Staples 2005 Annual Report Download - page 9

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 9 of the 2005 Staples annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 124

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124

3
HIGHLIGHTS OF 2005 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
We have made progress across a number of corporate responsibility initiatives in 2005. In recognition of
our efforts to date related to corporate citizenship, Staples was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability
Index for the second consecutive year and the Business Ethics 100 list for the third year in a row. In the
following sections, we provide highlights of our accomplishments in 2005 within our ethics, environment,
community, and diversity programs.
Ethics
Our ethics program maintains a culture of integrity, ensuring that our associates understand and live by
high ethical standards. We demonstrate our integrity by setting an ethical tone at the top, maintaining an
effective governance structure, and encouraging open and honest communication at all levels. We hold
ourselves accountable for doing business ethically and legally by providing our associates with practical
tools to enable sound decision-making and the ability to come forward with questions or concerns without
fear of retaliation. Our ethics program also holds our vendors and suppliers to high ethical standards
through the terms of our contracts and our Supplier Code of Conduct. Through these initiatives, we
strengthen our brand and ensure that our associates will continue to act in the best interests of Staples and
our shareholders. Some of the ways that we helped fulfill our commitment in 2005 are highlighted below:
xLaunched EthicsPoint, a global third-party ethics help system designed to enable associates
worldwide to ask questions and report ethics concerns in their native languages. EthicsPoint will
be used as Staples’ primary global internal case management and tracking tool.
xDeveloped and implemented ethics training for more than 7,000 U.S. and Canadian associates,
designed to highlight key areas of Staples’ Code of Ethics, including conflicts of interest,
customer privacy, confidential business information, and accurate books and records.
xNamed internal ethics liaisons in Canada and Europe, who are responsible for helping to adapt
and implement the global ethics program internationally.
xEnhanced associate awareness of acceptable customer data handling practices and modified
business practices to guard against unauthorized use and disclosure.
xStrengthened Staples’ commitment to ethical sourcing by developing an expanded social audit
program for factories producing Staples® brand products in geographic areas of high risk.
Environment
Staples’ environmental initiatives help us operate our business in a more sustainable manner across our
entire value chain, from procurement to the recycling services we offer to our customers. Reducing our
environmental footprint is not only crucial to protecting the natural world and the ability of future
generations to sustain themselves— it also helps meet customer needs, creates operational efficiencies,
sparks new business opportunities, reduces future risks, and enhances our brand.
We make it easy for our customers to make a difference by continually improving the environmental
attributes of our products and services. We also continuously improve the environmental performance of
our internal operations. Staples focuses its efforts in four major areas: environmentally preferable
products, recycling, energy and climate, and environmental education.
Some of our key environmental accomplishments for 2005 included the following: