From a Stewardship Working Party consisting of Aviva Investors, BlackRock, Governance for Owners, Railpen Investments, Ram Trust and USS

Leading firms in the institutional investor community have joined forces with Tomorrow’s Company to launch a working party which aims to improve the quality of engagement by institutional investors with UK companies. The practitioner-led group aims to identify engagement styles and practices that seem to be most effective and to share that intelligence with the aim of making engagement more rewarding for investors and companies alike. The group also intends to make a significant contribution to the 2012 revision of the Stewardship Code which the Financial Reporting Council is proposing will take effect from 1st October 2012. The group includes some of the world’s largest and most active investors – Aviva Investors, BlackRock, Governance for Owners, Railpen Investments, Ram Trust and USS.

A key part of the project will be interviews with board members of leading UK companies to provide companies’ feedback on stewardship and their criteria for good stewardship. The project team will be examining how companies judge the quality of stewardship, sources of frustration for companies and what they would like to see change. The group also intends in due course to share its work with, and get feedback from, other institutional investors.

Contact Nick Denton, MHP, on + 44(0) 203128 8754 or + 44(0) 7770 272 083, Nick.Denton@mhpc.com

Notes to editors:

Aviva Investors is the global asset management business of Aviva plc. The business delivers investment management solutions, services and client-driven performance to clients worldwide. Aviva Investors operates in 16 countries in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and the United Kingdom with assets under management of £269 billion at 30 June 2011.

BlackRock is a leader in investment management, risk management and advisory services for institutional and retail clients worldwide. At September 30, 2011, BlackRock’s AUM was $3.35 trillion. BlackRock offers products that span the risk spectrum to meet clients’ needs, including active, enhanced and index strategies across markets and asset classes. Products are offered in a variety of structures including separate accounts, mutual funds, iShares® (exchange-traded funds), and other pooled investment vehicles. BlackRock also offers risk management, advisory and enterprise investment system services to a broad base of institutional investors through BlackRock Solutions®. Headquartered in New York City, as of September 30, 2011, the firm has over 9,000 employees in 27 countries and a major presence in key global markets, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East and Africa. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.blackrock.com.

Governance for Owners (GO) is an independent partnership between major financial institutions, shareowners and executives dedicated to adding long-term value for clients by exercising owners’ rights. There are three main product offerings – GO European Focus Fund (which invests in European public companies where value can be added through making use of ownership rights), GO Stewardship Services (which offers intelligent voting and engagement on quoted companies worldwide), and GO Japan Engagement Consortium (which engages major Japanese companies on behalf of domestic and international institutional investors to improve long-term shareholder returns). GO will shortly launch the TMAM-GO Japan Engagement Fund, which will invest in underachieving quoted companies in Japan and engage with management and boards to improve long-term performance. GO has offices in London, Tokyo and New York.

RPMI, through its wholly owned subsidiary Railway Pension Investments Limited (“Railpen Investments”), carries out investment management for the Railways Pension Trustee Company Limited, the corporate trustee of the railways pension schemes with £18 billion in assets at 31 December 2010. Railpen Investments is authorised by the FSA. RPMI provides nationwide coverage from its offices in Coventry, Darlington and London, currently looking after the pension interests of around 500,000 people in the UK on behalf of over 200 clients. The Trustee Company and its subsidiaries are long-term supporters of better corporate governance and responsible investment. We believe that companies with interested and involved shareholders are more likely to achieve superior long-term financial performance than those without. We strongly support the Financial Reporting Council's UK Stewardship Code published in July 2010 and our full statement on how we apply the code and its seven principles can be found at www.rpmi.co.uk.

Ram Trust Services is an investment management and financial services advisory group operating from Portland, Maine. As a "family office" trust company with a global investment perspective, it provides customized insights to high net worth families, individuals and foundations. It believes that being an informed and active shareholder on behalf of its clients makes a difference with respect to risk and performance."

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is the principal final salary pension scheme provided for academic and senior administrative staff in UK universities and other higher education and research institutions. The fund is the second largest pension scheme in the UK, managing in excess of £32 billion of assets on behalf of nearly 400 participating institutions and over 270,000 members. The majority of the fund's assets are managed in-house by a dedicated team of investment professionals. As an asset owner which takes seriously its fiduciary obligations to its beneficiaries, USS aims to be a responsible and long-term investor.

Tomorrow's Company is the agenda setting ‘think and do’ tank which looks at the role of business and how to achieve enduring business success. We focus on strong relationships, and clear purpose and values as the foundation of effective leadership and governance. In our programmes we challenge business leaders around the world to work in dialogue with others to tackle the toughest issues. We promote systemic solutions, working across boundaries between business, investors, government and society. Tomorrow’s Company has published four reports on stewardship in the last 3 years, including Why Stewardship Matters (2011), Family Business Stewardship with the Institute for Family Business, (2011), Defining, Differentiating and Rewarding Stewardship, (2009), and Tomorrow’s Owners – Stewardship of Tomorrow’s Company (2008).

www.tomorrowscompany.com and www.forceforgood.com

“To be effective, reporting must not only provide an integrated account of what is material, drawing on financial and non-financial data - tomorrow's corporate reporting must fully reflect the needs of the whole system of which it is part, and all the key players and institutions who bring the system to life."

