corporate social responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy

Introduction 

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the voluntary integration of social and environmental concerns into business operations and interaction with their stakeholders. CAP Worldwide (hereinafter referred to as "CAP") is committed to adopting best practice in this area.

CAP is fully committed to the principle of CSR and intends that CSR should become embedded, where appropriate, into its policies and practices, to the benefit of staff as well as the wider community. There is already much good work which could be classified as contributing to CSR taking place within CAP and the policy and future strategy will build on this in future.

CAP aims to be recognised as an organisation that is transparent and ethical in all its dealings as well as making a positive contribution to the community in which it operates. It is committed to the following core values in all aspects of its work, including the fulfilment of its social responsibility:

  • Clear direction and strong leadership 
  • Customer focus 
  • Respect for people 
  • Open communication 
  • Working to deliver best value 
  • Openness and transparency 
  • Equality 
  • Integrity
  • Fairness
  • Development of positive working relationships with others and; 
  • Valuing and harnessing the diversity of CAP associates

CSR Strategies

CAP will seek to achieve corporate and social objectives by focusing on four strategic areas:

  • Equal Opportunities - maintaining and promoting our commitment to the fulfilment of Equality Act 2010 obligations and the promotion of equal opportunities
  • Workplace – addressing the needs and aspirations of associates through the continuing development of diversity, work-life balance and health and well-being policies and initiatives
  • Community Impact – encouraging and assisting associates to greater involvement in team/individual projects in support of the wider community
  • Environment – further developing environmental management practices that minimise waste and maximise efficiencies

Other individual policies in relation to the above targeted strategies will be developed, where necessary, to detail the systems and procedures relevant to each area. These will specify who will be responsible for each policy.

Guiding Principles

CAP recognises that we must integrate our business values and operations to meet the expectations of our stakeholders. They include customers, associates, brand partners, the community and the environment.

  • We recognise that our social, economic and environmental responsibilities to these stakeholders are integral to business
  • We aim to demonstrate these responsibilities through our actions and within our corporate policies
  • We take seriously all feedback, complaints and compliments that we receive from our stakeholders and, where possible, maintain open dialogue to ensure that we fulfil the requirements outlined within this policy
  • We shall be open and honest in communicating our policies, strategies, targets, performance and governance to our stakeholders in our continual commitment to sustainable development
  • CAP will, where reasonable, make the necessary resources available to realise our corporate responsibilities. The responsibility for delivery lies with all associates
  • In relation to community involvement, CAP will identify a charity or charities each year and associates will work together to raise funds and aid the charity as and when possible in a practical way
  • In selecting either a charity for this support or working with a charity in a team building scenario, CAP will only support programmes which are inclusive in nature and reach across all social and community backgrounds. Support will not be given to individuals or groups with political or sectarian connections

Partnership Focus

  • We shall strive to improve our environmental performance through implementation of sustainable development and environmental policies
  • We shall ensure a high level of business performance while minimising and effectively managing risk
  • We shall encourage dialogue with local communities for mutual benefit
  • We will record and resolve customer complaints in accordance with our published standards of service
  • We shall encourage our associates to help local community organisations and activities
  • We shall operate an equal opportunities policy for all present and potential future associates
  • We will offer our associates clear and fair terms of employment and provide resources to enable their continued development
  • We shall maintain forums for associate consultation and business involvement
  • We shall provide safeguards to ensure that all associates are treated with respect and without sexual, physical or mental harassment
  • We shall provide, and strive to maintain, a clean, healthy and safe working environment
  • We shall uphold the values of honesty, transparency, partnership, integrity, fairness and respect in our relationships with stakeholders
  • Contracts with suppliers and brand partners will clearly set out the agreed terms, conditions and the basis of our relationship

Diversity & Inclusion

Our goal at CAP Worldwide is to ensure we deliver 'actionable insights', both internally and externally. Instead of purely celebrating our own diversity, we wish to contribute to creating a balanced and equitable business.

In August 2020, we attained Women Owned certified status and made our commitment to 'paying it forward' to our supply community and brand partners with the launch of our brand partner management programme 'At CAP, You're Welcome'.

The 'At CAP, You're Welcome' programme has been launched to ensure that all partners, no matter how big or small, whether they are global or local, diverse, entrepreneurial or minority owned are assured the same 'equal opportunity' to become a CAP brand partner/supplier and to receive requests to service extended stay demand from our valued clients.

