Being a responsible company today is more than having a paper recycling bin next to the photocopier.

Using energy-saving lightbulbs or making sure children don't work in our factories, prohibiting bribes or using the safest materials in our products – all these and more come under the watchful eye of Jeppe Kromann Haarsted, our Corporate Responsibility Manager, and a team of like-minded people. He talks a little more about we do in these areas and what we'll be doing in the future.

"We used to refer to it in Coloplast as Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR," says Jebbe, "but now we call it just Corporate Responsibility (CR) because we have a responsibility towards other areas our work can have an impact on, for example, business ethics, the environment, the people who work here, and our suppliers."

Nothing unethical

Put simply, Jeppe's role is to make sure Coloplast is not doing anything unethical. If someone in Coloplast took or offered a bribe, for example, not only would this be unacceptable behaviour from the individual, it would attract the wrong kind of media coverage and could have serious consequences such as the company losing its right to public procurement.

 Of course, this does not mean he is patrolling every office and factory around the world as some kind of enforcer. He coordinates the work of the CR team in Coloplast so that the company can accurately report its progress. Jeppe says, "I gather people together to get the overview of everything we are doing. There is great interest in doing things the best way we can so in that regard, getting people to buy-in to CR is not difficult. I also help shape the CR guidelines for Coloplast, and advise colleagues on CR issues. "

UN Global Compact

Read about our 2008 Global Compact progress 

» Overview

The CR team in Coloplast includes individuals working with quality and the environment, the supply chain, human resources, legal issues, and the Access to Healthcare initiative. "They have ownership of their CR processes because they know their area best, while I am charge of coordination," explains Jeppe.

Examples of the kind of work the team does include considering the suitability of potential suppliers, assessing working conditions at our sites, minimising the environment impact of a product's development and manufacture,  and preparing guidelines on corruption and bribery.

Good framework

Supporting CR in Coloplast is the Global Compact, the voluntary-membership initiative established by the United Nations that sets out ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption for businesses to follow. "The Global Compact is a good framework for responsible business and signing up to it demonstrates that Coloplast is serious about CR," says Jeppe. Coloplast's CR team has made progress on all ten principles.

Going forward

Jeppe's desk is full already with numerous things he wants to introduce in 2009. "We're looking at increasing awareness of business ethics with training and e-learning programmes; and the preparation of a climate strategy that describes Coloplast's stance on energy."

He concludes, "Our CR activities can set us apart from competitors, and we should communicate the value this creates for us in terms of how our customers see us. We may not be a world leader in CR, but we shouldn't hold back on speaking about what we do right either."