Our Responsibilities

Since we last reported, our approach to corporate responsibility has further evolved, reflecting a greater understanding of what it means to our business and how we can benefit from its integration into our operations. We have assessed in further detail how our success depends upon our reputation, brand and relationship with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.

The benefit to us of improved corporate responsibility includes:

• being better able to retain and recruit the best people by meeting the expectations and values of current and future staff;
• being able to retain and attract clients by listening and responding to their changing needs by developing new and innovative services; and
• by supporting and enhancing the Savills brand globally through promoting ethical and responsible attitudes.

We are a values driven business, and as such remain committed to conducting all aspects of our business according to ethical, professional and legal standards. The Board is responsible for ensuring our policies and standards reflect our corporate values. Whilst these are more fully developed in the UK, we have, wherever possible, attempted to develop and apply them in our overseas businesses.

As part of our risk management and internal control activities, these policies and standards are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in legislation, best practice and business needs (see the Corporate Governance Report for more details on our risk management and internal control activities). We include a consideration of corporate responsibility related risks in our Key Risk Registers, which ensures that we are aware of and are addressing the potential risks that face our business (see Risks and Uncertainties Facing the Business for details).

As indicated in last year’s report, we have set up a Corporate Responsibility working group consisting of senior operation and function heads within the Group and chaired by the Group Chief Executive. The focus of this working group is to integrate corporate responsibility into our day-to-day business. To do this, four key themes have been adopted to help communication: People, Clients, Environment and Community. Operational forums, reporting to the working group, have been set up to focus on these areas.

We continue to be a member of FTSE4Good, which measures the performance of companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards. Our inclusion highlights our continued commitment to long term corporate responsibility.

People

Savills’ vision and strategy is based on the belief that market leadership and superior financial results can only be achieved by Savills having strong teams of outstanding individuals. Our reputation in the market comes from clients’ interactions with our people who are smart, innovative, professional, responsive to changes in the market, highly motivated and dedicated to excellent client service. Great people make Savills different and on-going recruitment and retention of outstanding individuals remains a top priority for our business. It is thanks to them that Savills continues to be a great place to work.

During the year a review of our Human Resources Strategy was undertaken to ensure that Savills retains its competitive edge in a challenging recruitment and retention market. In order to examine and validate our current position an Employee Engagement Survey was carried out.

Employee Engagement Survey

The survey was conducted by the Great Place to Work Institute (GPTW), a specialist assessment and consulting practice, and involved our UK and Irish employees. The main objectives of the survey were:

• to engage staff in shaping the future for people in the business;
• to help Savills continue to be a great place to work; and
• as a strategic driver to improve the recruitment and retention of staff.

The level of participation achieved was 86%, one of the highest results recorded by GPTW. The survey confirmed that Savills is a welcoming, friendly employer where people are given the autonomy and responsibility to do a good job. It also highlighted that our employees are committed and extremely proud to work for Savills.

The survey also helped us to identify where additional progress could be made and we have developed a strategy to deliver identified improvements. We will focus our efforts on better internal communication, clearer career development and continued improvement of our people management. Additional information to show how we are addressing these and other objectives is shown opposite.

Graduate recruitment programme

Building on the recent accolade of ‘Graduate Employer of Choice for Property 2007’ by The Times, a new graduate recruitment campaign was launched in the UK . To help facilitate the initiative, a graduate recruitment manager was appointed. The improved programme has created greater consistency in our recruitment of graduates across the businesses.

In Ireland our business, Savills Hamilton Osborne King has initiated The Graduate Excellence Programme™ which is a two and a half year structured learning programme designed to promote technical excellence and develop future leaders. This programme is underpinned by four pillars:

• Business: Graduates develop the technical and professional competencies necessary to operate successfully in the business and the market place at large.
• Team: Graduates develop skills that will ensure that they operate as effective team players and contribute fully to our team’s success.
• Individual: Graduates develop a thorough understanding of themselves and as the programme advances they recognise the change in their behaviour, growth and learning.
• Values and behaviour: Graduates behave in line with our ethical framework and values and understand why these are important to the business’ culture.

Developing talent

Attracting the right talent is an important component of our skills strategy. We must also retain and motivate high performers in the Group and ensure active employee management. A vital part of this is helping to identify talent and to develop new skills amongst existing employees. We are in the process of implementing a talent management and development strategy across the organisation in order to help build Savills’ future leaders.

Recognition and reward

The competitive remuneration of our employees is key to retaining them. We regularly review the way we reward and incentivise employees. Additional benefits include: performance and profit related bonus schemes, share save and share option schemes, pension schemes, health, long term disability and life insurance. Our bonus schemes and share schemes give employees the ability to share in the financial success of the Group and recognises and incentivises their direct contribution to that success.

