Summary Modern Responsibility report 2010

Being a broadcaster is a huge responsibility – TV and radio are powerful tools to be used with care, giving both possibilities and obligations – and we believe in conducting honest, responsible business by running a responsible company. We have meticulous controls making sure we are following international and national laws and protecting young viewers. We believe in transparency, protecting our staff with a Whistleblower Policy, and we are committed to fair competition with other companies. 

There are still things that need improving along the journey of our Modern Responsibility, but we’re sorting it out and moving forward. For a number of years, we have been collecting data centrally and we are now reporting focus areas and targets for our Modern Responsibility work, using the Global Reporting Initiative GRI framework. 

During 2010 a “Modern Responsibility Tour” was accomplished, visiting all MTG offices and management teams. One of the main issues discussed was the Code of Conduct, which is being updated through out 2011 with emphasis put on anti-corruption. The ambition is to have all managers trained in measures against corruption by February 2012 and every MTG employee trained a year later.

MTG implemented a crisis management structure in 2010, enabling the company to vigilantly monitor its surroundings 24/7. A Crisis Support Team was established, ready to act fast in case of an emergency, supporting local management to ensure that we resolve human crisis and interruption of broadcast in the best possible way.

MTG is committed to promoting equal opportunities regardless of gender, ethnical background, religion, nationality, mental and physical handicaps, marital status, age or sexual orientation. MTG aspires to enhance its work within this area and develop it for the whole company by February 2012.  

MTG’s goal is to have a workplace culture where employees have the opportunity to balance their professional and personal lives, independent of their marital status or home conditions. The company believes it is possible to have a successful career and build a family, at the same time. MTG always does its very best to provide its employees with a healthy, safe and positive work environment free from discrimination. The best practice for the company’s work life balance policy is rolled out step by step and the target date for finalising this work is 2015.

Since MTG is growing rapidly and extending its horizons through globalisation, emphasis is placed on how to transfer employees between countries. MTG is developing transfer procedures in order for international transfers to run smoothly and by 2014 the company aims to have them in place for all countries.

MTG started to calculate its carbon emissions in the Nordic countries and the UK in 2008, taking into account office electricity usage and business air travel. In 2009 the scope of its carbon assessment was extended to include all 19 countries where the company has an office. Also more emission sources were included in 2009 – MTG accounted for all business travel, including all air, rail and road travel plus hotel stays, energy use in offices and other facilities, and consumption of office supplies.

The company’s goal is to reduce CO2 emissions per employee by 5% against a 2009 baseline with a target date February 2012. Actions to reach the goal include finding more environmentally friendly ways to travel, writing a local green action list in each country in 2011, training all employees in green thinking by 2012, increasing video conferencing by 20% to reduce the carbon footprint created by flying and developing joint CO2 reduction strategies with suppliers.

Further detailed information is available in our Modern Responsibility Report 2010 at www.mtg.se under Modern Responsibility.

Engaging with our stakeholders

We have an ongoing dialogue with our stakeholders in order to receive guidance on how they feel about the route we’ve chosen. We have reviewed our stakeholders on the basis of an analysis of all people or organisations that may be affected by our business. Acting responsibly towards our stakeholders has always been of the utmost importance to us, but the Modern Responsibility framework has enabled our actions to become not only more tangible and comprehensive, but also to reach into the DNA of our organisational culture. The six stakeholder groups around which our business revolves are:

• Customers – The people to whom we dedicate our business.
• Shareholders – Our valuable investors.
• Employees – The people that make us what we are today.
• Suppliers – The companies whose products and services we buy.
• NGOs – The non-governmental organisations we work with.
• Regulators – Ofcom and other authorities that set the rules for what we do.

Stakeholder survey

During winter 2010-2011 we asked our stakeholders what they thought we should focus on in our work with Modern Responsibility. We did this because we want to make sure we work with and report on those issues that matter the most to the people that are important to our business.

We sent out an online survey to representatives from all of our stakeholder groups. We got very varied results and therefore we decided to divide the stakeholders into three groups when presenting the results to make everyone’s voice heard in the best possible way: internal stakeholders, the general public and other external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders include our employees (top management, middle management and regular staff); the general public consists of TV viewers, radio listeners, our pay-TV subscribers and Bet24 customers; and other external stakeholders include business-to-business customers, shareholders, suppliers, NGOs and regulators.

The results show us that the most significant issues according to our stakeholders are offering fair employment terms and equal opportunities to our staff, following broadcast laws and regulations in all the countries we operate in, engaging in charitable causes in local communities and strong anti-corruption practices. Also social and environmental impact during production, customer data protection and regular communication with stakeholders are considered important by our external stakeholders.

The results are published in our Modern Responsibility Report 2010. We will take these results onboard when planning our Modern Responsibility work and reporting for 2011.

How Modern Responsibility is governed

Our Modern Responsibility work is governed by MTG’s Board of Directors who periodically get reports on the performance of our Modern Responsibility. Non-Executive Director Mia Brunell Livfors (who is also the CEO of our largest shareholder, Investment AB Kinnevik) and Hans-Holger Albrecht, our President & CEO , have overall responsibility for the Group’s sustainability and corporate responsibility strategy, agenda and practices. Petra Colleen, who is a member of MTG’s Executive Management team, is tasked with the management and development of Modern Responsibility. The central Modern Responsibility committee that we established in 2009 includes representatives from MTG’s various business segments. This central committee oversees our work in all of our countries of operation. Our central Modern Responsibility team, working full-time with our corporate responsibility agenda, is responsible for monitoring and reporting progress within Modern Responsibility and communicating our efforts both internally and externally. Each Group company also has an appointed Modern Responsibility representative and a Green Ambassador. Internally we utilise newsletters, the intranet and local company events to inform our employees about the development. To report our progress and initiatives to external stakeholders we rely on our websites, and of course our Modern Responsibility Report.

Read more on the Modern Responsibility section of our corporate website at www.mtg.se.