Sustainable Business Report 2018 - Vodafone Group Plc

Page created by Alexander Walsh
 
CONTINUE READING
Sustainable Business Report 2018 - Vodafone Group Plc
Sustainable
Business Report
2018

Vodafone Group Plc
Sustainable Business Report 2018 - Vodafone Group Plc
Contents

Introduction                               1          Women’s empowerment                 9   Energy innovation                        19   Youth skills and jobs                32
Chief Executive statement                 1          Global context                     10   Global context                           20   Global context                       33
Sustainable business strategy             2          Vodafone and women’s empowerment   11   Vodafone, energy and climate change      22   Our future jobs strategy             35
Global transformation areas               3          Gender equality in our workplace   15   Optimising our energy consumption        24   Digital workplace experience         38
Transparency focus areas                  5                                                  Enabling customers to reduce emissions   30
UN Sustainable Development Goals          6
Engaging with our stakeholders            7

Supply chain integrity and safety         41          Principles and practice            59   Mobiles, masts and health                76   Appendix                              79
Supply chain integrity                    42          Our people                         61                                                 Managing and reporting on
Safety                                    51          Human rights                       67                                                 sustainable business                 80
                                                      Bribery and corruption             71                                                 Materiality82
                                                                                                                                            Environmental management             83
                                                                                                                                            Scope of reporting                   84
                                                                                                                                            How we report our key
                                                                                                                                            performance indicators               85
                                                                                                                                            Independent Limited Assurance Report 93

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018
Sustainable Business Report 2018 - Vodafone Group Plc
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Chief Executive statement
Our products and services play a central role in the daily lives and livelihoods of more than half a billion
people, across 25 countries.

                             With every passing day, mobile is enabling and              our progress on our women’s empowerment goals,             place to ensure our operating practices meet our
                             accelerating a revolution in access to education,           launched in 2016, can be found later in this report.       expectations and placing emphasis on corporate
                             financial services and healthcare for millions of                                                                      transparency, everyone associated with Vodafone,
                             people, offering those living in some of the world’s        Climate change remains a critical global challenge and     from our Plc Board to our smallest operating company
                             poorest communities the opportunity to break free           we recognise, as a significant consumer of electricity,    and suppliers, can deliver the conduct and behaviours
                             from a cycle of endemic poverty.                            that we have an important role to play as part of the      expected of a company of our size.
                                                                                         global effort to limit temperature rises. Our new
                             Simultaneously, our digital networks and technologies,      2025 targets are an indication of that commitment:         We believe we have good cause to be optimistic and
                             including 4G+ mobile, fibre-optic broadband, cloud          to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 40%;             excited about the future as the digital economy drives
                             computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) are              and to purchase 100% of the electricity we use from        global progress but we recognise that the world
                             transforming businesses of all sizes, helping them          renewable sources.                                         continues to face a number of significant challenges.
                             to operate more efficiently and prosper. This year,                                                                    The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set
                             we invested more than €7.3 billion to maintain and          Within many of our markets, youth unemployment             out a series of global ambitions to tackle these. We
                             upgrade our digital infrastructure, investment that         is one of the most significant social and economic         believe we can have the greatest impact on five of the
                             provides our customers, their families, communities         challenges. New technologies are both replacing            SDGs through the delivery of our sustainable business
                             and businesses with the means to connect, learn,            semi-skilled roles and creating new career paths but       strategy and the goals mentioned above, and highlight
                             share, trade and advance their ambitions.                   young people must have the right skills to adopt           our progress and contribution in this report.
                                                                                         these digital technology jobs. Over the next four
                             We also have a duty to work within these communities        years, our new future jobs programme – What will you       Finally, I would like to thank the many stakeholders
                             to create better, more equal societies, an aim that is at   be? – will support 10 million young people across 18       – including employees, customers and shareholders –
                             the heart of Vodafone’s purpose: connecting everybody       countries to develop digital skills, get career guidance   whose opinions and insights help us to accelerate our
                             to live a better today and build a better tomorrow.         and access training content and job opportunities. In      efforts to build and grow a purpose-led, sustainable
                             Enabling positive social outcomes is integral to what       addition, we will provide up to 100,000 under 25s with     Vodafone. Looking ahead to 2019 and beyond, I relish
                             we do and our approach to sustainable business              a digital workplace experience inside Vodafone – the       the prospect of our business playing an increasingly
                             ensures that we are committed to aligning our               largest commitment to training and development in          important role in building a better today as well as an
                             business goals with the delivery of societal benefits.      our 33-year history.                                       exciting future for us and our planet.

                             Our sustainable business strategy focuses our efforts       Just as important as our commitment to delivering
                             in areas where we believe Vodafone can make the             positive social outcomes is our determination to act
                             greatest impact: women’s empowerment; energy                responsibly and with integrity wherever we operate;
                             innovation; and youth, skills and jobs. We now have         what we do matters but so does how we work. By             Vittorio Colao
                             long-term goals in place for each of these areas and        paying close attention to the controls we put in           Group Chief Executive, Vodafone Group Plc

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                                       1
Sustainable Business Report 2018 - Vodafone Group Plc
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Sustainable business strategy
Our sustainable business strategy is built on an
unwavering commitment to operating responsibly
and a recognition that we have a role to play in
contributing to the societies in which we operate.                                                  Our purpose is to connect everybody to live
At the heart of this strategy, which we launched in                                                 a better today and build a better tomorrow
2016, are three global transformation areas, each
of which has the potential to achieve positive socio-
economic benefits for our customers and wider
society, and each of which is aligned with and                                                                 Our transformation areas
support our long-term business objectives.