Work/life balance

Employees value more than just financial remuneration, and that providing a balanced and flexible approach to professional life can help enhance employee performance and enjoyment of their career. In the UK we have introduced an Enhanced Family Pay policy and most recently launched Additional Holiday and Loyalty Holiday Reward Schemes designed to recognise and reward the loyalty of those who make a long-term commitment and contribution to Savills.

Internal communication

Internal communication is an increasingly important activity in the development of the Group and a priority in its strategy to invest in the organisation and the brand. As Savills grows so does the importance of managing the multitude of messages flowing through and across the organisation. It is important that we help employees to both understand and undertake what is needed to provide the best possible service to customers and to contribute to the ongoing success and growth of the business.

An internal communications department has been established to facilitate communication within the business using both online and offline media. This newly centralised team is continuing to improve the effectiveness of employee communications such as a weekly e-newsletter, organisational announcements, surveys and suggestion schemes to engage employees and to expand the use of our intranet, Connect.

Health and safety

The promotion of a healthy and safe workplace is a fundamental responsibility of all employers. Policies and procedures are in place to reduce risks and incidents within the workplace. We have dedicated health and safety executives who manage, audit and review health and safety, as well as implementing improvements where required. All employees have access to the resources they need to enable them to achieve their personal and company health and safety objectives. We provide workspaces, equipment, materials and systems of work that contribute to a safe and healthy environment for our employees. We strive for health and safety excellence and are not driven by compliance alone.

Clients

Savills ability to anticipate and deliver against client needs is inherent in our culture, and essential to our tradition of high quality service. Environmental and social issues are increasingly on our clients’ agendas and should be reflected in what we do.

Improving client service

Many of our offices are moving towards accreditation under ISO9001:2000 (Quality Management). This will not only make our operations more efficient, but will also make us more competitive when submitting bids and proposals, especially with teams focusing on public sector clients.

Customer satisfaction through feedback and recognition

Savills’ teams both apply and are nominated for awards, the results of which provide invaluable feedback about our work. For example, in November 2007 the Commercial Retail and Leisure team was awarded the ‘Estates Gazette Property Adviser of the year for Retail and Leisure’ award.

Savills continually responds to clients’ needs by enhancing existing and introducing new services. For example, our biggest Property Management team in Asia has introduced:

• Savills client portal: this enables clients to remotely access real time financial information about their property. Clients can choose to print tailor-made financial reports. There is also a platform to store and share meeting minutes, floor plans, fit out guides etc. This is also environmentally friendly as it eliminates the need to circulate minutes and other documents by hard copy.
• Online customer satisfaction surveys: customers and clients are able to complete the online survey allowing us to receive direct feedback on our services.

Responding to changing markets

We recognise that the expectations about the built environment are changing across our global market and that they are being driven both by market demand and regulatory change. Our strategy is to create strong and diverse teams which offer services to address the increasing legislative framework. For example, following regulatory change in the UK, Savills has seamlessly incorporated Home Information Packs (HIP) into its UK residential operations.

In addition, because many of our consultants are leaders in their respective fields, we are able to provide insight into future trends, such as the changing urban landscape. Our involvement in and support for the ‘Global Cities Exhibition’ at Tate Modern in London, is an example of how our expertise helps to inform discussions on the future of the built environment. This exhibition was free to the public and examined the recent changes in ten global cities, in both developed and emerging markets: Cairo, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Supplier selection

Our choice of suppliers can have an impact on economic, social and environmental factors. Whilst we do not use many suppliers, there are some areas of our business such as property management, where suppliers play an important role. In these areas, we are starting to put in place common standards for supplier selection.

Environment

Savills’ impact on the environment arises both from our operations and from the advice we provide to clients. The impact of our operations on the environment is low compared to many other industries, and so the most significant contribution we can make is through the quality of advice to clients. By helping clients to understand the environmental implications of their property decisions, we can have a much broader impact. We therefore see our specialist services, research and training as an important part of our environmental responsibility.

Client services

Many of our services include several business strands that have a strong environmental component. These include, for example, town and country planning, building consultancy, facilities management and strategic projects.

We can only provide the environmental services that the market demands. Part of our role, therefore, is to increase awareness of the benefits of addressing environmental and other issues. Savills were an Official Sponsor of the Think 07 exhibition and conference held in London in May 2007. The event gathered together the UK’s leading opinion formers and thinkers to debate:

• How the built environment meets today’s changing environmental, economic and social needs.
• What needs to happen to make the built environment truly ‘fit for purpose’ in a carbon-constrained world.
• What sustainability means for the private sector and government bodies involved in regeneration.
• The wider responsibilities of the property and construction industries as we deal with the issues of climate change, urban renewal and redevelopment.

