In addition to sustainability, Cushman & Wakefield invests heavily in the other pillars of the ESG agenda. We will explore in this article the main actions adopted by the company related to governance.
Governance
An important pillar of the ESG acronym is governance, which refers to the organizational structure and culture, in addition to the company's corporate conduct, policies, ethical business principles and corporate values. Below are some examples of what Cushman & Wakefield has available to all contributors:
• Global Code of Business Conduct
• Compliance area and the group's Internal Audit area, with autonomy and independence, reporting directly to the head office and reporting to the Audit Committee that reports to the Group's Board of Directors
• In addition to all Global, Regional, Local Policies and internal corporate procedures, both for Compliance and for other business and corporate areas
This entire corporate governance structure must and constantly interacts with the principles and internal rules of respect for human rights, compliance with environmental legislation in each country, compliance with the rules of not having child or slave labor (or analogous to slavery) in operations, suppliers and customers - which is part of the Due Diligence/Due Diligence process and reputational verification of third parties/suppliers and customers.
The formation of a culture of Compliance and governance always goes hand in hand with other areas of the company, such as Legal, Human Resources, Registration, Sustainability and Purchasing, with the approval of suppliers and business partners, all of this done in an integrated manner with the others. aspects (environmental and social) with governance within the principles of ESG.
In fact, in the ESG commitment, all acronyms are interconnected and are equally important.
The Compliance area is an integral part of the company's governance, also including risk analysis and mitigation and the organization's own management, as examples of the organization's top leadership of always doing business ethically, which extends to the relationships between partners, board, directors, control and monitoring tools, regulatory affairs, declarations of conflicts of interest, whistleblowing channel, investigations and accountability.
Some of the Compliance initiatives that relate to corporate governance at Cushman & Wakefield, in addition to the aforementioned policies and structures are:
• Mandatory annual online Global Code of Conduct and Annual Certification trainings
• In-person and remote training on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorism and Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption for specific audiences
• Outsourced and independent Whistleblower Channel, available 24 hours, 7 days a week, with confidentiality and the possibility of anonymity, without retaliation for reports in good faith, where all reports are investigated and received feedback
Marcos Rossa, Compliance Manager for Cushman & Wakefield for South America, emphasizes the transparency of processes, independence and autonomy of committees and critical areas, in addition to a modern and well-structured organizational structure: ''having corporate values, integrity program /compliance well defined and constantly remembered through actions and campaigns and exemplified on a daily basis by the actions of top leadership illustrate how ethical business principles must be present in the organizational culture and routines of the company'', he says.