Our strategy focuses on our ability to deliver
progress at scale in the areas of:
• women’s empowerment;
• energy innovation; and
• youth skills and jobs.
                                                                                 Women’s                                  Energy                               Youth skills
In parallel, we remain committed to ensuring that
                                                                               empowerment                              innovation                              and jobs
Vodafone behaves responsibly and ethically wherever
we operate, supported by our corporate transparency
programme. Four areas, each a topic of intense public
debate, form the focus of our efforts as we ensure                                                               Our transparency areas
detailed policies, practices and disclosures help to
hold our businesses to account while contributing
to the broader debate.
                                                                           Tax and total                Supply chain
                                                                                                                                    Mobiles, masts                Digital rights
Our transparency focus areas are:                                           economic                      integrity
                                                                                                                                     and health                   and freedoms
• taxation and total economic contribution;
                                                                           contribution                  and safety
• supply chain integrity and safety;
• mobiles, masts and health; and
• digital rights and freedoms.

                                                                                                                 Principles and practice

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                   2
Sustainable Business Report 2018 - Vodafone Group Plc
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Global transformation areas
Women’s empowerment                                       significant users of energy and are therefore a source
                                                          of those emissions.
The transformative effects of mobile technology
for women in low-income emerging markets are
                                                          As a significant user of energy, our industry faces
well recognised. Owning a mobile phone for the first
                                                          a growing GHG emissions challenge. We recognise
time can enhance a woman’s physical and economic
                                                          that we have an important role to mitigate the
security, education, skills, access to employment
                                                          consequences of this growth in demand for our
opportunities and her (and her dependents’) health
                                                          services and have introduced two new goals: to reduce
and wellbeing.
                                                          the GHG emissions associated with our operations by
                                                          40%; and to purchase 100% of the electricity we use
To close the existing ownership gap and drive women’s
                                                          from renewable sources, both by 2025.
ability to empower themselves, our goal is to connect
an additional 50 million women living in 10 emerging
                                                          We will also continue to help our customers to reduce
markets to mobile by 2025. We also intend to use our
                                                          their emissions through the use of our IoT products
mobile technologies to enhance the quality of
                                                          and services.
women’s lives through programmes that enable
financial inclusion, improve health and wellbeing,           Read more on energy innovation
and build education, skills and entrepreneurship.
                                                          Youth skills and jobs
We are strongly committed to diversity and inclusion
                                                          Many of the countries in which we operate continue
and believe that by improving the diversity of our
                                                          to experience high levels of youth unemployment
global workforce we will better reflect our customer
                                                          and consequently face a range of significant social
base and wider society. We believe our strong
                                                          and economic challenges. Simultaneously, some
commitment to diversity is a source of business
                                                          advances in technology, such as robotics and
strength, as evidenced by our long-term goal to
                                                          artificial intelligence, are enabling the automation
become an employer with such a strong track record
                                                          of many categories of jobs, reducing employment
for attracting, retaining and developing talented
                                                          opportunities and altering the nature of work.
women that, by 2025, we are widely considered to
be the world’s best employer for women.                   We believe we can play an important role in helping
   Read more on women’s empowerment                       young people gain the skills required to thrive in
                                                          the global digital economy, and we have committed
                                                          to support 10 million young people to access digital
Energy innovation                                         skills, learning and employment opportunities.
There is clear evidence that global temperatures          We will also provide up to 100,000 young people with
are rising rapidly and a consensus that man-made          a digital workplace experience at Vodafone.
greenhouse gases (GHGs) are having a direct impact
on climate change. Communications companies are              Read more on youth skills and jobs

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                   3
Sustainable Business Report 2018 - Vodafone Group Plc
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Global transformation goals

                Women’s empowerment                                             Energy innovation                                                   Youth skills and jobs
  Equality of women remains a significant global challenge. By        Urgent action is needed to address climate change. This year,       Persistently high youth unemployment and a growing digital skills
  empowering women and promoting gender equality, we can              we have introduced two new goals that focus on achieving            gap are significant social and economic challenges. This year, we
  enable communities, economies and businesses – including            a significant reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions             launched our What will you be? programme to help young people
  our own – to prosper.                                               associated with our operations.                                     develop their digital skills and access learning and employment
                                                                                                                                          opportunities so they can thrive in the digital economy.

  Our 2025 goals                                                      Our 2025 goals                                                      Our 2022 goals

  We aim to connect an additional 50 million                          To reduce our greenhouse gas emissions                              To support 10 million young people
  women living in emerging markets to mobile                          by 40%                                                              to access digital skills, learning and
                                                                                                                                          employment opportunities
  Our ambition is for Vodafone to become                              To purchase 100% of the electricity we use
  the world’s best employer for women                                 from renewable sources                                              To provide up to 100,000 young people with
                                                                                                                                          a digital workplace experience at Vodafone

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                                           4
Sustainable Business Report 2018 - Vodafone Group Plc
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Transparency focus areas
Our sustainable business strategy is founded on           any capacity, across the world. Further details of our      on a wide range of topics including law enforcement
Vodafone’s commitment to responsible behaviour in         approach can be found in the Supply chain integrity         surveillance, privacy, data protection, freedom of
everything we do, and is essential to preserving the      and safety section of this Report.                          expression, censorship and the digital rights of the child.
long-term success of our company. We strive to ensure
                                                              See our Supply chain integrity and safety section for        Visit our Digital Rights and Freedoms Reporting Centre
we always act lawfully, ethically and with integrity
                                                              more information
wherever we operate. Our strong commitment to
corporate transparency is evidenced through our           Mobiles, masts and health                                   Principles and practice
programmes which address four areas that are the          The health and safety of our customers and the              We believe that how we work is as important as what
focus of intense public debate.                           wider public is an absolute priority for Vodafone           we do and what we achieve. We are committed to the
                                                          and everyone who works with us. While our mobile            highest standards of ethical behaviour, as set out in
Taxation and total economic contribution                  devices and masts operate well within the guidelines        our Code of Conduct, which governs everything we do.
In 2013, we became the first communications               set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing         Putting those principles into practice can sometimes
company in the world (and one of very few in any          Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), we recognise that in a       lead to complex and difficult challenges where
sector) to report our total taxation and economic         number of countries there is still some public concern      cultures and working environments may be in conflict
contribution on a country-by-country and actual           regarding the electromagnetic frequency (EMF)               with our corporate values and commitments. Our
cash-paid basis. We continue to extend the data we        emissions from mobile phones and base stations.             views and how we manage the risks to our business
disclose to ensure our stakeholders have the most         We always endeavour to address concerns openly              are explained further in this section of the Report.
relevant information to understand our tax position       and transparently through regular local community               See our Principles and practice section
and economic impact.                                      engagement and ensure the most up-to-date relevant              for more information
                                                          information is available on our website.
    Read our 2017 tax transparency report
                                                              See our Mobiles, masts and health section
                                                              for more information
Supply chain integrity and safety
Our businesses rely on a very large global supply chain   Digital rights and freedoms
encompassing over 15,000 businesses. We recognise
                                                          In 2014, we published our first Law Enforcement
there are many different labour rights and safety and
                                                          Disclosure transparency report, explaining how
environmental risks inherent within such a complex
                                                          we respond to lawful demands for access to our
supply chain and that similar risks can also arise in
                                                          customers’ private data from law enforcement and
the business operations under our own direct control.
                                                          intelligence agencies. This report has since been
Through our broad range of policies, training and audit
                                                          updated and expanded and is contained within our
programmes, we work with our suppliers to drive high
                                                          online Digital Rights and Freedoms Reporting Centre,
standards and ensure the safety, wellbeing and ethical
                                                          which includes our policies, principles and approach
treatment of everyone who works with Vodafone in