Examples of what we are doing include: our Hong Kong office has introduced a new way to manage properties and buildings within its portfolio which benefits the environment. Its ‘Invisible Hands’ Environmental Care Programme has already resulted in several awards including for energy efficiency and recycling.

In Summer 2007, the Savills Research team published a report on the Market for Sustainable Homes. This considered the impact of the introduction of Environmental Performance Certificates and the Code for Sustainable Homes on the housing market. While the UK Government has set a policy objective that all new housing should be zero-carbon by 2016, implementation will require this kind of research and expertise which Savills can provide.

Our operations

While our environmental footprint is relatively small, we appreciate the value in reducing the impact of our activities on the environment to as low a level as is reasonably practicable. This aim supports our business goals in a number of ways. For example, by identifying operational efficiencies our actions are often not only good for the environment, but can also save us money too. In addition, it assists us in being an employer of choice.

The Group adopted an updated environmental policy statement in November 2007, which sets out its current approach to achieving its environmental objectives. In the UK, a cross-company ‘Green Group’ was formed in March 2007 to stimulate and co-ordinate environmental initiatives nationwide. Likewise in Hong Kong, Savills Property Management Ltd has established a centrally co-ordinated approach to sharing environmental best practice, training and business development. Similar initiatives are being pursued on a business by business basis elsewhere around the globe.

A number of offices operate an environmental management system that complies with BS EN ISO 14001:2004. This is designed to achieve and demonstrate sound environmental performance by controlling the impact of our activities and services on the environment. In 2007, eight UK locations and our Hong Kong office have adopted this international standard, with others to follow during 2008.

Information Technology forms an important part of any business. A prime focus of the Green Group is to find solutions through our use of modern technology to reduce our environmental impact. Initiatives that have emerged from their work include those aimed at reducing power consumption, reducing waste and reducing the need for travel. We are also using new technology to deliver research information, marketing materials, web-based collaborative forums and marketing brochures to reduce paper, transport costs and waste.

Community

As we reported last year the Board of Savills plc remain committed to enabling and, where appropriate, encouraging its employees to be actively involved in their local communities. Part of the Savills culture includes playing a positive role in the communities in which we operate, and our reputation relies on being a key member of the community. An intrinsic part of this role is supporting charities and community related activities on both a local and national level, which also has a positive impact on our company profile and raises awareness of our brand in these markets.

As part of our commitment to our staff, we commissioned a community survey throughout our network of offices in the UK. The results of the survey prompted the company to re-examine its approach to Charitable Giving in the UK, promote existing, and introduce a number of new, initiatives. These include:

• Give As You Earn Scheme: Savills operate a give as you earn scheme, which enables employees to donate to charities of their choice in a convenient and tax efficient manner.
• Bonus Waiver Scheme: Employees are given the opportunity to donate to charities of their choice by waiving part of their annual bonus entitlement. Savills enhances any such donation by up to 10%.
• Matching Scheme: Where an employee or group of employees raises money for a particular registered charity, on request, Savills may make a matching donation. The amount available for the matching scheme is determined by the board of each operating subsidiary on an annual basis.
• Giving of Time: Where employees use their holiday entitlement to undertake work for registered charities, Savills will give the employees one extra half day of holiday for every full day of holiday committed to working for a charity up to a maximum of two extra half days each year.

Globally the Group is very active and involved in wide ranging activities including:

• In China, our Shanghai office supported children from needy families suffering from leukaemia through the Chinese Red Cross Foundation and its ‘Little Angel Fund’.
• In Hong Kong, we have been awarded ‘The Caring Company Award’ organised by the Hong Kong Council of Social Services which applies to the staff working on their managed portfolios.
• Savills Sydney are supporting ‘Earth Hour’ which is aimed at inspiring people to take action on climate change by turning off lights for one hour on a designated date.
• In Ireland, the graduates at Savills Hamilton Osborne King are encouraged as part of their training to give up two weeks of their time to work on charitable activities and this is a scheme that is being considered for inclusion within our graduate scheme in the UK.

Future plans

While we are pleased with the steps we have taken to formalise our approach to Corporate Responsibility in 2007, we recognise that there is more work to do. In particular, we have an opportunity to spread these practices, approaches and services more widely throughout the Group. We are also in the process of establishing performance measurement indicators across the Group, so that we can better monitor, measure and improve our performance in the future.

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