Marks and Spencer 2003 Annual Report Download - page 25

www.marksandspencer.co m 23
Directors and their interests
The current directors are listed on page 19 of the Annual Review and Summary Financial Statement.
Justin King and Vittorio Radice were appointed executive directors of the Company on 1 September 2002 and 3 March
2003, respectively. Alan McWalter retired from the Board on 10 July 2002.
On 2 April 2002, Paul Myners was appointed non-executive director of the Company. Tony Ball retired from the Board on
4 September 2002.
The beneficial interests of the directors and their families in the shares of the Company and its subsidiaries are given on
page 21.
Employee involvement
We have maintained our commitment to employee involvement throughout the business.
Employees are kept well informed of the performance and objectives of the Group through personal briefings, regular
meetings and e-mail. These are supplemented by our employee publication, On Your Marks, and video presentations.
Business Involvement Groups in stores, distribution centres and head office represent employees in two way
communication and are involved in the delivery of change and driving business improvement.
The eighth meeting of the European Council took place last July. This council provides an additional forum for
communicating with employee representatives from the countries in the European Community.
Directors and senior management regularly visit stores and discuss, with employees, matters of current interest and concern
to the business.
We continue to support employee share ownership through long-established employee share schemes, membership of
which is service-related, details of which are given on pages 35 to 37.
Equal opportunities
The Group is committed to an active Equal Opportunities Policy from recruitment and selection, through training and
development, appraisal and promotion to retirement.
It is our policy to promote an environment free from discrimination, harassment and victimisation, where everyone will
receive equal treatment regardless of gender, colour, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, marital status, sexual
orientation or religion. All decisions relating to employment practices will be objective, free from bias and based solely
upon work criteria and individual merit.
The Group is responsive to the needs of its employees, customers and the community at large and we are an organisation
that uses everyone’s talents and abilities to the full.
Employees with disabilities
It is our policy that people with disabilities should have full and fair consideration for all vacancies. During the year we
continued to use the Government’s ‘two tick’ disability symbol to demonstrate our commitment to interviewing those
people with disabilities who fulfil the minimum criteria, and endeavouring to retain employees in the workforce if they
become disabled during employment. We will actively retrain and adjust their environment where possible to allow them
to maximise their potential.
We continue to work with external organisations to provide work-place opportunities on the ‘Workstep Programme’.
Creditor payment policy
For all trade creditors, it is the Group’s policy to:
•agree the terms of payment at the start of business with that supplier;
•ensure that suppliers are aware of the terms of payment; and
•pay in accordance with its contractual and other legal obligations.
The main trading company’s (Marks and Spencer p.l.c.) policy concerning the payment of its trade creditors is as follows:
•General merchandise is automatically paid for 11 working days from the end of the week of delivery;
•Food is paid for 13 working days from the end of the week of delivery (based on the timely receipt of an accurate
invoice); and
•Distribution suppliers are paid monthly, for costs incurred in that month, based on estimates, and payments are adjusted
quarterly to reflect any variations to estimate.
Trade creditor days for Marks and Spencer p.l.c. for the year ended 29 March 2003 were 14.3 days (10.3 working days),
based on the ratio of company trade creditors at the end of the year to the amounts invoiced during the year by trade
creditors.