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                   5
Sustainable Business Report 2018 - Vodafone Group Plc
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

UN Sustainable Development Goals
Being part of something bigger
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out a series of global ambitions to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. By providing access to
communications via our networks and innovative products and services, our core business enables people to improve their lives and livelihoods. Through our local businesses, our sustainable business
strategy, our goals and programmes, and the work of the Vodafone Foundation, we estimate that we make the greatest impact on five of the UN SDGs and together indirectly contribute to UN SDG 1, to
end poverty in all its forms everywhere. See http://www.vodafone.com/sdgs for more information.

  Ensure inclusive and equitable           Achieve gender equality and             Promote sustained, inclusive             Build resilient infrastructure,          Take urgent action to combat
  quality education and promote            empower all women and girls             and sustainable economic                 promote sustainable                      climate change and its impacts
  lifelong learning opportunities                                                  growth, full and productive              industrialisation and foster
  for all                                                                          employment and decent work               innovation
                                                                                   for all
  Examples of our contribution             Examples of our contribution            Examples of our contribution             Examples of our contribution             Examples of our contribution
  •O
    ver 419,000 people have               •W
                                             e have connected an additional       •O
                                                                                     ver 111,000 unique users              •O
                                                                                                                              ur network infrastructure             •D
                                                                                                                                                                       uring the year, we reduced the
   enrolled in the Vodafone Egypt           13.3 million female customers to        completed of our Future Jobs             comprises 310,000 base station           amount of GHG emissions per
   Foundation’s Knowledge is Power          mobile in our emerging markets          Finder platform in the first 10 days     sites, 65,000 computer servers,          petabyte of data carried on our
   adult literacy programme                 since 2016                              since launch                             4,200 buildings (including               network by 40%
  •O
    ver 500,000 refugee students          •2
                                             9% of our management and             •W
                                                                                     e estimate over 14,000 young           500 technology centres)                 •W
                                                                                                                                                                       e have helped customers to save
   have accessed free, quality              leadership roles are held by women      people were provided with a             •W
                                                                                                                              e invested €7.3 billion during         an estimated 2.1 tonnes of CO2e
   education content with no data                                                   digital workplace experience             the year to maintain and upgrade         for every tonne generated through
   charges as part of the Vodafone                                                  during the year                          our digital infrastructure to deliver    our own activities
   Foundation’s Instant Schools for                                                                                          improved coverage and access to
   Africa programme                                                                                                          high speed networks

     Women’s empowerment                                                              Women’s empowerment
     Youth skills and jobs                    Women’s empowerment                     Youth skills and jobs                     Energy innovation                       Energy innovation

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                                       6
Sustainable Business Report 2018 - Vodafone Group Plc
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Engaging with our stakeholders
We work with a wide range of stakeholders, both individuals and organisations, to inform, shape and evaluate our approach to sustainable business. At the same time, many
people and organisations have an interest in what we do and how we work. The following provides a summary of some of those we interacted with, alongside some examples
of how we engaged and communicated with them during the year.

  Employees                                                           Customers                                                             Suppliers
  Who they are

  •W
    e employ around 104,000 people with 136 nationalities,         •O
                                                                        ur customers range from individuals living in some of the          •W
                                                                                                                                              e have more than 15,000 direct suppliers around the
   bringing together a diverse set of experiences and opinions         world’s poorest communities to some of the world’s largest            world – from small businesses and start-ups to multinational
   to help us achieve our goals by better understanding the            multinational companies.                                              companies – who provide us with a range of products and
   needs of our customers.                                                                                                                   services, from mobile devices to marketing services.

  Why they’re important to us

  •O
    ur business performance and our customers’ experience of         •D
                                                                        elivering an outstanding and differentiated user experience        •W
                                                                                                                                              e rely on our suppliers to deliver high-quality products and
   Vodafone depend on our ability to attract, develop and retain       for all of our customers is a strategic priority for our business.    services. At the same time, we know that poor behaviour by any
   talented individuals at all levels.                                                                                                       one of our suppliers could have negative consequences for
                                                                                                                                             many businesses in the supply chain, including Vodafone.
  Examples of how we engaged during the year

