Delegations of authority
Principles and policies in this area are supplemented by job descriptions, annual targets and, for senior executives, clearly defined delegations, which are reviewed annually and formally communicated to each executive by his or her superior.
The Chief Executive Officer delegates certain authority to the members of the Group Executive Committee, who themselves delegate to members of their executive teams in regions and countries.
Delegations of authority cover business areas throughout the Group, and notably business development, human resources, procurement, investments and finance.
Delegations of authority must comply with the Group’s policies.
Improvement metrics
All progress can be measured. Accordingly, Sodexo has developed improvement metrics allowing for progress to be measured in five main areas: Business Development, Management, Procurement, Human Resources and Corporate Responsibility.
The Group Finance Department coordinates the process and monitors operational improvement metrics for activities and entities using a Group dashboard.
Making progress in these areas is critical for future growth in underlying operating profit, operating cash flow and revenue.
The improvement metrics are presented each year to the Board of Directors and the Group Executive Committee in order to track progress in the areas concerned.
Development metrics:
- client retention rate;
- client and consumer satisfaction rates;
- comparable unit growth;
- new business development rate.
Management metrics:
- contract profitability;
- profitability of the different activities and client segments;
- gross operating margin and on-site costs;
- general and administrative expenses by subsidiary, by client segment and by function.
Procurement metrics:
- percentage of purchases made from referenced suppliers;
- number of referenced products, reduction in the number of deliveries on a site, etc.;
- pricing and product inflation management.
Corporate Responsibility metrics
Employer metrics, including:
- employee engagement rate for which Sodexo has targeted a level comparable to that of firms ranked as the best employers worldwide. This indicator is measured annually by an engagement survey;
- employee retention for total workforce and for site managers;
- internal promotion, which is measured by the number of employees promoted to site manager, to a middle manager or a senior management position;
- representation of women in senior management;
- percentage reduction in LTIR;
- percentage of workforce working in countries implementing action plans to integrate people with disabilities into the workplace.
Nutrition, health and wellness metrics, including:
- percentage of client sites implementing actions that proactively address the Sodexo 10 Golden Rules of Nutrition, Health and Wellness.
Economic, social and environmental development metrics, including:
- percentage of spend with contracted suppliers having signed the Sodexo Supplier Code of conduct;
- business value benefiting SMEs (in euro).
Environmental protection metrics, including:
- measure of the consumption of products, identified as having an impact on the environment (for example palm oil);
- percentage of sustainable fish and seafood;
- percentage reduction in carbon emissions intensity (compared to 2017 baseline).
Sodexo selected an independent firm to audit a representative selection of social, environmental and societal data demonstrating the progress made in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility. The conclusions of this audit are presented in section 2.8 of this document.
