2011 - Li & Fung Limited

SUSTAINABILITY (CONTINUED)
WELL-BEING, OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
AND HUMAN RIGHTS
We aim to provide a safe, healthy and respectful workplace by
adhering to our policies and codes, raising awareness, sharing
tips and experiences, and providing training for our employees.
The health and well-being of all of our people globally is at the
top of our agenda. Our Useful Tips on health and well-being
play a vital role in sharing knowledge to our employees through
daily email messages and our internal e-platform. The tips cover
issues relevant to occupational health (e.g. desk ergonomics,
heavy-lifting postures and precautions, stretching exercises) and
well-being (e.g. ways to stay positive, quick stress relievers).
To support the ongoing promotion of health and safety in our
workplaces, we launched a series of Environmental, Health and
Safety (EHS) initiatives in our distribution centers worldwide. We
also provide training to our employees globally and regularly
conduct internal EHS audits to ensure compliance in our
operations and to strive for continual improvement.
In November 2011, we launched our human rights statement
on our website and implemented an internal awareness-raising
program. The statement reinforces that since the founding of Li
& Fung, respect for human rights has always been at the core
of our beliefs and embedded in the way we do business. We
have formalized these principles into group policies and codes
that foster a respect for human rights amongst our employees
and business partners. The statement further affirms our
commitment to support the:
• International Labor Organization’s Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, including
freedom of association and the effective recognition of
the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of forced
or compulsory labor, the abolition of child labor and the
elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and
occupation;
44 LI & FUNG LIMITED | ANNUAL REPORT 2011
• ten principles of the UN Global Compact, covering human
rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption, throughout
our operations; and
• UN Declaration of Human Rights as a necessary foundation
for social development and economic progress.
LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Our learning and development programs aim to strengthen core
functional and management capabilities of our people through
a variety of structured training programs, peer-to-peer learning,
mentoring, on-the-job training, e-learning modules, and others.
In 2011, we had a record of over 36,000 employee visits to
access our online learning tools and over 19,025 participants
attended formal learning classes or took part in e-learning.
Learning initiatives focusing on strengthening core functional
and management capabilities of our people include, for
example:
• The Merchandising Skills Foundation Program aims to equip
merchandisers with practical, job-related skills. In 2011,
over 3,700 employees in 16 locations participated and this
program was then extended to a broader group through
e-learning with over 3,200 employees in 33 locations
participating.
• Our expanded Merchandising Development Program
focuses on enhancing the technical expertise as well as
individuals’ confidence in serving our customers. The
curriculum covers over 46 topics on product and production
knowledge, productivity improvement, processes and
practices, and performance enhancement skills. Over 618
in-house learning sessions were organized in 33 offices, with
18,200 participants joining through 15,000 learning hours.