This report is the output of a collaborative research study undertaken by CIMA, the UK firm of PwC and the London-based think-tank Tomorrow's Company. The focus of this study has not been the ideal content of a report: we recognise the excellent and important work being done by many others, notably the International Integrated Reporting Committee. Instead, the focus of our work has been on the overall architecture, culture and behaviours of those engaged in the corporate reporting system - how they might play a role in changing the system to meet the demands of the modern market ecosystem and the changing needs of society.

Many have drawn the conclusion that the causes of the financial crisis cannot be explained without coming to terms with the importance of behaviours and culture - we believe that this also applies to corporate reporting, and that this has to begin by understanding the 'corporate reporting system'.

We are delighted that a number of regulators are interested in this work alongside other consultations on reporting and audit that are currently taking place.

The report highlights the dynamic of the current system that very few if any stakeholders see as a system - rather they see particular pieces of the jigsaw. The implications of this and other findings around the development of subsystems, particular behaviours and incentives pose important questions if the system is to innovate and evolve.

The report concludes by asking critical questions which should be considered by all those involved in the reporting system and those who have a role in ensuring it remains relevant and valued - including the objective of corporate reporting, global convergence and whether the current structure of the system is itself a barrier to change.

The research is based upon a global call for evidence followed up personal interviews with a number of key global business leaders.

We hope the report will be a catalyst for a serious and progressive debate about the future of the reporting system and how change can be effected to ensure it meets the needs of business and society in the twenty-first century.

Transparent Consulting has partnered with Tomorrow's Company, Snap Surveys and Call Britannia to produce the Employee Engagement Index for FTSE-100 companies. The index ranks FTSE-100 companies on the basis of the actions they take to engage with employees. The published index contains the top 30 companies′ position on the list. Our report sets out the differences in engagement practices between sectors. We describe sectors where companies stand out with different approaches. Finally, we give case study examples of particular good practices.

Key findings:

Other Services

Transparent Consulting provides detailed benchmarking to the FTSE-100 companies that participated in the online survey. Reports, advice and benchmarking on employee engagement are also available on demand to other organisations using the same methodology. Please email for further information: contact@transparent-consulting.com

Download the Report

Please click here to be sent a weblink for the PDF download.Transparent Consulting may contact you to follow up this report, but it will never pass on your details to a third party.

CIPD publishes ‘provocation’ on HR in tough times

Institute announces partnership with think tank Tomorrow’s Company

Business leaders who are focused on shareholder value at the expense of people policies are acting as ‘chickenless heads’ and neglecting the grass roots of their own organisations, according to a new CIPD paper produced in partnership with a leading think tank.

HR in Tough Times: Adapting to a Changing World is the first in a series of ‘provocations’ to the profession to come out of a new tie-up between the institute and think tank Tomorrow’s Company.

The paper, authored by Tomorrow’s Company senior fellow Philip Sadler, calls on business leaders to establish sustainable competitive advantage through building employee commitment. It demonstrates that without clear leadership from the top, employees will contribute little to the long-term success of the organisation.

It also highlights how HR leaders can develop a ‘stewardship’ role, by helping top management and those on the board to abstain from short-term, knee-jerk reactions that damage long-term prospects of success – for example large-scale redundancy programmes that result in loss of talent.

In this ‘stewardship’ role, HR business leaders, including those on the board, are urged to have complete financial knowledge of the company’s accounts, to be fully aware of the environmental issues at stake, as well as the moral and legal aspects of the company’s relationships with its customers and clients.

Stephanie Bird, Director of HR Capability, CIPD, said: “The CIPD has set up this strategic partnership with Tomorrow’s Company to help build on the insights into achieving long-term organisational success that we have already developed from our flagship research programmes, Shaping the Future and Next Generation HR.

“We are operating today in an exceptional business environment, where investors are losing confidence as a result of the near collapse of the global banking system, where the loss of employee morale is widely evident, and where there is growing public concern in a climate of widespread redundancies. This backdrop means that leaders must communicate a purpose that is inspiring and challenging, seen as worthwhile, as serving society in some higher way than the material interests of the stakeholders.

“The first in our series of provocations tackles these issues head-on, helping to steer business leaders on the path to sustainable organisation performance through their people.”

Tony Manwaring, chief executive of Tomorrow’s Company, said: “We are delighted to welcome this partnership with the CIPD. Through our work on Tomorrow’s Global Talent we have been exploring how leading global companies create value through people and what this means for the UK. Working with the CIPD we look forward to following through on this agenda, exploring what, in practice, this means for HR leaders, who must play an ever-growing role in delivering future business success.”

see this article online at:
http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2011/03/cipd-publishes-provocation-on-hr-in-tough-times.htm