Global Citizenship
At AMS, Global Citizenship is an important part of our culture and it is embedded into the way we do business. It’s about us being accountable for our impact on our environment and our communities and it is integral to all our relationships – with clients, employees and communities worldwide.
We take our corporate social responsibilities seriously, and we don’t believe it’s something that companies should stand still on; we know that we can always do more. We’re constantly looking at new and different ways to make sure that our people are proactive global citizens who have a positive impact on the world around them.
In 2007, we signed up as a participant to the UN Global Compact, formalising our commitment to being a globally responsible organisation. Since then, we’ve released two annual reports on our progress, both of which are available through the download links below.
Download 2008 Report | Download 2009 Report | Download 2010 report
Participating in the UN Global Compact ensures we remain focussed on the ten key principles of incorporating the main components of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption in our day-to-day activities.
Corporate Culture & Practices
We pride ourselves on a fair, ethical and inclusive approach to our business, our people and our clients. Our workplace programme focuses both on how we manage our own people and the steps we take to ensure that AMS is creating an environment within which our employees can contribute to their full potential. We aim to inspire our people and provide a structure for employee consultation through our internal communications channels, events and policies.
Social and economic accountability
As a global organisation, and with the partnership of our Charities of Choice, we ensure that we are protecting and improving the local communities in which we operate. We invest in projects that have positive long-term effects on our communities and as part of our volunteer day programme, all employees worldwide are offered the opportunity to take a paid day off once per year to participate in a local or global community initiative.
Above and beyond this, our people participate in a myriad of annual fundraising events, organising all logistics and fundraising themselves, and supporting each other throughout the experience. In 2010, AMS staff in Continental Europe climbed three of Poland’s tallest peaks consecutively in just 29 hours, raising thousands of zloty for Leonardo. In the UK, our people organised a 70-mile cycle challenge and one lucky participant ran the London Marathon on behalf of Tomorrow’s People.
And following the 2009 floods in the Philippines, our team in Manila set to help rebuild the community. Rather than donate directly to aid agencies, they made the decision to budget, plan and identify the best charitable activities to undertake, wanting to benefit those in need over the long-term, whilst helping members of our AMS team who had been affected. The team planted 1,000 native tree seedlings, distributed boxes of goods to a remote town in Pampanga and staged a four-day school caravan, reaching the schools of Marikina, which were badly hit by the flood. Two thousand school bags with supplies, sets of computers and library books were distributed to students and teachers.
Environment & supply chain accountability
Our focus is to minimise our impact on the environment – especially with our use of energy and greenhouse emissions, as well as the natural resources we use and the waste we produce. Click here to download our Environmental Policy.
We developed our Environmental Management System at the beginning of 2009. To ensure this was robust, we successfully pursue the external International Organisation for Standardisation 14001 accreditation. As well as giving us a globally recognised and reputable accreditation, the audit process ensures we continually receive constructive advice and guidance on improving our performance in this area. As well, in 2009, AMS joined the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent not-for-profit organisation holding the largest database of corporate climate change information in the world. By participating in the CDP, we commit to measuring our progress on the targets set every year.
Our global spend is measured in hundreds of millions of pounds – and spent predominantly on workforce supply. With spend of this scale, we’re very aware of the responsibility to enable ethical and responsible business processes through a principled approach to procurement. To inform and enable this, we follow our own Code for Responsible Procurement (CRP). The CRP clearly states guidelines against child and forced labour, providing healthy and safe working environments, and anti-bribery practices. During 2010, we completed our annual CSR survey to AMS core preferred suppliers. Each of our suppliers were asked to complete an online questionnaire plus sign our CRP. We had a 100% core supplier compliance.
Employee wellbeing
Health (mental, physical and financial), nutrition and diet, fitness and work-life balance all play a valuable part in an individual’s wellbeing. Our employee wellbeing programme focuses on providing all our people with the opportunity to develop healthy lifestyles and to build a balance in their lives.
For instance, in June 2008, we launched a global Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support our employees in their overall wellbeing. The EAP is a confidential and independent counselling and information service available to all our employees. We decided to provide this service to be proactive in this area and demonstrate our commitment to caring for the health, safety and welfare of our employees. The EAP is provided as an additional source of support should our employees wish to discuss anything confidentially outside of the workplace.
Inclusion & Diversity
In any company, teams that reflect the widest possible variety of ideas, backgrounds and experiences will deliver the most innovative solutions to clients worldwide. Our initiatives focus on our role as a company that employs diverse talent to ensure our resourcing solutions and operations are aligned with the global markets in which we operate.
In 2010, we joined the Employers Forum on Disability (EFD) as a Gold Member. Our membership is mutually-beneficial: it enables us to share best practice with other renowned organisations facing similar challenges, while we assist the EFD on developing disability standards for the recruitment and resourcing industry as a whole. Within the EFD, AMS is an active member of the Recruiters’ Golden Circle – an informal, voluntary association of in-house recruiters founded to promote the sharing of information, knowledge, experience and ideas. As Gold Members of EFD, we are also working with the world’s only Business Taskforce on Accessible Technology, aiming to make accessibility and usability as fundamental to technology as security is now.
Recognition
In May 2009, Vodafone invited us to a global awards ceremony in Luxembourg, where their CEO presented us with a prestigious award for Corporate Responsibility Engagement. This was one of only three global awards presented at the ceremony, and is a recognition not only for our work in this area, but also of our commitment to them as a client, our dedication to building a strong partnership and the lengths we’ve gone to support their procurement agreement. At the ceremony AMS was named as one of Vodafone’s top 50 suppliers globally, and as a result of the award, we were only one of three suppliers to go forward and join Vodafone’s global supplier relationship management programme.
In November 2010, AMS was named 2010 Corporate Partner of the Year for our innovative support and ongoing commitment to our Charity of Choice, Tomorrow’s People. Winning this award is a huge achievement and could not have been won without the commitment both AMS and Tomorrow’s People have shown in the past in extending our working relationship. Our people have been especially proactive in volunteering, owning and developing the local expertise they provide Tomorrow’s People – their passion in engaging the charity’s clients with their own innovative ways of support is truly inspiring.
Team AMS
You can visit www.team-ams.com to find out more about the inspiring talent involved, read blogs and features written by both athletes and the AMS volunteers across the globe – and stay up-to-date on one of the most ambitious and exciting events in the history of our business.
