GoodCorporation
Accreditation
2008
What is GoodCorporation?
•
GoodCorporation is a business assessment and certification organisation
•
The company was founded in the UK in 2000 and launched in Summer 2001
•
Over 250 assessments have been completed in 100+ organisations across
42 countries. Work has been undertaken for 11 FTSE100 companies and
many smaller organisations
•
GoodCorporation is the ‘measure of a good company’ and our reputation
in the market is to undertake credible checks of organisations
•
Companies that have been assessed by us include Adnams, ARM, Total, DHL,
Hard Rock Café group, Hilton group, BG, FTSE and many small businesses
and not-for-profit organisations
•
GoodCorporation assesses organisations against the GoodCorporation Standard,
developed in conjunction with the Institute of Business Ethics
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About GoodCorporation Accreditation
•
GoodCorporations are organisations that can demonstrate ethical and sustainable business
practices
•
Accreditation provides a logo and certification for companies that are able to show that they
are trusted and respected by their employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders
•
A GoodCorporation can display the logo and use it to win new business and retain old
customers
•
The logo will refer to the year the organisation was assessed
•
The stakeholder feedback can be used by the organisation to improve how it works
•
The assessment process is simple and cost-effective for small organisations
•
Only good organisations can be accredited - stakeholders must rate the company highly in
order to be able to use the GoodCorporation logo
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What is the benefit of being assessed?
•
The applicant receives:
– An off-the-shelf mechanism to seek feedback - in itself will enhance reputation
– 20+ charts showing how they are rated by their stakeholders
– GoodCorporation will speak to stakeholders that have a concern about the organisation and where this is needed, GoodCorporation will feed back concerns so that they can
be dealt with
– A presentation to management setting out the findings from the assessment
– GoodCorporation will provide guidance to the organisation on where improvements can be
made to business practices
– The right to use the logo when stakeholders rate the organisations highly
•
In addition:
– Extra questions can be added, for example on customer satisfaction
– Positive stakeholder comments can be anonymised and fed back to the company to help
with marketing and promotion
– Any negative comments can be fed back to the organisation to help the organisation
make improvements
– If needed, high profile stakeholders like regulators can be interviewed by
GoodCorporation either by phone or face-to-face
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What’s in it for my organisation?
•
Our clients use the GoodCorporation logo and the charts with their stakeholder feedback as a
central part of their sales approach to their potential customers
•
The assessment helps companies to differentiate themselves and therefore helps them to sell
– “we always present the GoodCorporation logo at the beginning of our sales pitch and explain
what it means. DFID and the World Bank love it” MD, GoodCorporation accredited company.
•
The assessment also helps the organisation to spot problems and improve performance (eg
customers not happy with the way that complaints are handled)
•
The assessment helps companies to obtain structured and useful feedback from employees,
customers, suppliers, shareholders and other stakeholders
•
Our clients tell us that by conducting an independent survey of stakeholders their reputation is
enhanced
•
The assessment generates a list of stakeholder quotes and comments about the organisation
– “this is perfect. We can put this customer feedback straight on our website” Director,
GoodCorporation accredited organisation.
•
The assessment can also help the company explain its own non-financial performance to its board.
•
The assessment provides a concrete measure of an organisation’s ethical business practices.
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It’s a three week process - Week one
•
Company receives an application form from GoodCorporation
•
It completes the management questions and commits to uphold the principles
of the GoodCorporation Standard (promising to work in a fair and responsible way
with stakeholders)
•
The company compiles an email list of all its employees, customers, suppliers and
other stakeholders
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It’s a three week process - Week two
•
GoodCorporation meets with the company
•
GoodCorporation works with the company to design and finalise the stakeholder
questions (based on the GoodCorporation Standard)
•
GoodCorporation gives the company an email link to all the surveys for each
of the stakeholder groups
•
The company sends a reminder at the end of week two
•
GoodCorporation will speak to stakeholders that have concerns about
the organisation
•
GoodCorporation will collect the views of all stakeholders from the surveys
over week two and week three
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It’s a three week process - Week three
•
GoodCorporation will collate the results and send to the company
– A summary presentation - showing how the organisation has performed
overall
– A detailed annex with all of the responses from stakeholders
(charts and verbatim comments)
•
If the results are positive and stakeholders are happy with how they are treated,
the company will also receive the GoodCorporation logo
•
If the results do not meet the Standard, GoodCorporation will show which areas
the company needs to improve. Company can state that it is ‘working towards
with GoodCorporation to be a responsible business’
•
The certificate is valid for three years subject to completion of an annual selfassessment
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Use of the logo
•
The logo can be used on stationery,
tender documents, websites, brochures etc
•
Once the organisation has started working with
GoodCorporation, the organisation will be supplied with
a ‘working with’ GoodCorporation logo. This logo
can be used by the organisation to show that it is
“working with GoodCorporation to be a responsible
business”, even if it did not achieve GoodCorporation
accreditation
•
If the organisation achieves GoodCorporation
accreditation, a logo displaying the year in which the
organisation was assessed can be used for three years
subject to an annual self-assessment
•
The logo links back to the GoodCorporation website
which explains what you have achieved - so you do not
have to explain it yourself
•
If stakeholders later complain and show evidence that
the company is not upholding the spirit of the
GoodCorporation Standard, then the logo can be
removed
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working with
to be a responsible business
Overall summary of GoodCorporation
assessment
Overall Percentage Rating VERCO As Excellent Or Above Average