  • E very year, we run an anonymous online Global People Survey     • T hrough our Customer eXperience eXcellence (CXX)                  • E very year, we hold supplier safety forums to share best practice
    across our entire workforce to assess employee concerns and         programme we aim to deliver an outstanding and                        and discuss ways to reduce safety risks in our supply chain.
    aspirations. This year, 88% of our employees responded.             differentiated user experience for our customers. The My            •V
                                                                                                                                              odafone and three other operators set up a supplier academy
  •W
    e invested more than €60 million in employee training              Vodafone app, which is now live across all of our markets,           focusing on training to help suppliers assess and improve the
   and development. This included a focus on developing                 provides customers with a flexible way of monitoring and             social, ethical and environmental performance issues inherent
   management skills in agile and digital working.                      managing their services online.                                      within supply chains.
  •W
    e believe that ethical conduct is just as important as           •O
                                                                        ur Internet of Things (IoT) solutions can enable our               •W
                                                                                                                                              e launched a new ‘Modern Slavery’ e-learning course to
   high performance. During the year, our Doing What’s Right           Enterprise customers to improve efficiency, deliver cost              support our suppliers to better manage this risk. The course
   employee communication campaign promoted different                  savings and reduce their carbon emissions.                            informs users about modern slavery risks throughout the
   areas of our Code of Conduct, such as anti-bribery and health                                                                             employment cycle, equipping them with the insights they
   and safety.                                                                                                                               need to identify and detect potential problems.
  •A
    s part of our efforts to drive diversity and inclusion across
   the business, in March 2018 we ran week-long campaign to
   recognise and support International Women’s Day, which
   engaged more than 17,000 employees.

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                                                 7
Sustainable Business Report 2018 - Vodafone Group Plc
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

  Local communities                                                   Regulators and governments                                          Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
                                                                                                                                          Non-Governmental Organisations
  Who they are
  •V
    odafone has operations in 25 countries. Our products             •W
                                                                        e engage proactively with policymakers to inform the             •W
                                                                                                                                            e engage and work with many different NGOs around the
   and services form part of every local community where we            policy frameworks that affect our customers, investments            world, on a variety of topics that range from conflict minerals
   operate. These communities range from remote villages to            and competitive stance.                                             to digital human rights.
   some of the world’s largest cities.

  Why they’re important to us

  •O
    ur business is dependent on gaining the trust and support        •W
                                                                        e have an opportunity and a responsibility to work with          • E ngaging with NGOs is essential to help us understand
   of local communities. We aim to do this through being open,         governments and regulators to ensure that regulation                 broader societal concerns and perspectives.
   transparent and by respecting local cultures and traditions.        enables every citizen to benefit from the positive impact
                                                                       of our networks and services, as well as technological
                                                                       innovations including big data analytics, artificial
                                                                       intelligence and IoT.

  Examples of how we engaged during the year

  •W
    e work closely with local communities to ensure we               • T his year, we continued our work to help make the Gigabit       •V
                                                                                                                                            odafone is a Board member of the multi-stakeholder Global
   understand any concerns they have about the location of              Society a reality, a vision that we share with the European        Network Initiative, which brings together ICT companies,
   our base stations. For example, this year in South Africa,           Commission. In April 2017, Vodafone organised a stakeholder        civil society groups, academics and investors with a shared
   Vodacom engaged with stakeholders on over 40 separate                event with European Union institutions to advocate for             commitment to promote and advance freedom of expression
   occasions to outline their plans, hear concerns and                  future-proof gigabit networks in the context of the European       and privacy worldwide.
   demonstrate compliance measurements.                                 Electronic Communications Code.                                   • T his year, we engaged with ActionAid and Oxfam to
  •O
    ur local businesses support the communities in which they        • T ogether with the Vodafone Institute, we held a series of         ensure our approach to responsible tax practices and tax
   operate in many different ways. For example, in India this year,     events attended by European institutions exploring big              transparency are comprehensive and address the areas of
   Vodafone India supported local road safety programmes for            questions about digitisation and a more connected future.           greatest concern.
   citizens to understand safe driving behaviours and the             • I n March 2018, we organised a high-profile event to launch      •W
                                                                                                                                            e have worked with Transparency International through
   importance of observing traffic rules. In the Czech Republic,        our international future jobs programme What will you be?,         its Business Integrity Forum to inform our compliance and
   we ran a public ‘Giving Tuesday’ fundraising campaign that            aimed at helping young people to develop their digital skills     disclosure practices and strengthen our anti-bribery and
   raised over €65,000 for a local health charity.                       and to access learning and employment opportunities.              corruption programme.

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                                          8
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

                                                                                                                                                 Women’s
                                                                                                                                                 empowerment
                                                                                                                                                 Equality of women remains a significant
                                                                                                                                                 global challenge. By empowering
Empowering women                                                                                                                                 women and promoting gender equality,
and promoting                                                                                                                                    we can enable communities, economies
                                                                                                                                                 and businesses – including our own –
gender equality                                                                                                                                  to prosper.

                                                                                                                                                 Our 2025 goals
                                                                                                                                                 We aim to connect an additional
                                                                                                                                                 50 million women living in emerging
                                                                                                                                                 markets to mobile

                                                                                                                                                 Our ambition is for Vodafone to become
                                                                                                                                                 the world’s best employer for women

                                                                                                                                                                                           9
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Global context
Equality of opportunity between men and women supports long-term social stability and economic                                                   Our alignment to the SDGs
progress. Over the past two decades, the global ‘gender opportunity gap’ has narrowed, particularly                                              It is estimated that measures to give women and girls equal
                                                                                                                                                 rights and opportunities could improve public health, increase
in areas such as education and health; however, major challenges remain.                                                                         productivity and grow prosperity, adding US$12 trillion to global
                                                                                                                                                 GDP by 20258.
Women are disadvantaged economically across all            Women also have an increased likelihood of being
                                                                                                                                                 Communications technology can play a critical role in
cultures, societies and economies. While the gender        engaged in informal or other vulnerable forms                                         empowering women to improve their lives and livelihoods.
gap is greatest in patriarchal societies within emerging   of employment. This is particularly prevalent in                                      Through providing women with access to life-enhancing
economies, inequalities still persist even in the          developing markets, where only 13.6% of women                                         services, which help unlock socio-economic opportunities and
most developed economies. Globally, around 50%             benefit from wage and salaried employment,                                            championing the inclusion of women in the workplace, Vodafone
of women aged 15 or over are in paid employment,           compared with 24.3% of men6.                                                          is committed to SDG Goal 5. Our approach also aligns to Goals
                                                                                                                                                 4 and 8, as our mobile technologies also support improved
compared with around 75% of men1. One study
                                                                                                                                                 education outcomes and drive financial inclusion.
estimates that it will take another 217 years to close     A lack of support during pregnancy and the challenge
the economic ‘gender gap’ if significant changes are       of balancing childcare with work account for many                                     Key SDGs and targets
not made, while the comparative lack of women in           women deciding to leave paid employment. Some                                                            4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and
senior, better-paid roles means that the global average    women experience difficulties in returning to work                                                       men to affordable and quality technical, vocational
                                                                                                                                                                    and tertiary education, including university.
for women’s earnings is just above half that for men2.     after a career break; others return to work but find
                                                           fewer opportunities for promotion and progression
In emerging markets, the gender gap tends to affect        than their male counterparts7. This is a lost
women at an earlier age than it does in mature             opportunity: for the many women affected and
economies. An estimated 130 million girls around the       for the global economy deprived of their skills.                                                         5.1 End all forms of discrimination against
                                                                                                                                                                    all women and girls everywhere.
world are currently out of school and are more likely                                                                                                               5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation
to remain excluded from education than boys3.                                                                                                                       and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels
Evidence also suggests that women in emerging              Globally, around 50% of women aged                                                                       of decision-making in political, economic and
                                                                                                                                                                    public life.
markets are more likely to live in poverty than men4.      15 or over are in paid employment...                                                                     5.B Enhance the use of enabling technology,
It is estimated that every day approximately 830                                                                                                                    in particular information and communications
                                                                                                                                                                    technology, to promote the empowerment
women die from preventable causes related to                                                                                                                        of women.
pregnancy and childbirth5.
                                                             £        £
                                                                                                                                                                    8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive
In more developed economies, young women and                                                                                                                        employment and decent work for all women and

men enter the workplace with equivalent skills and
                                                           compared with around 75% of men                                                                          men, including for young people and persons with
                                                                                                                                                                    disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value.
in broadly equal numbers, but subsequently a much                                                                                                                   8.10 Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial
                                                                                                                                                                    institutions to encourage and expand access to
greater proportion of men reach middle and senior-                                                                                                                  banking, insurance and financial services for all.
level roles. A significant proportion of women leave         £        £         £
the workforce or continue working in more junior
roles than their male peers.

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                                                    10
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Vodafone and women’s empowerment
Closing the ‘mobile gender gap’                            Changing women’s lives                                   focused on women living on low incomes. These
                                                                                                                    include Vodafone India’s Smart Snehidi, which makes
The GSMA estimates that in low and middle-income           through mobile                                           mobiles affordable for more women and enables
countries, women are 10% less likely than men to own       We estimate that 113.7 million of the 354 million        them to use their devices to run small businesses.
a mobile phone. This equates to a ‘mobile gender gap’      active customers we serve in emerging markets            Other examples include our Business Women Connect
of approximately 184 million women deprived of the         are women11. We have already developed mobile            programme in Tanzania and Mozambique and
benefits of mobile ownership9. In addition, over           technologies that can help women to change their         Vodacom’s Mum & Baby initiative in South Africa.
1.2 billion women do not use the mobile internet.          lives. However, a disproportionate number of women
Some of the reasons for this are economic, but many        still do not own a mobile phone.
others are linked to cultural norms.                                                                                   3.9 million more female
Closing the mobile gender gap would have a positive
                                                           We want to bring the benefits of mobile to women            customers in emerging
                                                           through a series of targeted commercial programmes,
socio-economic impact for women and society as a           and in 2016 we set a goal to connect an additional
                                                                                                                       markets in 2018
whole. It also represents a commercial opportunity         50 million women living in those markets to mobile.
equivalent to around US$15 billion annually to mobile      We are also committed to use our mobile technologies
operators in middle and low-income countries10.
                                                                                                                    Progress towards our 50 million women goal
                                                           to enhance the quality of women’s lives through
                                                           programmes that focus on:
Communications technology plays a critical role                                                                         Estimated number of female
                                                           • enabling financial inclusion;
in empowering women to improve their lives                                                                              customers in emerging markets (millions)
and livelihoods. Owning even the most basic                • improving health and wellbeing; and
mobile enables a woman to communicate, access              • building education, skills and entrepreneurship.
                                                                                                                                                     Baseline         Goal
information, learn, manage her finances, set up and
run a business, and even get help if feeling threatened.   We believe this focus and our actions will make             2016                      100.3
Mobile technology also enhances many public and            a material difference to women, families and
commercial services of value to women and girls in         communities within the societies in which we operate.       2017                      109.7       +9.4
emerging markets, from accessing vaccinations and
maternal healthcare to mobile banking and online           We have made significant progress towards our               2018                      113.7        +3.9
support for smallholder farmers.                           goal and now have an estimated 113.7 million active
                                                           female customers, 3.9 million more than last year
                                                           (and 13.3 million since 2016). To contribute towards               0   25     50     75     100      125   150

  Our 2025 goal: We aim to connect                         our goal, we have launched commercial propositions
  an additional 50 million women
  living in emerging markets to mobile

