Sustainability Survey
For years, WACKER has been regularly conducting surveys with its stakeholders as part of its sustainability reporting. In 2016, we included our top management in the stakeholder survey for the first time. We used the survey to determine which sustainability topics stakeholders and top managers consider to be important for WACKER and how they rate our sustainability efforts. The survey results led to a materiality analysis. This serves as a basis for specifying the contents of the sustainability report and reviewing and updating our sustainability strategy.
13 top managers participated in the online survey, including the Executive Board and Group Coordinators for the following key aspects of sustainability:
- Environmental issues
- Safety
- Sustainability
- Energy management
- Health
- Product safety
- Hazardous goods
- Export control
- Personnel
- Compliance management
205 stakeholders (individuals with links to our company) also completed the online questionnaire. The survey was conducted in Germany, China and the USA among other countries. It included analysts, customers, suppliers, employees and politicians, as well as representatives from authorities and NGOs.
Key Sustainability Topics
Top managers rated 25 out of 34 topics as important, while stakeholders rated 26 of them as important. Our threshold value for key topics, about which we provide information in this report, was at least 4.00 points (for both survey groups) on a scale of 1.00 (very low) to 5.00 (very high). The top three topics as seen by the company and stakeholders with a value of 4.51 or higher are compliance, product safety and plant safety. These are followed by topics that are rated 4.51 or higher by either top management or the stakeholders: occupational health and safety, energy, sustainable products, transport safety, fair business practices, competitiveness, and value trends. For reasons of continuity, we continue to report to a limited extent on topics that were rated by top managers and/or stakeholders as being of less relevance.
Materiality Analysis (Results of the Stakeholder Survey Held in 2016)
Rating the Relevance of Sustainability Topics at WACKER
Materiality Analysis – in the form of a table
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Importance for Top Management |
Importance for Stakeholders |
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Action Areas |
Important |
Very important |
Important |
Very important |
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Environmental Aspects |
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Plant Safety |
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x |
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x |
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Energy |
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x |
x |
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Waste Reduction and Proper Disposal |
x |
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x |
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Reducing Emissions |
x |
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x |
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Resource Conservation |
x |
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x |
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Sparing Use of Water Resources |
x |
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x |
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Social Performance |
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Occupational Safety and Employee Health |
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x |
x |
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Good Leadership |
x |
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x |
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Advanced Training |
x |
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x |
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Attracting and Retaining Employees |
x |
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x |
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Vocational Training |
x |
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x |
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Job Creation and Retention |
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x |
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Product Stewardship |
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Product safety |
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x |
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x |
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Sustainable Products and Product Innovations |
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x |
x |
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Transport Safety |
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x |
x |
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Transport Routes |
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x |
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Corporate Management and the Economy |
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Compliance |
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x |
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x |
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Implementation of Fair Business Practices |
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x |
x |
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Competitiveness and Value Trends |
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x |
x |
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Risk Management |
x |
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x |
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Voluntary Commitment to Responsible Care® |
x |
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x |
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Governance |
x |
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x |
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Work in Industrial Associations / Lobbying |
x |
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Open Dialogue with Society |
x |
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x |
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Supply Chain |
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Implementation of Fair Business Practices |
x |
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x |
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Engagement for Environmental Protection |
x |
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x |
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Fair Working Conditions and Occupational Safety |
x |
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x |
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Sustainability Performance
Evaluation of the online questionnaires revealed that top management and stakeholders rate WACKER’s sustainability efforts as good to very good. Top managers consider our performance in the fields of occupational health and safety, compliance, plant and product safety, as well as creation and retention of jobs to be excellent (values of 4.51 or higher on a scale of 1.00 for “very poor” to 5.00 “very good”). According to stakeholders, WACKER performs best in the areas of occupational health and safety.
Both groups give performance in the supply chain a low mid-range rating. Commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workforce and to equal opportunity is considered good. WACKER’s sustainability performance gets a good overall rating from analysts and employees, and a very good one from all other stakeholders. Top managers, analysts and employees give a comparatively lower rating to performance in relation to social topics. In all regions, stakeholders consider the company’s sustainability performance to be very good. In Asia, environmental performance, in particular, is rated as excellent.
Top management and stakeholders see room for improvement in the area of product stewardship.
Rating Sustainability Performance
1.00 = very poor to 5.00 = very good
1 2016: 205 participants
2 2014: 224 participants
3 2012: 201 participants
Favored Forms of Dialogue
The stakeholder survey also asked participants which platforms they would prefer as a means of dialogue with WACKER about sustainability issues. 63 percent of participants prefer dialogue through personal contact and round-table discussions. Around half the stakeholders would like to be informed via WACKER’s website and the sustainability report, which can be downloaded as a PDF online.
A key challenge raised in the 2012 and 2014 stakeholder surveys was sustainable working conditions within the supply chain. In the 2016 survey, our sustainability performance in the supply chain got a medium rating. This is the reason why, during the period under review, we had intensified our work on this topic.