Corporate Social Responsibility
Companies obviously have a duty to act and work in a socially responsible manner. Witteveen+Bos has always fulfilled this duty vigorously. In the 1990s we were one of the first Dutch engineering firms to establish a code of ethics. The code includes principles for doing business fairly and it spells out our standards and values.
United Nations Global Compact
In 2005 Witteveen+Bos became the first Dutch engineering firm to endorse the principles of the United Nations Global Compact. This covenant between the United Nations and the international business community defines principles for doing business responsibly. The covenant is monitored through annual progress reports.
Corporate Responsibility Report
Increasing importance is being attached to written reports on the measures and effects of corporate social responsibility. Witteveen+Bos published its first Corporate responsibility report 2008. Key objectives are to embed corporate responsibility in our corporate culture, to involve employees in developing a vision and to reduce our CO2 footprint.
Energy
Witteveen+Bos has set itself the goals of improving the energy efficiency of its operations and, where possible, reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. At Witteveen+Bos we strive for continuous improvement of our energy efficiency by introducing energy-conserving measures and measures for limiting mobility, obviously without impairing customer satisfaction, quality of service and/or our employees’ working conditions.
Elements of our policy for achieving this energy efficiency in our operations include:
- monitoring from year to year the energy consumption at the offices that we own
- encouraging employees to develop energy-efficient behaviour
- making energy efficiency measures a condition when refurbishing offices that we own and rent, wherever possible
- considering low-energy alternatives when making essential replacements or purchases of equipment and company vehicles
- presenting energy data, energy policy and targets regularly, both internally and externally
- exploring possibilities for using and/or purchasing green electricity and using alternative fuels
- checking our energy policy and targets each year and revising them if necessary
Commitment to society
Many Witteveen+Bos employees show their commitment to society through professional and trade associations. We actively conduct a policy on publishing articles as way of ensuring that Witteveen+Bos contributes to the knowledge infrastructure in the Netherlands. Various staff members are part-time lecturers or professors and many students are active within our firm in traineeships or final projects for their graduation. Witteveen+Bos supports the foundation Stichting Technasium in making technical education more attractive. The Delft University of Technology receives financial support from our firm for a modernisation campaign designed to improve the match between research/education and the issues that confront society. In Deventer we provide the chairman for the Deventer Employers’ Association, and by holding board positions we support various art, culture, education and healthcare institutions.
Commitment to culture
Through the Witteveen+Bos Art + Technology Award – presented yearly since 2002 – we give substance to our commitment to culture. It is an award in recognition of artists who work at the interface of art and technology. Our goal is to raise the image and standing of engineering. We also sponsor several institutions and initiatives in the fields of art and culture.