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• Introduction
• The PZ Cussons Plc CSR Committee
• ‘Doing Good Business’
• The Environment
• Health and Safety
• Product testing and consumer safety
• Business conduct and ethics
• Our employees
• Local community and charity

Keep informed about our
latest news and announcements.

Our employees

We treat each other with respect and all employees have the right to expect that their dignity will be fully respected in the workplace.

• We are committed to creating an environment in which all employees have the opportunity to reach their full potential - As an international group with a presence in a number of developing countries, we focus significant resource on the employment and development of local employees both to improve our operations in those countries and to bring benefit to the wider local community. In doing so, we recognise that the success of our business is dependent upon the quality, commitment and behaviour of our employees. Accordingly, we provide clear policies and direction to our managers and strive for the highest standards in management practices, delivering training and development programmes and reward arrangements which are tailored to meet the needs of our business and the local markets in which we operate.

  We continue to develop a performance-driven culture which supports motivated people who are passionate about our future. We believe that to achieve our business objectives we should encourage our employees to embrace our CANDO values and reflect those values in everything which they do. We aim to retain and develop our employees and to help them to fulfil their career potential. We value diversity in our employees' backgrounds, talent, insight, education and experience and believe this contributes to our continued success by increasing innovation, enriching decision making and improving communications with our stakeholders.

  The Group continues to run graduate development schemes, particularly in developing world territories, to run training programmes in manufacturing environments to ensure that we meet international standards throughout our manufacturing processes in terms of quality, environment and health and safety, to offer a wide range of development opportunities to support the continuous professional and personal development of our employees and to establish appropriate incentive programmes at all levels of the business, from senior management to factory staff.

• We do not discriminate in any aspect of employment on grounds of race, religion, colour, ethnic or national background, age, disability, political affiliation, union membership, gender, sexual orientation or marital status - The employment policies of the Group embody the principles of equal opportunity and these are fundamental to the way in which we conduct our business. We operate procedures to support the Group's policy that disabled persons shall be fairly considered for appropriate employment and subsequent training and career development.

• We encourage and promote a healthy balance between our employees' working and personal lives and we respect the commitments which our employees have outside of the work place. We respect the rights of all to rest and leisure including periodic paid holidays and the reasonable limitation of working hours - We take steps to ensure full compliance with applicable national laws and industry standards on working hours and all other employment regulations. As part of our commitment to our employees, we continued to expand our work/life balance programmes to encourage people to balance their work life with their personal life through flexible hours of working, job sharing and opportunities to work from home.

  As part of the ongoing review of staff welfare and benefits, the Group continues to make available to all UK employees an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). The EAP is a 24 hour phone helpline which is available to employees should they wish to discuss any issues, personal or work related, in confidence with a trained professional. The objective of the EAP is to assist in the identification and resolution of the various problems, strains and issues which everyone faces from time to time and which can affect work performance. Surveys are undertaken to measure and monitor employee satisfaction within the Group. The results of these surveys are used to improve communication, motivation and engagement across the business.

• We are committed to timely and effective two-way communication with our employees - the re-launch of a Group-wide intranet (Wazobia, meaning "welcome" in Nigerian dialects) has improved communication across the Group, both up and down through the organisation. This ensures that our employees across the world are better informed about ongoing initiatives and matters of importance to them and also that they are able to contribute to the development of the Group's strategy. The Board is committed to continuing the development and improvement of communications across the Group in 2010/11 and beyond.

Other principles set out in the Statement include the right to join (or not join) a trade union, a Group-wide commitment not to employ any person below the local legal working age and not, in any circumstances, below the age of 16 and the guarantee that all of the Group's businesses will pay wages which, at a minimum, meet all relevant local legal standards.