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                   11
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Enabling financial inclusion                               for example. M-Pesa is also widely used to manage
                                                           business transactions and to pay salaries, pensions,
More than 2 billion people in the world, most of them
                                                           agricultural subsidies and government grants.
women, still have no access to banking facilities12.
This makes it difficult for them to manage household
                                                           Access to M-Pesa helps women take greater control
finances, save money or run a business. Finding ways
                                                           over their own and their family’s finances. They can
to improve their access to financial services will bring
                                                           use it to save money to pay for a child’s education
significant social benefits and economic opportunities.
                                                           or secure a small loan to set up a home business.
                                                           In Kenya, research published this year estimated
In 2007, together with our Kenyan associate, Safaricom,
                                                           that 185,000 women have been able to switch from
we developed the first mobile money transfer service,
                                                           subsistence farming to business or sales as their
M-Pesa – a simple, secure, cheap and convenient
                                                           primary occupation as a result of mobile money access
solution that we now offer to customers across eight
                                                           through M-Pesa14. In addition, the research also found       Supporting businesswomen in Tanzania and Mozambique
markets: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt,
                                                           that M-Pesa has helped lift 194,000 households, or 2%
Ghana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique and                                                                            In sub-Saharan Africa, we are helping women who run their own small
                                                           of Kenyan households, out of poverty. We estimate that
Tanzania. This year, following detailed reviews that                                                                    enterprises to access financial services through M-Pesa, enabling them to
                                                           14.9 million women were actively using M-Pesa in 2018,
found the service was no longer commercially viable,                                                                    grow their businesses and improve their livelihoods.
                                                           accounting for 43% of our M-Pesa customer base.
we withdrew M-Pesa in Romania and Albania.
                                                                                                                        Since 2016, we have built on the success of our M-Pesa and M-Pawa mobile
                                                           Ensuring that M-Pesa offers secure and reliable
As of March 2018, 34.7 million customers were using                                                                     money services and are a partner in Business Women Connect (BWC), a
                                                           services that protect the rights of its customers is
M-Pesa13. They made over 9 billion transactions,                                                                        service specifically designed for women who run micro-businesses. Created
                                                           critical to maintain the trust and integrity of our
through a network of more than 356,000 agents.                                                                          in partnership with the ExxonMobil Foundation, World Bank and Centre
                                                           mobile payments system. In April 2018, the GSMA
                                                                                                                        for Global Development, BWC enables businesswomen to save and access
                                                           awarded M-Pesa its Mobile Money Certification in
With a mobile phone and an M-Pesa account, people                                                                       useful business skills training, delivered by the NGO TechnoServe. Since its
                                                           Kenya and Tanzania, following independent tests
on low incomes have more control over their financial                                                                   launch, nearly 6,000 Tanzanian women have benefited from BWC’s business
                                                           conducted against nearly 300 stringent requirements.
affairs. It also reduces the associated risks of a cash-                                                                skills training and learned how to use M-Pawa.
based society, such as robbery and corruption. Thanks
to the development of additional services such as                                                                       Building on this success, we aim to bring the benefits of the BWC programme
M-Shwari, M-Pawa and KCB M-Pesa, our customers                                                                          to business women in other sub-Saharan countries, including Mozambique,
can also save money, using interest-bearing accounts,
                                                                             14.9 million women                         where we supported a successful pilot involving 500 women.
and arrange micro-loans to help fund their businesses,                       used M-Pesa in 2018

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                                    12
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Improving health and wellbeing
It is estimated that at least half the world’s population
lacks access to essential health services15. Most of         Making healthcare more affordable
these people live in low to middle-income countries          in Kenya
where access to screening, prevention and treatment          In Kenya, only one in five of the population
services is often limited or nonexistent.                    has some form of financial protection from
                                                             healthcare costs16. Safaricom’s M-TIBA is a
Through both Vodafone and the Vodafone                       service that allows anyone to send, save and
Foundation, we have developed a range of mobile              spend funds specifically for medical treatment
technologies that enhance primary healthcare and             using their mobile phone. Money stored in
prevention services in emerging markets. Many                M-TIBA can only be used to pay for treatment
                                                                                                                        Providing mums and carers with free health advice
of these programmes are particularly important               and medication at M-TIBA-registered clinics                Internet access is often the key to finding a job, helping a child get a better
for women and young children. They include the               and hospitals.                                             education, getting health information, or keeping in touch with friends
Vodafone Foundation’s Mobilising HIV Identification                                                                     and family. In South Africa, Vodacom’s Siyakha (‘we are building’) platform
and Treatment programme, which uses mobile                   M-TIBA is helping streamline the management                aims to lower the cost of communicating while simultaneously seeking to
technologies to improve access to treatment for HIV-         of large-scale health financing schemes from               increase people’s digital and social connectivity. Designed for people on a
positive children and pregnant women in Lesotho.             insurers, the government and donors and is                 very low income, Siyakha offers free access to websites related to education
Over 139,000 people have been tested for HIV through         helping to make healthcare more accessible.                and job searches, and offers lower priced products and services.
this programme, with over 2,700 identified as HIV            There are now more than one million users of
positive and subsequently offered HIV treatment.             M-TIBA, almost half of whom are women. Since               This year, Siyakha services were expanded to include a number of new
                                                             launching in 2016, partners using the service              features, including a mobile-based platform for pregnant women called
Tackling violence against women                              have processed over 210,000 healthcare visits              Mum & Baby. This service provides parents and caregivers with free health
Global estimates indicate that around one in three           and have paid out nearly €2 million in                     information and includes videos that are useful at the different stages of
women worldwide will experience physical or sexual           medical costs.                                             pregnancy, through to the first five years of a child’s life. For many accessing
violence in their lifetime, often at the hands of a                                                                     this service, this is the first time such health information has been made
partner or ex-partner. The Vodafone Foundation               As mobile penetration in Kenya is above                    easily available to them. Mum & Baby is designed to be user-friendly and is
has developed a number of products and services              95%, M-TIBA is emerging as a secure and                    accessible online and via SMS. It is also available in five local languages.
designed to support people’s safety and security in          scalable platform to roll out essential health
vulnerable domestic circumstances. These include our         finance products.                                          Topics covered include sexual health and reproduction, pregnancy tips,
Easy Rescue smartphone app, which enables women                                                                         breastfeeding, immunisation, mother-child bonding, early childhood
in Turkey to alert friends covertly that they need help,                                                                development, nutrition and HIV/AIDS. During the year, 1.2 million registered
simply by shaking their phone. Another example is the                                                                   users accessed this free health information – many of whom were fathers.
TecSOS emergency alert service, which has been used          210,000 healthcare visits                                  In just one year, the Siyakha platform has reached 7.5 million people and
                                                                                                                        continues to grow.
across five countries by more than 100,000 people            facilitated by M-TIBA in Kenya
(predominantly women) at risk of domestic abuse.

