HERACLES GROUP

Strong engagement and dialogue with local stakeholders facilitates the delivery of our business objectives and supports the achievement of our Sustainability Ambitions 2020, the company’s program for sustainable development. We have, therefore, been following a consistent stakeholder engagement methodology and developed tools to assist our facilities to structure their approach locally.

1. Stakeholders
2. Local communities

2008 -

Our products - manufactured from local resources and sold in neighboring markets - are essential to economic growth and the development of the country. In turn, our development is closely linked to the communities around our sites and their advancement. We have production and distribution facilities throughout Greece and a countrywide commercial presence. The basis for identifying our stakeholders is by mapping those who impact or are impacted by our business.
 

Our stakeholders include: our employees and the communities around our production and distribution sites; our customers, for whom we are in business; our extended network of suppliers and contractors who work with us; the authorities, at national, regional and local level, who control and regulate our operations; our shareholders; the NGOs and civil society organizations who monitor our environment and social responsibility performance; the media, who report on our performance.
 

For engagement with all the stakeholder groups identified, we have established a structured approach to ensure that, through any of our operations:
 

- we are able to listen to stakeholders,
- learn from their feedback and respond to their expectations (including consultation meetings, Open Days and informative meetings),
- securing an appropriate procedure for the management of the issues they raise through their remarks or complaints. 
 

Stakeholder group identification is integrated in the overall strategic planning led by the CEO and the Executive Committee, by assessing the impact to and from our activity and operations, with engagement actions developed per stakeholder group.
 

Stakeholder identification is actually part of the Sustainability Compass methodology which as of 2014 will be part of our sustainability planning in delivering our Sustainability Ambitions 2020. Local stakeholder consultation committees are the main pillar of our engagement at local level. In our Milaki and Volos plants, these meetings give us the opportunity to listen to our stakeholders, receive their feedback on our initiatives as well as share and discuss with them actions that are based on common interest and understanding.

With the participation of the employees.

Heracles facilities

In 2013, our facilities continued their active participation in the life of their communities, in consulting with them over important issues, such as the consultation meetings about the new environmental permit terms of our Volos plant, and in actively supporting local development initiatives. Examples of such initiatives include multiple contributions with products, cement, aggregates and concrete for the improvement of local infrastructure and repairs in school buildings or other public buildings.

The dialogue and the cooperation with all stakeholder groups, through the structured approach developed by the company, aims at ensuring that, through any of our operations, we are able to listen to stakeholders, learn from their feedback and respond to their expectations. We believe that our success will be greater if our corporate policies and practices enhance not only our own competitiveness but also the social and economic conditions in the communities surrounding our facilities.