PEOPLE

Over the years, we have rallied around principles such as responsibility, openness and respect for others, and sought to foster a casual and creative work atmosphere. Combined with the unique skills brought in by our employees, ample opportunities for professional growth and a common love of fashion, this has helped us create a strong and closely-knit team.

At every stage of our business model, we respect human rights and expect no less of our suppliers. Our attention to human rights is reflected in the measures we take to regulate and promote the decent treatment of our employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders.

We strive to promote diversity, as evidenced by our daily practice: we have banned all discrimination in the workplace and actively work to foster diversity. We took this upon ourselves by signing the Diversity Charter in 2019.

In 2020, we also analysed the pay gap, i.e. the difference between the salaries of men and women, in our company. It equalled 5%; the corresponding average reported by the Main Statistical Office in Poland in 2018 was 19.9% (to women’s disadvantage).

The LPP Group as a whole employs a total of 235 people with disabilities. We cooperate, for instance, with a group of teleworkers, actively developing our activation project for individuals with disabilities, who help us with many HR and OHS processes.

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our priority was to promptly switch to the online operation mode. We did our best to make it easier for all our staff to navigate the new situation. Our development programmes supported managers in their efforts to address the teams’ emotions and motivation and, no less important, ensure excellent work organization.

We focused on shaping a proactive approach to the changes that happened, enhancing the quality of mutual cooperation and online work organization. Shift work, productivity, inter-team cooperation and the online mode were the keywords of 2020, and this is where we concentrated our best efforts in terms of training and development.

The LPP Group prioritizes occupational health and safety. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, our return to bricks-and-mortar stores and offices required exceptional safety measures. We provided our staff with the necessary means of individual protection, such as face masks, face shields and disposable gloves. All work stations were supplied with disinfectants. We considerably increased the frequency of surface disinfection in office buildings and stores. We also drew up special rules and procedures of conduct during the pandemic, based on the recommendations of the Chief Sanitary Inspector, and developed visual instructions and voice messages, which we targeted at staff and customers once the stores opened.

In 2020, LPP Retail updated its occupational risk assessments, OHS guidelines and audit lists, allowing us to conduct a reliable evaluation of OHS parameters. Occupational risk assessments at LPP SA had been updated in 2019.

Employees at our HQ enjoy free access to bikes that they can use to travel between different locations. The LPP has an active sports team, the LPP TEAM, which includes running, cycling and triathlon clubs. We sponsor its members, enabling them to take part in competitive events and purchase sports outfits.

Because we care about the health of our employees, we provide them with an opportunity to purchase a 50% subsidized healthcare package (for themselves and, in the case of LPP SA, for their families) and a Multisport card. Many of our offices have relaxation rooms and free gyms.

Recruitment to the LPP HQ, which is carried out by a team of more than ten HR specialists, changed in important ways in 2020. We worked on developing online methods to ensure their maximum effectiveness, reliability and validity. Internal recruitment continued as usual.

To fill our sales clerk positions, we need individuals with a great potential for development, which we understand as an attitude of openness to learning and eagerness to work.

Such qualities are key to guaranteeing a natural succession within the company, as evidenced by our rising proportion of internal promotions.

In order to show our best side as an employer and flaunt our offer of professional growth opportunities, we have long engaged in employer branding activities, cooperating with different art schools and technology universities. The successive stages of lockdown and the change in teaching mode forced by the pandemic limited the number of available initiatives and compelled us to modify our original plans, activities and mode of communication with potential talent. We decided to suspend all open day events and in-person workshops until the epidemiological situation stabilized and limited ourselves to online meetings only.

However, we maintained our cooperation with art schools, giving awards to the best students and graduates and offering them different internship opportunities; we also joined in the organization of fashion contests (including those focused on sustainable fashion) and took part in other fashion-related events.

The need to monitor our impact on the world, especially in terms of working conditions in developing countries, stands at the core of our business. This is why, before they can work with us, all our suppliers are required to commit to the principles contained, e.g. in “LPP’s Code of Conduct”.

We ensure appropriate control over suppliers by regular audits performed by our offices and independent auditing companies. Over the past 7 years, we have carried out many initiatives aimed at ensuring control over the supply chain, especially in terms of improved working conditions and safety in factories.

“LPP’s Code of Conduct” lays down a number of requirements that are compulsory for all our suppliers. The document includes the provisions of the Convention of the World Labor Organization and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and obliges all suppliers to respect the natural environment.

The Code’s provisions, for instance:

• require that suppliers demonstrate an appropriate salary policy and formal employment conditions,
• prohibit the employment of children,
• require voluntary labour,
• guarantee the freedom of assembly,
• guarantee the equal treatment of all employees,
• specify the mandatory occupational health and safety standards.

The COVID-19 pandemic has left a mark on us all and hasn’t spared the LPP Foundation and its social campaigns; indeed, it has created a new and urgent need to deliver assistance to local communities, the healthcare system and society at large. Our response was to launch the #LPPpomaga (#LPPhelps) campaign.

We purchased 1 million face masks, which were then distributed in hospitals, healthcare centres, NGOs and nursing homes. And we didn’t stop at that – we also designed and manufactured 10 thousand reusable face masks of our own.

Many of our employees in different company branches and departments joined in solidarity with our efforts. We set up teams in charge of coordinating face mask deliveries to hospitals and institutions that needed them. More than a hundred employees stayed after hours to sew masks and aprons.

Our social, environmental and healthcare activities are supported by the LPP Foundation, established 3 years ago. The Foundation assists organizations active in Pomerania and Lesser Poland (where we have our headquarters) and their beneficiaries. We focus on projects targeted at children and youth from children’s homes and foster homes; individuals at risk of social exclusion; those ill or disabled; the homeless, as well as survivors of catastrophes, natural disasters and military conflicts. We also lend our support to social projects organized in the direct vicinity of the company. Our activities won us the title of Benefactor of the Year 2020 in the “Corporate Foundation” category. The competition is organized by the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland, and we were nominated by the St. Brother Albert Aid Society.

Despite the pandemic, which affected our operations and our environment, we continued with our statutory activities.