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                                        13
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Building education, skills
and entrepreneurship
Enabling girls and women access to a good education          Supporting digital start-ups focusing
can enhance their chances of thriving in life, yet many      on female empowerment
girls in emerging markets enter adulthood lacking            F-LANE, a seven-week acceleration programme
basic literacy and numeracy skills. An estimated             for high-potential digital impact ventures, was
16 million girls aged 6 to 11 will never even start          developed by the Vodafone Institute in
school (twice the number of boys17) and even more            Germany as the first accelerator in Europe
start school but drop out early. In rural India, one         aimed exclusively at women. The programme’s
estimate suggests that only around one in 100 girls          mission is to foster the participation of women
reaches the final year of school18.                          in technological development and to empower
                                                             women of all ages around the world through
Studies confirm that low and middle-income and               technology. In the most recent round, 180
transition countries could add US$92 billion to their        start-ups from 57 countries were initially
economies if girls receive 12 years of schooling19.          identified for consideration and review.
However, in these countries, access to education
beyond basic primary school level can often be               The final five applicants took part in the full
difficult and expensive.                                     programme of support, which included
                                                             mentorship, training, networking and funding.
Mobile technology increases access to quality                The finalists were: Mamabird (USA), which
education, especially for people living in remote            transports life-saving medical supplies via
areas. The Vodafone Foundation has pioneered the             drones to women and children in remote
development of innovative digital teaching and remote        African communities; FinMarie (Germany), an
learning technologies for deployment among some of           online investment platform created by women
the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities            for women; BreastIT (Uganda), a start-up that
in the world, including people living in refugee camps       has pioneered portable ‘ultrasound sensitive’              Women First in Entrepreneurship
in sub-Saharan Africa.                                       gloves to enable breast screening in                       Vodafone Turkey is helping thousands of women to understand the
                                                             inaccessible areas; Doctory (Pakistan), an                 opportunities offered to them by digital communications technologies,
Its Instant Network Schools programme connects               innovative medical services and appointment                specifically as entrepreneurs. Through the Women First in Entrepreneurship
classrooms to the internet, providing solar power,           booking search engine; and Free_D (London),                Programme, launched in 2015 by the Vodafone Turkey Foundation in
tablet computers and teacher training resources,             which helps women involved in or at risk of                partnership with Ministry of National Education and Turkish Informatics
together with access to educational content to               trafficking to rebuild their lives by learning             Foundation, more than 26,000 women have received training on
remote and isolated communities. The Foundation is           competences in 3D printing. All five                       entrepreneurship, communications and finance. Once trained, they can
championing access to quality education for refugees         participants pitched to international investors            use their new skills to make and sell handmade items on a bespoke website,
and other marginalised learners, with a target to            at an event in Berlin in May for the opportunity           where more than 31,000 product entries are now listed.
connect up to 3 million young people living in refugee       to further develop their business with an
camps to a digital education by 2020. You can read           investment of €50,000, as well as access to                Over the next year, a digital platform will be launched to enable women
more about progress on page 37.                              coaching and mentoring support.                            to access e-learning content, as well as advertise their products and reach
                                                                                                                        more customers.

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                                   14
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Gender equality in our workplace
Gender equality in our workforce                           Our short-term goal is to increase the proportion of
                                                           women in management and leadership roles globally
We seek to be a company whose global workforce
                                                           to 30% by 2020 (2018: 29%). To help us meet this
reflects the customers we serve and the broader
                                                           goal and recruit, retain and develop talented women
societies within which we operate. We employ over
                                                           at every level of our workforce, we have developed
38,500 women directly and provide employment
                                                           programmes, including our ground-breaking maternity
opportunities for hundreds of thousands more across
                                                           policy and our ReConnect initiative, which make it
our global supplier base. We believe that achieving
                                                           easier for women to return to work after a career break.
greater gender parity will strengthen our company
significantly, as it enables us to better understand the
needs of the women, men, families and businesses             29% of our management
who rely on our networks and services.                       and leadership roles globally
Achieving gender equality in the workplace remains a
                                                             are held by women
significant challenge for most businesses, especially
                                                           Our commitment to gender equality begins at the
at the most senior levels. In order to help address
                                                           top of the company. Vodafone’s diversity and gender
this issue in our business, we set ourselves a long-
                                                           equality activities are overseen by the Vodafone
term ambition to become an employer whose track
                                                           Group Board and are led directly by our Group Chief
record in attracting and retaining female talent is
                                                           Executive, Vittorio Colao, who is one of 10 global chief
so strong that by 2025 we are widely considered as
                                                           executives who act as corporate champions for the
the world’s best employer for women. In addition, if
                                                           UN Women’s global solidarity movement for gender             Reducing gender bias in our recruitment ads
we demonstrate leadership as a ‘beacon employer’
                                                           equality, HeforShe.
wherever we operate, we believe other businesses will                                                                   During the year we piloted a new approach that aims to reduce the potential
emulate our approach, expanding the opportunities                                                                       for gender bias in our job adverts. Adjusting the vocabulary used in our
for women even further.                                      “Companies often struggle to recruit                      advertisements in a three-month trial has helped us to increase the number
                                                                                                                        of women who we’ve recruited into specific roles by 7%. This specialist
                                                               and retain women in management                           technology is now used to avoid gender bias in an average of 840 Vodafone
                                                               and leadership roles. Innovations                        job adverts a month globally.
  Our 2025 goal: Our ambition is for                           such as our global maternity policy
  Vodafone to become the world’s                               and our ReConnect programme can
                                                                                                                        These results were achieved by reducing the amount of jargon, abbreviations
                                                                                                                        and ‘macho’ language traditionally included in job ads. Words such as ‘win’,
  best employer for women by 2025                              make a real difference to women                          ‘kick’, ‘outstanding’ and ‘aggressive’ were replaced with words such as ‘bold’,
                                                                                                                        ‘improve’, ‘top tier’ and ‘extraordinary’. The changes were subtle but they had
                                                               who work for us today and who will                       a significant impact. Even removing a well-worn phrase such as ‘competitive
                                                               work for us in the future.”                              salary’ from an advert can make it more appealing to women, as they are
                                                              Vittorio Colao, Vodafone Group Chief Executive            often more interested in being treated fairly.

