SUSTAINABILITY:
Systematic work for sustainable corporation
SUSTAINABILITY:
Systematic work for sustainable corporation
Edita Group helps its customers communicate more efficiently and provides them with reliable printed and digital information. Edita Prima specializes in customer communication services for companies and organizations. Edita Publishing produces learning materials, web services, books, and training services to support the work of teachers and lawyers. It is right to say that our businesses have impact on our society in many ways.
Key figures
We in Edita Group aim to have a positive impact on society and to run our business in a sustainable way. Creating value for and maintaining the trust of our stakeholders is in the core of our operations. We seek to work in close collaboration with our clients to provide them with solutions that drive their growth and increase their customers’ satisfaction.
Edita Group’s sustainability activities correspond to the areas of environmental and social responsibility and good governance that form the basis of our sustainability approach (ESG). Edita Group also strives to maintain goodfinancial position that supports sustainable business. This includes financial responsibility and being a good corporate citizen.
We comply with legal requirements and transparency in our operations and have a proven track record of systematic sustainable work since the beginning of the 1990s. Our Code of Business Ethics (linkki) guides the activities of every Edita Group employee in relation to all our stakeholders: employees, customers, business partners and the owner. We also expect our business partners to comply with our ethical guidelines.
We are committed to run our businesses in a sustainable way and to respect environmental and social responsibility and ensure good governance in all our operations.
Environmental responsibility:
Reducing carbon footprint
We reduce our own and customers’ environmental impact by investing in sustainable operations and services.
In our production activities the environmental work is systematic and focused on continuous improvement. One important step in reducing our carbon footprint has been the transition to electricity from renewable sources. We have centralized our operations and increased our use of premises in and efficient way. This has led to increased energy efficiency and improved management of the office practices.
Social responsibility:
Culture of growth and collaboration
We are committed to building a growth culture providing employees with learning opportunities, nurturing their talent, offering inspirational leadership and fair rewards for achievement. We believe that individuals with diverse backgrounds and experience, working together in an environment built on trust and transparency, are essential to our success.
We encourage employees to collaborate with each other to strengthen our culture and ability to meet customer needs. Our Guiding Principles are an essential part of our daily work, and they guide our behaviour and develop our culture towards a desired ethical direction
Good governance:
Transparent operation
Edita Group follows principles of good corporate governance. Our goal is to show integrity, transparency and accountability in all our operations. We comply with legal requirements and are honest and transparent when communicating about our business.
Financial responsibility:
Profitable growth
We aim to conduct our business in a profitable way and provide our stakeholders with reliable and high-quality products and services in order to sustain long-term relationships with them. We run our business efficiently aiming for long-term profitability and growth. Efficient internal control safeguards reliable information, and regular risk monitoring enables us to react and manage risks in time.
Environmental responsibility:
Reducing carbon footprint
We reduce our own and customers’ environmental impact by investing in sustainable operations and services.
In our production activities the environmental work is systematic and focused on continuous improvement. One important step in reducing our carbon footprint has been the transition to electricity from renewable sources. We have centralized our operations and increased our use of premises in and efficient way. This has led to increased energy efficiency and improved management of the office practices.
Social responsibility:
Culture of growth and collaboration
We are committed to building a growth culture providing employees with learning opportunities, nurturing their talent, offering inspirational leadership and fair rewards for achievement. We believe that individuals with diverse backgrounds and experience, working together in an environment built on trust and transparency, are essential to our success.
We encourage employees to collaborate with each other to strengthen our culture and ability to meet customer needs. Our Guiding Principles are an essential part of our daily work, and they guide our behaviour and develop our culture towards a desired ethical direction
Good governance:
Transparent operation
Edita Group follows principles of good corporate governance. Our goal is to show integrity, transparency and accountability in all our operations. We comply with legal requirements and are honest and transparent when communicating about our business.
Financial responsibility:
Profitable growth
We aim to conduct our business in a profitable way and provide our stakeholders with reliable and high-quality products and services in order to sustain long-term relationships with them. We run our business efficiently aiming for long-term profitability and growth. Efficient internal control safeguards reliable information, and regular risk monitoring enables us to react and manage risks in time.
Maintaining the trust of stakeholders
Maintaining the trust of stakeholders
Edita Group wants to operate in a way that helps us maintain the trust of our stakeholders. We always seek to work ethically, responsibly and in line with our Guiding Principles with our stakeholders.
Employees
Edita Group aims to be an attractive and responsible employer. We are committed to promote
a good dynamic workplace and to create interesting career and development opportunities for our people.
