Philips 2008 Annual Report Download - page 37

Diversity and inclusion initiative evolves
We recognize and appreciate the wide variety of
people who work for us. Each individual is unique,
with his or her own background, culture, characteristics,
skills and ambitions. Our customers are equally
unique, and thanks to our
diversity we can better
understand them and meet their needs.
Achieving our target for 2008, women now comprise
nearly 10% of executives across the company. That’s
more than double the fi gure of 5% in 2005. Next we
want to increase that number to 15% by 2012. Further,
we want to get more talented local people into key
positions in our growth markets.
Understanding female customers
Since it was founded in 2004 our women’s network,
WINergy, has focused on support and mentoring.
WINergy’s
scope expanded in 2008 as the network
took steps to evolve
into an in-house consultancy to
reach out to female customers.
Thanks to our diversity we can better
understand our customers and meet
their needs.
Women representing our sectors and various
functional areas attended workshops in the
Netherlands and the United States to learn more
about our end-users. Now
marketers can reach out
to WINergy members to help them generate consumer
insights during the product creation process.
GLBT
We have been working with a GLBT (gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender) focus group to decide if
we should create a network, and if so what kind of
activities we should develop on behalf of and driven
by our GLBT community. We have established Philips
Pride, our network for gays and lesbians. Additionally,
we joined the Company Pride Platform in 2008 with
a number of other multinational companies and
co-sponsored its annual conference in Amsterdam.
Philips General Business Principles
The Philips General Business Principles (GBP)
are defi ned to ensure integrity and transparency
in our activities and to our stakeholders. Our work
on business ethics is dynamic, featuring ongoing
communications and updates of our GBP Directives.
Increasing awareness
We launched a communications program to
strengthen employees’ awareness of the principles,
as well as their importance and how they underpin
business integrity. Targeting all employees, the program
consists of modules that enable sector and regional
leaders to deliver the message, illustrating managerial
commitment at the local level. The communications
package features a range of tools – from simple
e-mails and printed media to online messaging
including intranet videos.
Our work on business ethics is dynamic.
A thorough updating process
Our mid-2008 update of the GBP Directives is based
on many factors. It takes into account experience
gained with the previous GBP Directives, trends in
legislation and society, and developments in major
codes of conduct like the Electronics Industry Code
of Conduct. Also included are demands of key
accounts and business ethics issues that experience
shows require further elaboration into concrete
directives to ensure adequate compliance.
15%
women executives
by 2012
Philips Annual Report 2008 37
122
Performance statements
114
Supervisory Board report
110
Our leadership
94
Risk management
70
Our sector performance