Social responsibility
The countries in which we operate continue to be challenged by socio- economic inequalities and consumer hardship. Pepkor’s strength lies in our ability to serve these customers, to be their preferred shopping destination by providing them with access to products at affordable prices, while supporting their communities.
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Socially responsible retailer
Pepkor’s social sustainability initiatives centre on our ability to create socio-economic value for our customers, employees, communities and suppliers.
Our customers are at the centre of our strategy, and we aim to understand their environment and behavioural trends to best serve their needs and create value while respecting customer data privacy. We engage with them respectfully, while giving them access to quality products and services they need and want. The vast majority of people in our immediate communities have very little disposable income. Pepkor’s strength lies in our ability to serve the needs of these customers and to be their preferred shopping destination, making it possible for them to live with dignity and pride.
Our employees are instrumental in creating value for our customers and our business. We create a safe, inclusive and engaging working environment where employees are treated fairly and given the opportunity to develop as people and professionals.
By nurturing our relationships with customers and employees, we make an important contribution to the communities in which they live and work, and where we operate. We assist through various projects that help to improve living standards. Our focus on education includes continuous learning and development of our own employees.
Our relationships with our suppliers have been built over many years by focusing on developing mutually beneficial partnerships. We provide an opportunity for our partners to deliver on satisfying the needs of our customers. We are working on growing our local sourcing and putting mechanisms in place to ensure the same social standards applied to our employees are equally applied across our supply chain.
We have a set of privacy values that is published on our website, and we abide by privacy laws such as the Protection of Personal Information Act in the jurisdictions in which we operate. We make every effort to ensure personal information from all stakeholders entrusted with us is adequately protected and used only for legitimate purposes. Customers have the choice to provide consent to receive communication from us, and the right to access and amend their records that we hold for factual accuracy.
The 10 Principles of the UNGC guide companies to do business responsibly. They are encouraged to widely incorporate these principles into strategies and operations and the group fully supports these principles. We have zero tolerance for unlawful behaviour and adhere to all laws in all countries in which we operate. We uphold the seven principles associated with managing our relationships with stakeholders:
1.Support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights2.Ensure we are not complicit in human rights abuses3.Uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining4.Uphold the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour5.Uphold the effective abolition of child labour6.Uphold the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation10.Work against corruption in all its forms
