Corporate Responsibility
FTSE is active in managing its own corporate responsibility. Like any company, it has a range of its own stakeholders, and is committed to meeting high standards of corporate responsibility towards them. As the company has grown over the last ten years, it has taken steps to manage its business impacts and to conduct its activities in the wider community in a responsible way. FTSE has been independently assessed and accredited as a GoodCorporation company for the last 3 years, an achievement of which we are very proud. We define our stakeholders as six separate groups - employees, shareholders, suppliers, clients, local communities and the environment - and we are concerned with managing and minimizing risks and impacts in these areas.
Employees
FTSE is committed to providing a great workplace for its one hundred and eighty employees worldwide. We have received Investor in People awards each year for the last 6 years. FTSE runs employee focus groups each year to understand what is going well and to identify the areas that could be improved upon and enhanced. As a result of these focus groups, a number of new initiatives and policies have been introduced to improve the working environment and ensure that we retain the team of financial services professionals we've worked hard to build. Examples of this include a policy and management system to assess number of hours worked in each area and ensure a life/work balance, as well as a policy which allows women returning from maternity leave to work on a part time basis.
Clients
We were delighted to be awarded the Global Pensions magazine, "Leading Index Provider of the Year" award at the end of 2004, in recognition of our innovative approach to indexing. A panel of experts representing leading asset owners worldwide selects the winner of this award. This award means a great deal to us, and has strengthened our resolve to continue with the market led approach to the creation and enhancement of our product portfolio.
Communities
A good corporate citizen plays an active role in its community. FTSE fully acknowledges these responsibilities and is committed to work with children's charity UNICEF. During 2004, contributions from FTSE4Good revenues were used to support a project to protect street children in West Africa. This project was selected through a company-wide employee poll. It seeks to establish reunification centers in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia which reunifies street children with their real families, and ensures that children attend school and donÃt return to work. FTSE has contributed over USD 2 million to UNICEF, since the two organizations began working together in 1999.
