Engaging Employees

HEINEKEN aims to provide a safe and secure working environment for all the employees. This takes account of embedding integrity, health, safety and employee rights in our company culture. The safety of those who work in and near our operations has to be paramount. It is a basic requirement that an employer provides a safe working environment and that a set of rigorous rules and policies are in place to govern this and to minimise accident frequency and severity.

We also care about the communities in which we operate. In this respect, being a good citizen means both the prevention of incidents that could endanger the health and safety of our neighbours as well as the reduction of nuisance caused by our activities.

We strive continuously to improve our safety performance. We set measurable targets for accident frequency and severity in the production area with a three-year horizon. Improvements have to be realised by the continuous training of our employees and the mandatory implementation of the safety pillar under our Total Productive Management (TPM) programme.

The policies of HEINEKEN covering ethical business practices - specifically those relating to corruption, gifts, fraud and conflicts of interest - have been clarified over the past few years. We have put a programme in place to establish more consistent standards on business ethics throughout our company.

We took a number of measures to reinforce integrity within HEINEKEN in 2009. Firstly, we have revised our Whistleblowing Procedure to take into account new insights concerning the protection of personal data. We have also amended our Code of Business Conduct to include a mandatory disclosure of interests by senior managers.

Central to our actions is the need to explain clearly to employees what HEINEKEN expects of them in every commercial situation.

An overview of our principles you can find here.An overview of our policies you can find here.

To succeed in our sustainability ambition, employees at all levels are involved in projects and programmes related to 'Brewing a Better Future'. HEINEKEN recognises that engaged employees understand the ambitions for the business, feel a connection to it, and deliver on the individual and functional contributions they can make.The company delivers on this initiative by leveraging existing and creating new central and local channels including platforms.

In addition, the HEINEKEN University, an internal learning centre, facilitates best practices and provides learning opportunities that are linked to the company's strategy. The centre designs and delivers HEINEKEN tailor made learning modules that support the 'Brewing a Better Future' ambition.

HEINEKEN has defined a number of programmes to meet the set targets. Our objectives for 2012 are:

• The accident frequency target for supply chain: maximum 1.2 accidents/100FTEs
• The safety targets set for non-production related activities
• The roll-out of training modules for employees in high and medium safety risk functions
• Integrity included as a component in employee surveys and followed up upon
• Our Employee Rights policy adopted, implemented and audited
• A “Day of Giving” programme and volunteering scheme implemented in 10 operations