We appreciate employees that demonstrate self-leadership, accountability and collaboration and believe that good leadership and a strong organizational culture are the cornerstones for employee engagement and high performance. We respect an employee’s right to balance their private and professional lives and believe it helps us attract and retain competent people.
Customers
Ongoing dialogue with customers is part of the fundamental nature of our business. We have daily dialogue with customers about their needs and expectations.
We aim for honest and accurate communication about our customers’ business as well as the services and products we create for them. We always seek a customer’s approval before openly discussing or publicizing a service we have created for them.
Partners
We treat our suppliers and sub-contractors equally and seek for cooperation build on trust and confidentiality. We focus for objective assessment of price, quality, and reliability in competition. We expect our partners to comply with our code of conduct and to oppose illegal and unethical labor practices as do we.
Owner
Edita Group Plc is a Finnish public limited company owned by the Finnish state that holds 100 percent of the shares. The owner is represented as member of Edita Group’s Board of Directors and regularly receives information about our business in the form of financial reports.
Monitoring risks proactively
Monitoring risks proactively
Risk management is an inseparable part of Edita Group’s strategic planning and operational goal setting. Risk management is based on an organization-wide approach to identifying, assessing, managing, and monitoring various risks.
The executives are responsible for managing risks related to corporate responsibility and reacting accordingly. Edita Group’s board of directors has approved the risk management methods applied by the executives. The executives assess the likelihood and significance of each risk. The Board of Directors also monitors and assesses risks that have been categorized as significant.
Financial risks
Regular monitoring of financial risks helps us to identify risks related to our business operations and react to them in advance. A risk can be anything that might have an impact on the company’s ability to meet its business objectives.
People
Our most important non-financial risks are related to people. These risks include:
- Management and the key people who work closely with key customers deciding to leave the company.
- Challenges in recruiting talented specialists with right cultural fit and managers who can develop the business and are good leaders.
- Failure in engaging the key people.
- Occupational risks related to printing, such as accidents, chemical leaks or fires at production plant.
We manage people-related risks by implementing good employee experience and talent attraction. In addition, we focus on employee and leadership development. We work for enhancing a collaborative growth culture, nurturing and inspiring leadership and efficient talent development and recruitment practices. We maintain good lines of communication, communicating as openly as possible, and enhance employees’ involvement in developing our business.
Environmental risks
A fire or a chemical leak at a production plant could damage the environment. We consider our other environmental risks to be minor.
Environmental risks are mainly managed through various environmental management systems, such as compliance with the ISO14001 standard; our production company follows procedures established in environmental management systems to identify and prevent potential emergency situations and accidents that could harm the environment. These procedures are audited annually by accredited third parties. The companies regularly review and test their emergency preparedness and response procedures.
Climate change
Climate change is not a substantial risk for our business. Nevertheless, we find combating climate change very important as it is the greatest threat to sustainable development globally.
We have managed to reduce our climate impact significantly since 2008 when we began assessing the ways in which our business contributes to climate change.
In 2009, we started taking measures to reduce our carbon-dioxide emissions and began compensating for a proportion of these emissions. Further information can be found on the environmental responsibility section.
Social responsibility
- Governance
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Enviromental
responsibility -
Social
responsibility -
Financial
responsibility
Be you.
Be curious.
We trust
and respect.
Fail fast,
laugh, learn.
Communicate,
collaborate and co-create.
Make wow-experiences
and value every day.
Be an accountable
daredevil!
Focusing on strategy and people
The role of the Group People function is to drive, support and develop the organization’s capabilities, ensuring that Edita Group has the right people, with the right competencies, in the right roles. The Group strategy is the starting point in building the desired capabilities, talent, and leadership. In order for our employees to perform at their best, an inclusive, inspiring, and value-based culture is extremely important.
Focus on employees’ health and safety in 2021
Focus on employees’ health and safety in 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic continued during the whole of 2021 and our focus was very much on the employees’ wellbeing and supporting the new way of working. Most of our employees, except for those working in production at Edita Prima, continued working from home throughout the year. The common value ground with high trust and respect within our organization has made the transition from office to remote work easy, and the crisis has strengthened our group identity, bringing us closer together. This fact has been confirmed by the results of our annual employee surveys.
Supporting managers and personnel in coping with the situation caused by the pandemic has been the common thread for the People function throughout 2021. Visible leadership and frequent communication have formed the basis for good collaboration within Edita Group. Our managers have been given the tools, guidelines, and support to lead people and teams remotely and they have begun adopting a coaching way of working with their teams.
