Beter Bed Holding

Annual Report 2014

CSR targets at a glance

The CSR activities and the results achieved in 2014 are reported in the table below:

Subject

2014

2013

2012

Target

Chain management

100%

100%

97%

2013

100%

Codes of conduct signed

Diversity in management

22%

22%

16%

2016

30%

Women in management

Sickness-related absenteeism

3.6%

3.5%

3.2%

2016

3%

Germany

Sickness-related absenteeism

4.2%

4.3%

4.8%

2016

3.5%

The Netherlands

Safe products

82%

81%

78%

2016

80%

Certified mattresses

Energy consumption (GJ)

240,000

275,000

270,000

2016

235,000

Recycled waste

48%

46%

46%

2016

75%


Strengths

  • The suppliers with which the organisation has a long-term relationship all signed the code of conduct. The signing of the code is still in progress at four new suppliers.

  • Energy consumption totalled 240,000 gigajoules. The decrease is attributable to the decrease in the number of stores and the continual focus on energy savings. Consumption of natural gas and fuel oil fell substantially, by 22% compared with last year. This decrease largely resulted from the relatively mild winter in Western Europe.

Possible improvements

  • Diversity, defined as the number of women in management positions, was unchanged. Two women were appointed to senior positions in the Netherlands. In Germany and Switzerland, the number of female region leaders fell. In 2015, we will again vigorously aim to increase the number of women in management positions.

  • The volume of waste rose by 240 tonnes. That is attributable to the refurbishments within the Beter Bed formula in 2014. The percentage of recycled waste rose slightly.

  • In the past three years, Beter Bed Holding has made significant progress in the field of CSR reporting, as reflected in the scores versus the transparency benchmark as shown in the chart. The score in the previous report for 2013 had fallen. The decrease is however not caused by policy changes at Beter Bed Holding, but by a different weighting of various components in the benchmark. Beter Bed Holding is assuming that the score for 2014 will resume the uptrend, given the greater role of stakeholders in determining Beter Bed Holding’s CSR targets.

What will be done in 2015

  • Beter Bed Holding will review how the advice of stakeholders to continue changing CSR in the organisation can be implemented. The main option under consideration is a CSR policy team that meets regularly, initiates actions and monitors the progress of activities already under way.

  • The stakeholder dialogue showed that certain targets should be assigned a different (higher) priority. Thus stakeholders rank customers’ health and safety (i.e. the quality of the product) as priority number one. Beter Bed Holding will formulate new medium-term targets on the basis of this new prioritisation.