We are proud to be part of the formal WEConnect International women's business enterprise (WBE) accreditation programme, an association that provides support to majority women owned businesses and helps global corporate companies to connect with formally assessed and certified women owned suppliers.

Being inclusive and welcoming to the second-tier extended stay supply chain who sit at the CAP table is one of our core company values. This is our commitment to inclusivity and equity and is now firmly one of CAP's company KPI's.

Modern Slavery

Our guiding values of honesty, transparency, partnership, integrity, fairness and respect govern our relationships and partnerships with our stakeholders and ensure we always act in the best interests of CAP Worldwide, our Clients and their Travellers.

CAP recognises the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking and will only work with Brand Partners who are compliant with, and can demonstrate compliance with on request, the following standards and the applicable laws and regulations of the country of the Brand Partner:

  • Employees shall not be required to pay any recruitment, hiring or other fees to secure their employment.
  • The Brand Partner must not traffic or exploit in any other manner employees by abduction, coercion, force, fraud, or threat.
  • Employment must be voluntary, and employees must be free to leave their work, and terminate their employment or other work status with reasonable notice.
  • Employees must not be required to surrender any government-issued identification, including but not limited to passports, identity cards or work permits, as a condition of their employment.
  • The Brand Partner may temporarily request such documentation from the employee for the purposes of completing any legitimate administrative and/or immigration processes.
  • Employees must be provided with clear, understandable contracts setting out the terms and conditions of their employment in a language which is understood by the employee.
  • Employees must have the right to freely join a union or enter into collective bargaining as permitted by local laws.
  • The Brand Partner must not use any form of forced labour, including but not limited to slave, prison, indentured or bonded.

Environment

CAP Worldwide recognises its duty to comply with relevant Environmental Management legislation and is committed to adopting best practice in this area.

CAP believe that we have a responsibility to care for and protect the environment in which we operate. We are fully committed to improving environmental performance across all our business activities and will encourage our business partners and members of the wider community to join us in this effort.

Key Impacts

CAP recognises our key impacts to be in the areas of:

Energy use
Raw material use
Waste generation
Recycling
Emissions to air/water
Water use
Transport
Procurement

Specific Measures

Specific key measures that CAP Worldwide has adopted to minimise our impact on the environment and ensure the most effective use of resources include:

  • Our business vision is for our services to be delivered via virtual teams, with team members working from home offices wherever possible using cloud-based technology and communicating using unified messaging channels. This minimises the need for our team members to commute to fixed office locations, saving transportation costs and resulting emissions.
  • Always purchasing technology products (laptops, monitors, printers, etc.) with energy-saving features to ensure the most efficient use of energy. We purchase all laptops, monitors and peripherals from Dell, whose products meet the highest standards of energy efficiency. For instance, all Dell monitors meet "Energy Star" standards.
  • While our approach is to be paper-free as far as practicable and to minimise the need for documents to be printed, we recycle all office waste - paper, toner cartridges - as far as is possible, minimising volumes going to landfill.
  • We apply the principles of continuous improvement in respect of air, water, noise and light pollution from our premises, to reduce any impact from our operations on the environment and local community.

The UN Global Compact

CAP Worldwide are signatories of the UN Global Compact. This is a written commitment from our CEO, with support from the board, which commits CAP to meet fundamental responsibilities in four areas: human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

Other commitments

We will strive to:

  • Adopt the highest environmental standards in all areas of operation, meeting and exceeding all relevant legislative requirements
  • Assess our organisational activities and identify areas where we can minimise
  • Minimise waste through careful and efficient use of all materials and energy
  • Purchase sustainable products wherever feasible [e.g. recycled, FSC or low environmental impact products and energy from renewable sources]
  • Publicise our environmental position
  • Train associates in good environmental practice and encourage associate involvement in environmental action
  • Reduce risks from environmental, health or safety hazards for associates and others in the vicinity of our operations
  • Adopt an environmentally sound transport strategy, including the use of public transport wherever possible
  • Aim to include environmental and ethical considerations in investment decisions where appropriate
  • Assist in developing solutions to environmental problems
  • Continually assess the environmental impact of all our operations
  • Our goal in this area is to be Carbon Neutral by 2025.

Review and Reporting

CAP will periodically review this Corporate Social Responsibility Policy (at least once a year during the management review) and our performance and update as necessary to ensure it remains aligned with our business.

CSR activity undertaken by CAP associates will be reported to the Directors on a regular (at least annual during the management review) basis.

In addition, CSR activity will be publicised both through internal communication channels, and externally as appropriate, through a variety of media.

Version 3.0 January 2024