Improving the clarity of employees’ roles and performance targets and strengthening opportunities for professional growth were other focus areas in 2021. With the aim of improving our employees’ professional development opportunities, we also continued with Talent Dialogues as part of the annual talent management process. It has increased the leaders’ understanding of the need to take a more holistic approach when discussing and planning employee learning and development.
During 2021, active collaboration with occupational health care and the pension insurance company was established and the focus has been on work ability management and its sustainability in the changing working life and along with the organizational change in the Group.
Towards a hybrid working model in spring 2022
Towards a hybrid working model in spring 2022
After the divestment of the Nordic Morning business area in February 2022, we are now a smaller Group with approximately 200 employees and two offices located only in Finland. While the status of the COVID-19 pandemic for now enables us to work more often face to face, we launched a hybrid way of working in early March. Our people are now increasingly working in the office, but it is evident that we are not returning to where we were before the pandemic. The hybrid model will be the solution for our way of working in the future. This presents challenges to our current office space and to how to utilize it wisely and efficiently. The development process will continue during the fall. We have invited the whole personnel to give ideas and feedback on our future office to reach a solution that meets our needs and expectations.
As part of the ongoing organizational and cultural change, we conducted an engagement survey among our employees in March. The aim is to follow-up on progress made and to gain valuable insights for the transformation that continues. The response rate for this survey was 86 percent (72 percent in 2020*).
The clarity of the employees’ roles and performance targets and strengthening opportunities for professional growth were some of the main themes in the survey. Consequently, 79 percent of the respondents in the engagement survey say they know what is expected of them and that they have clear performance targets. The corresponding figure in 2020 was 71 percent. This is a remarkable improvement, given the circumstances.
Pleasingly, the trend looks positive, and we are clearly moving in the right direction when it comes to strengthening our desired culture and behavior, with an impressive leap in the progress of self-leadership. Of the statements in the survey, the one where the level of agreement has increased most among our employees is: “I am empowered to make decisions in my area of responsibility.” This jumped from 3.98 in 2020 to 4.09 in 2022, on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being total agreement.
The second half of 2022
The second half of 2022
Our guiding principles will continue to form the core of our cultural work. As part of building the new Edita Group, the principles will be revisited during the fall to clarify what we value and want to strengthen in our culture. The process will be done in collaboration with all our employees. Our management, team leaders and People team have a central role in ensuring these principles are evident in our daily work.
To further support our desired cultural change and to drive accountability and self-leadership, we will continue to strengthen our coaching way of working and feedback skills across the whole organization. Developing these competencies is highly relevant to everyone, and especially for leaders, who are expected to act as role models for the desired behaviors.
We will continue working with our performance development framework to further increase the employees’ role clarity and make their goals clearer, as well as to increase the focus on learning and professional development. Strengthening the talent pipeline and building a clear successor plan for key positions will be in focus throughout the current year.
Progress will be measured with pulse surveys to ensure that we are on track and are taking the right actions to develop our culture in the desired direction.
Year 2021
– the first half of 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic continued during the reporting period and due to increased remote work we focused on supporting employees’ feeling of belonging and managers’ new ways of leading teams.
A major impact on our organization was the divestment of the Nordic Morning business area in February 2022. As part of the ongoing organizational and cultural change, we conducted an engagement survey among our employees in March. The clarity of the employees’ roles and performance targets and strengthening opportunities for professional growth were some of the main themes in the survey. Results show that 79 percent of the respondents say they know what is expected of them and that they have clear performance targets. The corresponding figure in 2020 was 71 percent. This is a remarkable improvement, given the circumstances.
Pleasingly, the trend looks positive, and we are moving in the right direction when it comes to strengthening our desired culture and behavior. Of the statements in the survey, the one where the level of agreement has increased most among our employees is: “I am empowered to make decisions in my area of responsibility.” This jumped from 3.98 in 2020 to 4.09 in 2022, on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being total agreement.
Emphasis in the future
Our guiding principles, which form the core of our cultural work, will be revisited during the fall in collaboration with our employees to clarify what we value and want to strengthen in our culture. We will also continue to strengthen our coaching way of working and feedback skills across the whole organization. Yet another focus area will be our performance development framework to further increase the employees’ role clarity and make their goals clearer, as well as increase the focus on learning and professional development.
Gender distribution of
employees (%)
Age distribution of
employees (%)
Age distribution of employees (%)
| Business area | under 30 years | 30-50 years | over 50 years |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Edita Prima |
4% |
21% |
75% |
|
Edita Publishing |
15% |
45% |
40% |
|
Other |
0% |
41% |
59% |