process that will continue in 2020.
Peab’s materiality areas, with their associated prioritizations, are comprehensive and complex, which means that reaching our goal takes time and requires persistence and continuity. We are prepared to let our sustainability work take time, as long as we continue to see progress. Our ongoing stakeholder dialogues keep us continually updated on what influences stakeholders’ decisions, and their expectations of us.
We continue to be grounded in global goals and Agenda 2030
In 2018 Peab carried out analysis and developmental work to determine which of the UN’s 17 global goals we have the best prerequisites to contribute to. The analysis and development work went through several steps, in our operations as well as with the Board and executive management, in which the 17 goals with their 169 targets were discussed and processed. One conclusion was that as a Group Peab more or less contributes to, and is affected by, every global goal since they are all integrated and inter-dependent. However, for the period 2018-2020 five of the goals were deemed extra prioritized since they are either areas that hold significant potential risk or areas where Peab has a good chance of promoting sustainable development. In 2020 we will continue along the same road since there is still a lot of potential to develop previously identified risks and opportunities.
Steering Peab’s sustainable work
Working sustainably is fundamental to Peab’s responsible entrepreneurship and has therefore top priority in our core operations. Peab’s sustainable work is focused on identifying, weighing and managing risks, doing systematic quality work and in an innovative, responsible manner making sustainable development, internally and through external collaboration, possible.
Peab’s Board prioritizes sustainability matters and has given Peab’s executive management the overriding responsibility for steering the Group’s sustainability work and for monitoring the integration of sustainability into every aspect of our business. For Peab working sustainably is an essential, strategic issue which is put into practice locally and in a down-to-earth manner. Peab’s Head of Sustainability, who reports to executive management through the COO, is responsible for strategically running and coordinating our sustainability work. The Head of Sustainability, together with the business areas and function specialists, is responsible for integrating sustainability throughout the entire business. It is self-evident for Peab to include employees in the process through transparency and spreading knowledge about basic sustainable factors. The Group therefore works extensively to raise knowledge levels in every part of our organization around matters like the work environment and health, the environment, equal treatment, leadership, ethics and anti-corruption.
Central regulations and a management system for steering
Peab requires every part of our organization to comply with international conventions and national laws. Our fundamental, internal steering document, Peab’s Code of Conduct, is based on the UN Global Compact principles that include the precautionary principle. Peab signed Global Compact 2012 and the Annual and Sustainability Report make up the Group’s Communication on Progress, the annual report to Global Compact. In accordance with the decision by Peab’s President and CEO the company will continue to follow Global Compact.
The President and CEO has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the Code of Conduct is followed and communicated. This responsibility then goes down the chain of command. Every employee is in turn responsible for taking in the information and following the Code of Conduct. The Group’s purchasing function is responsible for checking that suppliers follow the dictates of the Code of Conduct. Peab has a whistleblower function for anyone, internal employees or external stakeholders, who wishes to draw attention to deviations from the Code of Conduct or other irregularities in the business. The function, which is available on our website and intranet, is handled by Peab’s Ethical Council and whistleblowers can be anonymous. Peab’s Code of Conduct is complemented by four policies; the Environmental Policy, Quality Policy, Information Security Policy and Work Environment Policy. These are then supplemented by a number of other supportive documents such as the Group’s equal treatment plan.
Steering in the Social area
Peab’s Code of Conduct regulates several parts of the Social area such as human rights, the right to organize, prohibition of forced and child labor and non-discrimination. The Code of Conduct with associated policy documents also meets the demands in the Swedish Work Environment Authority Ordinance AFS 2001:1. In Norway Peab follows the Work Environment Act and valid regulations for the construction and civil engineering industries. Finnish operations are certified according to OHSAS 18001 and will be certified according to ISO 45001 in 2020.
Peab’s work in the Social area primarily affects our own employees and our own organization but the social responsibility that stretches beyond the limits of the company is an ever growing part of Peab’s responsibility to society. For us as a community builder we consider this a natural development, completely in line with external demands.
Strategic work on the work environment is run on Group and business area levels, together with the relevant expertise on all levels of the organization responsible for turning strategy into reality. Our priorities in the work environment are the same in all three countries, albeit taking national legal differences into consideration. Work on the work environment is completely integrated with the Group’s work against discrimination and for equal treatment. Ultimately responsibility for the work environment lies with our managers, who in turn are supported by experts. In addition to management, there are 129 (163) employees in Peab that specifically work with work environment matters within the Group. Added to that are 730 (668) safety representatives, all of them chosen by, and are representatives of, the employees. There are also 84 (127) work environment administrators (HAMare), which is a union assignment. All in all 6.6 percent (6.5) of all employees in Peab handle work environment matters.
Peab’s COO has the overriding responsibility for ensuring that there are support systems for HR processes in close proximity to operations. The CFO is responsible for systems connected to Finance and Treasury as well as salaries and remuneration matters. Line managers, supported by specialist functions, have the operative responsibility for ensuring safety, training, diversity and proper working conditions in the company, like following the Code of Conduct.
Peab’s crisis organization is activated in the event of a serious accident. It consists of 108 employees in Sweden, Norway and Finland.
Peab’s sponsoring is steered by guidelines for sponsoring. Peab’s sponsoring is rooted in the local community with the requirement that all sponsored activities must generate some kind of return to society. A central Group Sponsoring Council meets once a month to decide on sponsorship requests. Peab Life is part of Peab’s more extensive local association sponsoring (read more here).
Steering in the Environment area
Peab’s work with the environment is practical, close to operations and has a strong connection to our business and brand. It is based on the Group’s prioritized sustainable aspects concerning the environment. Common environmental issues are coordinated on Group level by the Head of the Environment in close collaboration with the environmental managers and specialists in the business areas. The Group has three overriding environmental goals, decided by executive management and supported by the Board (read more here). Work on the comprehensive, far-reaching goals is conducted in a Group development project, “The Road to our Environmental Goals”. The project, which will end in 2020, is aimed at creating a common Group framework by defining interfaces, key ratios, measurement methods, risks and strategic improvement areas for Peab’s continued environmental work. Next these Group goals are broken down and turned into practical measures in our various operations formed by the business areas’ unique conditions and challenges so that each part of Peab can work on improvements that suit their operations based on the three environmental goals.
Most of Peab’s business operates within the framework for a management system that is certified according to ISO 14001. The environmental management system is an integral part of the business management system which includes Peab’s Environmental Policy.
Peab’s four business areas are responsible for creating processes and action plans that implement management systems and policies and ensure compliance in daily operations.
Peab’s work in the area Environment has an effect on our own operations but to a much higher degree it affects the world around us, particularly considering the lion’s share of global emissions that the construction and civil engineering industries represent. For this reason Peab prioritizes engaging in various forms of external collaboration, research and innovation projects intended to speed up the production of climate neutral material and methods.
Steering in the Economic area
Peab’s executive management is responsible for steering purchases and the work with ethics and anti-corruption. The central steering document for these areas is the Code of Conduct. The Ethical Council plays an important role in handling and monitoring the work with ethics and anti-corruption complemented by the Group’s whistleblower function, which is an essential tool for pointing out deviations from the Code of Conduct and valid legislation. The Ethical Council, which consists of the company lawyer, head of security and the HR managers from the four business areas, meets ten times a year. In addition, Peab prioritizes a comprehensive, target group-oriented education in ethics and anti-corruption to ensure that all our employees have the means to act properly in any given situation.
The Group Head of Purchasing holds the highest responsibility for purchasing. The Group’s regulations and processes are clearly communicated throughout the company. An important part of them are the basic requirements in Peab’s written contracts such as signing and following the Code of Conduct. The Group’s Purchasing function is responsible for, among other things, monitoring, controlling and developing Peab’s prioritized areas connected to our suppliers, the work environment and sustainability. For instance, there are daily controls of our supplier base founded primarily on financial parameters and the six month follow-ups of the work environment and labor laws. Peab has identified a number of risk categories that affect human rights, working conditions, the environment and business ethics. Peab has a special program with specific targets for these categories and Purchasing is responsible for making sure suppliers follow the Code of Conduct.
Peab’s work within the area Economic has a considerable influence on our own operations but also greatly contributes to sound and safe conditions for the rest of the construction and civil engineering industry; for actors, and the individuals and communities affected in the supply chain as well.