90% company as ‘excellent’ or
% rating
‘above average’
GC target pass mark 75%
VERCO’s overall score
85%
80%
77%
75%
70%
65%
60%
Employees
Customers
Suppliers
Shareholders
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Other stakeholders
Overall
Employee results- % rating VERCO as excellent
or above average
E mployees overall
T reating dis c iplinary is s ues fairly
C ommunic ation generally around the organis ation
P roviding a c onfidential reporting c hannel that you c an trus t
Looking after the s pec ial needs of dis abled c us tomers
H andling any grievanc es fairly
A bility (perc eived or real) to manage is s ues relating to dis c rimination
P rotec ting the environment
Res pec ting freedom of as s oc iation
E ns uring that privac y of employees is res pec ted
I nvolvement in the loc al c ommunity
C omplianc e with relevant employment laws and regulations
C ompeting fairly
P roviding regular apprais als
P roviding adequate training
C larity regarding terms and c onditions of employment
% rating company as ‘excellent’ or
‘above average’
A bility (perc eived or real) to manage is s ues relating to haras s ment or bullying
C larity about how pay and benefits are determined
H ealth and s afety prac tic es and training
50
55
60
~ 10 ~
65
70
75
80
85
90
Customer results- % rating VERCO as excellent
or above average
Customers overall
Ethical behaviour in terms of
gifts, hospitality & entertainment
Clarity regarding Verco's terms
and conditions
Handling of any
complaints/concerns I have raised
data/intellectual property
Clear product/service information
Protecting the environment
Delivering the agreed product or
service
Handling and protecting personal
Delivering any agreed after-sales
services
Requesting and using feedback
Clear, fair and responsible
advertising of its services
% rating company as ‘excellent’ or
‘above average’
Contribution to the community
50
55
60
65
~ 11 ~
70
75
80
85
90
Supplier results- % rating VERCO as excellent
or above average
Suppliers overall
Handling of any complaints/concerns I have raised
Handling and protecting personal data/intellectual property
Paying invoices on time and in accordance with agreed terms
Requesting and using my feedback
Encouraging suppliers/contractors to adopt responsible business
practices
Clarity regarding business terms and conditions
Clear and fair processes to select suppliers/contractors
Encouraging suppliers/contractors to adopt healthy & safe working
practices
% rating company as ‘excellent’ or
‘above average’
Ethical behaviour in terms of gifts, hospitality & entertainment
50
55
~ 12 ~
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
Shareholder results- % rating VERCO as
excellent or above average
Shareholders overall
Dealing with queries and
complaints regarding corporate
governance
Quality of financial controls
Quality of governance and
management structures
Access to Senior Management
Disclosing relevant material
issues
Preventing insider trading and
misappropriation of information
Being clear about company
strategy
% rating company as ‘excellent’ or
‘above average’
Providing financial information
that you need
50
55
60
65
~ 13 ~
70
75
80
85
90
Sample detailed analysis slide Suppliers - “requesting and using feedback”
% rating company as ‘excellent’ or
60
‘above average’
50
For each of the standard questions
(and any additional questions added
by the company), a chart is available
to show the detailed breakdown of
responses.
40
30
20
10
0
Excellent
Above average
Average
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Below average
Poor
Example employee comments
ORIGINAL QUOTES - TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS
“Training and appraisals are very good compared to my last employer”
“The company treats health and safety training as a top priority”
“Our line managers are responsible for annual review and development, but their
recommendations are consistently ignored by the dept. head who set this years' increases and
perf ratings before the annual reviews were performed.”
“Having worked for larger companies in the past, VERCO do have a small company mentality
that limits its experience of participating equally with other companies.”
“Depends on the manager so there is no consistency of application within the organisation; the
variability means I am unable to score highly”
“I like VERCO, it's a great company in many ways and I am glad I am here. However, even after
having been here for over two years I still don't know where my career is going - and not for lack
of asking.”
“Two recent sackings of senior staff members appears to have been handled very badly, NAME
and NAME, which has created an air of uncertainty throughout the department.” [anonymised]
“I think there may be some inconsistencies between departments in how things are handled
regarding policies e.g time off in lieu, part time working. there should be a company standard
followed by all.”
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Examples of customer quotes
“Verco is a great company in all respects, it is a pleasure to do business with them”
“They have never missed a deadline, despite our exacting timelines!”
“Very professional and helpful people, they are also fun to work with”
“Jo Smith is absolutely terrific. The highest integrity and thoughtfulness.”
“Effective and responsive service; strong reputation in their field of expertise”
“They did not respond well to a complaint we made about service levels, they made some
weak excuses.”
“I feel that the webtools they have designed for us are too simplistic and rely on
boilerplate designs”
“Delays in delivery of our XX product are very frustrating, I would have expected more
effort to resolve these”
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Assessment report
•
The detailed report is a set of charts with feedback from employees, customers,
suppliers and other stakeholders
•
The report includes results from customised questions added by the client
•
The report gives valuable commercial information to the organisation on areas
of strength and areas to improve
•
The charts form a summary business ethics/CSR report for the organisation
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What does it cost?
•
Assessment
– For companies with 0-25 employees the cost is £1,500
– For companies with 26-50 employees the cost is £2,500
– For larger organisations the price will depend on size, locations,
sector and complexity of the organisation (about £2,000 per stakeholder
group)
•
The cost quoted above is for three years
•
The use of the logo will be valid for three years subject to the organisation
completing a self-assessment form and abiding by the spirit of the
GoodCorporation Standard
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Next steps
To arrange your assessment or for more information, please contact:
Hemrish Aubeelack
Assessor
Tel:
020 7736 7379
(+44 20 7736 7379 from outside the UK)
E-mail
[email protected]
GoodCorporation Limited
Burlington House
184 New King’s Road
London
SW6 4NF
United Kingdom
www.goodcorporation.com
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