FRAGILE

As employees of a global business, Crown’s peoplesee how some communities have much less thanothers. We have learned that by working with localcommunity groups and organizations we can helpthem to achieve more – by donating time, moneyor other resources. We also recognize that helpingunderserved groups to sustain themselves makes theentire community stronger.Transferring expatriatesThrough our global mobility management andrelocations businesses, Crown brings together peopleof every culture and socio-economic background.Not surprisingly, many client assignments entaileconomically and socially privileged transfereesmoving to developing markets. These transferees mayhave nice homes, schools and health care in a citywhere many people do not.This disparity need not be a bad thing, especially ifsome transferees become involved in helping thecommunity. It is Crown’s goal to encourage andprovide tools that enable client employers andtransferees to do this.Stakeholder engagementWorking with partners offers an important, indirectcontribution to our CSR goals. Although activitiesvary between countries, the basic principles are thesame: to extend our infl uence to stakeholders outsideour business, encouraging others to share our aims ofimproving the communities we operate in, howeverlong we’re there.The initiative has two strands: fi rstly, informationprovision to relocating employees, and secondly,charity donations from departing families.cultural awareness and adaptability training througha program of intercultural services. In similar fashionto our cultural training, we provide a guide to being agood member of the local community as a transferee.That guidance covers local practices, environmentalawareness, and recycling practicalities and even adviceon shopping: for example, where to buy local ororganic produce.The second half of our stakeholder engagement effortis tied to transferees’ departures. However wellplannedyour stay, it is highly likely that you’ll get tothe end of an assignment having accumulated thingsyou don’t intend on taking home when you leave.Transferees normally leave behind unused food andunwanted clothing. Occasionally they leave furnitureor decorative objects acquired while on assignment.In most cases, these items can be collected andredistributed or recycled within the local community.In both the above ways Crown is infl uencing itsstakeholders in line with its sustainability program.Although it’s common for companies to use theirposition of strength in a supply chain to infl uencesuppliers, it is less common to fi nd that infl uencespreading in the other direction, toward clients.Since beginning to encourage stakeholders, we havesteadily grown the number of clients who wish totake part. In the last year, we have worked increasinglywith clients, inviting them to join Crown’s efforts orworking together to support their own CSR goals.One client has now formally integrated Crown’s CSRprograms into transferee counseling at the start andend of an assignment.Transferees arriving in new countries often suffera culture shock if ill-prepared for the transition. Toaid transferees in their integration, Crown provides