Inclusivity

We align with UNGC principles, eliminating employment and occupation discrimination. Locally, we follow B-BBEE and EE guidelines, consistently improving our strategies.

Our deliberate approach to EE aims to enhance workforce diversity and equal opportunities. We actively aim to hire individuals from diverse backgrounds, enriching our culture and deepening our understanding of our diverse customer base.

Our EE policy aligns with the EE Act and aims to remedy under-representation of designated groups and diversity imbalances in our workforce composition. We promote and maintain an environment that empowers all employees to achieve their highest potential without fear of prejudice or bias while we recognise, appreciate and manage diversity. Targets for our operating businesses are regularly set in order to drive continuous improvement.

While our employee base is representative of the countries we operate in and the majority of our employees and store managers are black, we acknowledge the need for more previously disadvantaged individuals in executive and management roles. Our operational businesses are encouraged to focus on this area and we are committed to making further progress in the coming years.

Specific programmes and measurements are in place based on the needs and strategic requirements of each of our operating businesses to make sure we promote/realise these key HR drivers.

Inclusivity and non-discrimination

Pepkor recognises the national and business imperative of EE, which is an integral element of the overall transformation journey in South Africa, and adheres to local employment laws in the countries where we operate. We support the goals and objectives of EE and see this as an opportunity.

Although Pepkor’s workforce is representative of the countries in which we operate and 94% of our employees and our store managers are black, we recognise that more previously disadvantaged employees need to fill positions at executive and management level.

We have been proactively employing people from all backgrounds and ethnic groups. The diversity of our employees add to the richness of our culture while helping us to better understand our diverse customer groups. We have adopted an employment practice to appoint more previously disadvantaged employees to fill positions at executive and management level.

The group’s EE policy determines that all operating businesses must attain the following:
Give effect to South Africa’s EE legislation

Support Pepkor’s vision of creating a work environment that is conducive to attracting, training and retaining skilled people from all sectors of society

Prepare a leadership talent pool to sustain the group’s growth opportunities and long-term prospects

Entrench an organisational culture that values diversity

We are monitoring our progress in this regard and feedback mechanisms are in place across the group.

B-BBEE

The group supports the goals and objectives of the B-BBEE Act, seeing it as an opportunity to contribute to create socioeconomic value for all our stakeholders. Operational business work plans address the four scoring pillars, other than ownership, to ensure a holistic approach, while ownership is managed at group level.

Our approach echoes our belief in doing what is right and what we have already achieved over the years. We acknowledge that we can do more and use the B-BBEE framework to remain focused on driving transformation while improving our scores to elevate our B-BBEE contributor level status. We are proud of our continued improvement thus far, which is testament to our commitment to transformation, diversity and inclusion.

To achieve the targeted B-BBEE contributor level status, all operating businesses have specific B-BBEE compliance targets, and individual scorecards are monitored on an ongoing basis. Operating businesses have incentives linked to the achievement of their B-BBEE objectives.

Sustainability KPIs