Communication on Progress

Communication on Progress

Participant
Published
  • 09-Jun-2021
Time period
  • July 2020  –  June 2021
Format
  • Stand alone document – Basic COP Template
Differentiation Level
  • This COP qualifies for the Global Compact Active level
Self-assessment
  • Includes a CEO statement of continued support for the UN Global Compact and its ten principles
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Human Rights
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Labour
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Environment
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Anti-Corruption
  • Includes a measurement of outcomes
 
  • Statement of continued support by the Chief Executive Officer

  • Statement of the company's chief executive (CEO or equivalent) expressing continued support for the Global Compact and renewing the company's ongoing commitment to the initiative and its principles.

  • To our stakeholders:

    I am pleased to confirm that brainbits GmbH reaffirms its support of the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption.

    In this annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We also commit to share this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.

    Sincerely yours,
    Sascha Emondts
    CEO - brainbits GmbH

Human Rights
  • Assessment, policy and goals

  • Description of the relevance of human rights for the company (i.e. human rights risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on Human Rights.

  • We fully support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights). Our corporate values ​​are based on the Declaration of Human Rights. We expect our business partners to recognize and adhere to the Declaration of Human Rights.

    We know that human rights are not adequately observed in the IT hardware value chain. We depend on the use of IT hardware. As a small, regional company, we cannot directly influence this situation. We have therefore set ourselves the following goal for the coming year: We would like to find the best possible compensation for this injustice and we would like to implement this compensation in our business activities.

  • Implementation

  • Description of concrete actions to implement Human Rights policies, address Human Rights risks and respond to Human Rights violations.

  • New employees are advised of this in the application process and asked to check their willingness to work for us against this background.

    All of this is also implemented in our quality management system.

  • Measurement of outcomes

  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.

  • All employees are called upon to ensure compliance with human rights at all times. In the event of a deviation, the management must be informed immediately.

    In our annual management review, compliance with human rights is included as a mandatory point.

Labour
  • Assessment, policy and goals

  • Description of the relevance of labour rights for the company (i.e. labour rights-related risks and opportunities). Description of written policies, public commitments and company goals on labour rights.

  • brainbits is a lean and agile company. The leadership culture is shaped by servant leadership. The right of co-determination of employees is an essential part of our understanding of cooperation on equal terms. This is also reflected in the company values ​​that are known to all employees, applicants and our customers.

    In the coming year we are planning to introduce OKR as a management system. This should further strengthen the integration of all people who work for us.

  • Implementation

  • Description of concrete actions taken by the company to implement labour policies, address labour risks and respond to labour violations.

  • brainbits is a lean and agile company. The leadership culture is shaped by servant leadership. The right of co-determination of employees is an essential part of our understanding of cooperation on equal terms.

  • Measurement of outcomes

  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.

  • We have implemented various agile methods such as Scrum and, in the future, OKR in our everyday work. The continuous optimization of our value-adding processes goes hand in hand with the monitoring and optimization of the cooperation. This supports our efforts to make working conditions humane.

Environment
  • Assessment, policy and goals

  • Description of the relevance of environmental protection for the company (i.e. environmental risks and opportunities). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on environmental protection.

  • We strive to continuously reduce our ecological footprint. Due to our field of work, this mainly includes the following areas: electricity, mobility, avoidance of waste.

    As a service company, our business does not pose a direct, significant risk to the environment. Therefore we have not set up a special management system to reduce environmental hazards.

  • Implementation

  • Description of concrete actions to implement environmental policies, address environmental risks and respond to environmental incidents.

  • Electricity: We rely entirely on the use of renewable energies. We also pay attention to this with our business partners. Especially with commissioned data centers. We are also continuously working on reducing our electricity requirements.

    Mobility: In 2020
    we have introduced a no-flight policy. Our fleet is gradually being converted to electromobility. We fully compensate for unavoidable CO2 emissions via atmosfair (www.atmosfair.de)

    Avoidance of waste: We are continuously working on reducing waste. Where we cannot avoid waste, we separate the types of recyclable material and send them for recycling.

    We also support forest reforestation projects.

  • Measurement of outcomes

  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates environmental performance.

  • We record our annual electricity consumption as well as our mobility kilometers and other CO2-relevant factors. In a year-on-year comparison, this helps us to continuously reduce the negative impact.

Anti-Corruption
  • Assessment, policy and goals

  • Description of the relevance of anti-corruption for the company (i.e. anti-corruption risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on anti-corruption.

  • Our company guidelines prohibit any form of corruption. This is continuously monitored by our quality management system. Suspected corruption can be reported directly to the management. Anonymous ways are available for this.

  • Implementation

  • Description of concrete actions to implement anti-corruption policies, address anti-corruption risks and respond to incidents.

  • All investments of a relevant magnitude must be checked by the management. One checkpoint here relates to the prevention of corruption.

  • Measurement of outcomes

  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates anti-corruption performance.

  • Because the management has an insight into all business cases due to the size of the company, we have not set up a separate system for evaluating corruption cases.

    There have been no cases of corruption since the company was founded in 1999.