Stakeholder engagement
Our business exists to serve our stakeholders, who have a wide range of expectations. Sometimes these expectations can conflict. We listen to the views of all our stakeholders and take them into account when trying to balance different considerations.
Feedback from our stakeholders is used to review the issues on our CR agenda which we adjust when new issues of significance emerge. Our Community Plans are developed to respond to local stakeholder priorities.
For more information on our stakeholder engagement see the table below.
This table summarises the main issues we have identified through engagement with different groups and gives examples of the ways in which we engage with them.
| Stakeholder group | Interests and expectations of Tesco | Interaction with Tesco in 2008 |
|---|---|---|
| Customers | Customers want us to provide a good shopping trip and be a good neighbour. They want us to be fair and honest and provide choice and quality, including sustainable, healthy and affordable products. | We talk to our customers every day of the year so we can identify and respond to their changing needs. Customer Question Time (CQT) meetings help us identify and respond to changing customer needs. These meetings are held in stores in all markets and enable staff and managers to hear customer views on how we are serving them and our role in the community. CQTs inform our Customer and Community Plans. In 2008, we also held CQTs on particular issues, including community and the environment. |
| Investors | Our investors seek competitive returns from their shareholdings, as well as assurance that their investments lie with a sustainable, well-governed business. They expect us to have a robust strategy and report on our processes and progress in a meaningful and transparent manner. | We actively engage investors in an annual structured programme of presentations and meetings to help us understand their views on our strategy (of which corporate responsibility is an integral part), and the way our business is governed. In addition, we provide updates and issue briefings when appropriate during the year. We also communicate with shareholders through our Annual General Meeting, Investor Relations website, and our participation in initiatives such as the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Business in the Community CR Index. |
| Employees | Our staff want secure, interesting jobs with fair terms and conditions and opportunities to get on. They want a helpful manager, to be treated with respect and to have a safe and healthy workplace. | Our staff need to feel good about their employer to do a good job for our customers. We listen to and communicate with our staff constantly. We get feedback at Staff Question Time sessions and through our annual Viewpoint survey. Our Pulse survey also tracks staff views on how they feel about working for Tesco. |
| Communities | Our neighbours want job opportunities, healthy, regenerated communities and support for local causes and initiatives. | We communicate with local people in our stores and at public consultations and exhibitions, through leaflets and focus groups, and through our work with local charities and community groups. |
| Suppliers | Our suppliers want to be treated fairly and honestly. They seek long-term relationships and opportunities for growth. | We hold regular meetings with our suppliers, processors and manufacturers. We also bring them together to share experiences at our Producer Clubs, and seek their feedback through our annual Viewpoint survey. We also provide training and capability building for suppliers where appropriate. |
| Governments and regulators | Governments and regulators expect us to comply with the law, provide secure, family-friendly job opportunities and good-quality training. They seek our support on initiatives affected by our business, such as those relating to health policy. | We engage with governments, parliamentarians, regulators and officials on a range of issues affecting our business and communities. These include planning processes and consultations on new regulations including healthy eating and alcohol. We work hard to ensure our responses to government consultations are aligned with our CR policies and practices. |
| Non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) |
NGOs want us to show leadership on CR issues from climate change to ethical trading. They expect us to provide clear policies and principles and for us to communicate views to them clearly and openly. | Engaging with NGOs helps us better understand current and emerging issues related to our business. This work informs our CR strategy and helps us better manage our impacts. We met many NGOs in 2008 to discuss issues including climate change, biofuels, ethical trading and animal welfare. We also contribute to research and surveys, and respond to requests for information from NGOs as fully and promptly as we can. We ask NGOs to share their findings with us to help us improve our performance. |