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                                       15
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

                                                                                                                                                                                      Vodafone image

Embedding our commitment                                   We now have active women’s networks operating
                                                           in most of the countries in which we operate. These
to diversity                                               networks have been founded by employees and are
Our mandatory Code of Conduct makes it clear that          managed by them. They offer women at all levels a
respect for diversity is integral to the behaviours        supportive and informative environment in which to
expected from everyone who works for Vodafone.             network, share and learn. As an example, our Women
We do not tolerate discrimination in any form              in Technology Network now has more than 1,600
and strive to ensure that every colleague has the          members and holds quarterly webinars and local
opportunity to thrive in a workplace that is welcoming     face-to-face meetings.
and supportive.

We have a number of programmes in place that embed
our commitment to diversity and gender balance.               Celebrating International Women’s Day
It is also included in our induction programme for            We want to raise the profile of female role models
senior leaders, who are also encouraged to complete           and celebrate women’s achievements with visible
unconscious bias training to help them recognise the          support from our senior leaders. One way we
assumptions and beliefs that can skew their decision-         do this is by running a week-long campaign to
making. In addition, we have introduced new training          coincide with International Women’s Day.
programmes focused on the recruitment process and
on skills required to manage diverse teams.                   More than 3,600 employees watched a global
                                                              webinar on 8 March 2018, which was personally
Ensuring women hold 30% of                                    endorsed by our Group Chief Executive. This was
                                                              just one event in a week-long global programme,
our management and leadership                                 which included over 60 events such as roundtable
roles by 2020                                                 discussions, networking events, training, and role-
On a quarterly basis, we assess our progress against our      modelling and mentoring sessions.
2020 global target to increase the global proportion
of women in management and leadership to 30%.                 As part of the celebrations, 100 women within
HR directors in our local markets and professional            Vodafone received a ‘Women in Red’ award in
functions use quarterly analysis to identify and address      recognition of their efforts in supporting gender
challenges to identify and address challenges. Twice          equality initiatives and inspiring other women
a year, our Group Executive Committee (ExCo) reviews          across the business. In total, we estimate that
Vodafone’s gender balance; and the Vodafone Group             more than 17,000 employees engaged with the
Board is also regularly updated.                              International Women’s Day campaign.

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                      16
Introduction | Women’s empowerment | Energy innovation | Youth skills and jobs | Supply chain integrity and safety | Principles and practice | Mobiles, masts and health | Appendix

Flexibility and support                                       can choose earlier or later start or finish times; and     More than 5,600 employees
                                                              full-time employees of Vodafone India can take an
for working parents                                           unpaid sabbatical, from 90 days to more than one year.
                                                                                                                         in the past three years have
Research by KPMG estimates that the cost to the global        In addition, Vodafone Egypt has introduced on-site         benefited from 16 weeks’ fully
economy of replacing women who do not stay in the
workforce after having a baby could be as much as
                                                              childcare services for employees at its head office.       paid maternity leave
US$47 billion every year20. We are focused on encouraging
and supporting our employees to return to work with us,
after the birth or adoption of a child, confident that they
can grow their careers while raising a family.                   ReConnect – bringing skilled people back into the workforce
                                                                 Worldwide, there are an estimated 55 million          Our target is to hire 1,000 ReConnect women over
In 2016, we became one of the first organisations in             women with valuable management experience             three years across our markets, including 500 into
the world to introduce a global minimum maternity                who are not in work following a career break. This    management roles. To date, 186 women have been
policy covering all Vodafone employees. Over the                 is a lost opportunity for women and for the global    recruited through the programme, lower than
past three years, more than 5,600 women working                  economy. Research from KPMG highlighted that          anticipated. While there are a significant number
for Vodafone have gone on maternity leave; all were              if all these women were to re-enter the workplace     of vacancies on offer at Vodafone at all times, it is
eligible to benefit from at least 16 weeks’ fully paid           without displacing others, the associated value       important to ensure we match the skills the roles
maternity leave, plus full pay for a 30-hour week for            of the additional economic activity generated         require with those of the candidates who have
the first six months of their return.                            globally could be around €151 billion21.              applied. We do not always find the appropriate skills
                                                                                                                       mix in the ReConnect candidates who apply and are
One of the reasons why working mothers take on                   However, getting back into work after a substantial   now working on more targeted campaigns to attract
most of the childcare is the historical reluctance of            break can be difficult; in recent research, 80%       women with the skills we need for the future.
many employers to extend maternal flexible working               of women who have taken a career break said
arrangements to include fathers. In March 2018, we               more support was needed to help them return           This year, a number of markets held ReConnect
launched a global paternity policy that set a minimum            successfully to the workplace22.                      events to publicise the programme and to offer
standard for all men (and secondary carers) who work                                                                   women access to the advice and training they
for Vodafone to be entitled to two weeks’ paid paternity         Last year, Vodafone launched ReConnect , an           need to feel confident to re-enter the workplace.
leave. In some cases, this was an increase from two days,        initiative aimed at bringing talented women back      We promoted ReConnect at career fairs, and in
and employees in 15 countries will benefit positively.           into the workplace after a career break, across all   November 2017 we hosted a ReConnect event
                                                                 our markets. The programme includes training,         in the UK with 10 of our suppliers and Enterprise
We also have flexible working, part-time and home-               coaching and a specially designed induction           customers, and have also encouraged and
working policies in place across a large number of               to help returners refresh and enhance the             supported one of our suppliers to establish their
our local markets and many employees are using                   professional skills they need to return to work       own returners’ programme. In March 2018, we held
our remote working technologies to find a better                 and progress their careers. ReConnect joiners are     another event in the UK that included a careers
work–life balance. For example, our employees in                 also offered flexible working options and a phased    fair, a CV drop-in clinic, an interview workshop and
Vodafone Italy are encouraged to work from home                  return to work.                                       a LinkedIn masterclass.
one day a week; those who work for Vodafone Turkey

Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2018                                                                                                                                   17
You can also read