Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
United Drug recognises the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the way it manages its business. We understand our responsibilities to our employees, customers and suppliers, shareholders, the environment and the community at large, therefore commitment to the highest professional and ethical standards is embedded throughout the organisation. The Group’s reputation and the trust of its stakeholders are the foundation of its success and are of fundamental importance for the future success of the organisation.
Employees
United Drug is committed to being a world class environment for talent development across all our divisions, the countries we operate in and the levels of seniority of our staff. We aspire to creating an environment where all employees, irrespective of level or seniority, have access to ‘best in class’ developmental opportunities. We know our people are our strategic asset and we are committed to providing all of our staff with the chances to help us grow our businesses at all levels.
We know that strong performers are motivated, in a very meaningful way, by career progression. International opportunities, and our preparedness to trust in our people’s ability and performance, present a very real advantage over many of our competitors in the search for talent. We provide staff with opportunities that both stretch and engage them but also provide a network of support to them during this process. United Drug believes that it provides career progression for ambitious people at a pace that exists in few other international environments. We regard this as a unique selling point in the global search for talented individuals.
We ensure that we are developing staff at all levels by designing pragmatic and meaningful developmental interventions. We design programmes that are focussed on developing specific strategically relevant knowledge, skills and competencies in the participants. We want our staff to go back to their businesses from our developmental courses with an improved ability to expand the business. We are focussed on ensuring that all of our developmental inputs have a tangible output.
We operate three distinct levels of central development programmes for our managers (from front line managers to senior managers) and are continually revising the content and approach of these programmes to ensure they are best in class and specifically related to advancing the strategic goals of the organisation. We want our participants to be inspired by their experiences and have the autonomy to make real improvements to their businesses. Our People strategy is a central tenet of our overall strategic approach and a key differentiator for our business in providing an attractive employee proposition to potential and existing employees alike.
Health and Safety
United Drug’s commitment is that “everyone who works for us or uses our services can be assured of their safety when dealing with us”. In this context we are building upon our existing commitment to health and safety, having embarked upon an enhanced group-wide safety management programme the principal purpose of which is to ensure that our business continually improves upon and outperforms our commitment. This programme will ultimately see all of our businesses having an even greater alignment in health and safety practice, with the benefit of enhanced support and monitoring from our dedicated team. As part of this we will be further benchmarking our performance to ensure that we understand what we need to do to continue our maintenance of the highest standards of health and safety for all of our internal and external stakeholders, employees, suppliers, customers and the environments and communities in which our businesses operate.Marketplace
We play a leading role in the provision of healthcare services and work closely with independent pharmacists and local healthcare providers to advise and inform the communities we serve. Our business contributes to supporting the best level of care to patients and acts in their best interests.
The Group is committed to providing the highest quality services and developing and maintaining long-standing relationships with our customers and suppliers.
As part of our commitment to quality, we have made significant investment to ensure the highest industry standards for packaging, storage and delivery of both products and services are maintained and we ensure our people adhere to the highest quality standards.
Environment
United Drug is committed to the conservation of the environment. We ensure that relevant statutory requirements and the highest standards are adhered to and good environmental practice is applied in managing our business and providing services to our customers.
Across the Group, we operate re-use and recycle programmes and engage with suppliers and customers to reduce unnecessary packaging. We actively participate in waste management schemes. We also operate programmes to collect, and safely dispose of, non-recyclable waste, ensuring responsible disposal in collaboration with regulators.
United Drug is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and is progressing further with its carbon monitoring and management programme.