ESG and Corporate Responsibility

Charity support

Robert Walters has provided charitable support to a number of non-profit organizations.

Each year, Robert Walters organizes a charity week in each country and holds various activities to donate to non-profit organizations.

Major achievements during Charity Week 2023

¥3,000,000+

Amount donated by Robert Walters Japan
33

Number of activities
35 boxes

Donated Goods

You Me We

Donated goods：Surface, clothing, children's toys, etc.

YouMeWe is a non-profit organization solely dedicated to nurturing and supporting local children from institutionalized homes all over Japan and assisting them in becoming fully independent when they reach the age of 18, such as acquiring financial and digital literacy. YouMeWe also supports the children after they leave the homes, by supporting them to enroll in higher education and secure a decent job for their future.

During our annual Charity Week in October, You Me We came to our company and gave a presentation on their activities.

Peace Boat Disaster Relief

Peace Boat Disaster Relief (PBV) responds to disasters in Japan and abroad, working with local stakeholders in order to deliver assistance that is most needed to affected communities. The assistance provided varies from logistical support and volunteer coordination to evacuation shelter management. Recent activities include emergency relief on Maui Island in Hawaii, and support to the area affected by the intensity 6 earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa at the beginning of 2024.

Our donation will be used to provide hot meals necessary to sustain life and health, to help create and manage the environment to prevent disaster-related deaths in evacuation centres and make life as healthy as possible, and for emergency response and cleaning activities in homes necessary to rebuild lives.

Palette

Palette aims to contribute to the realization of a society where everyone can live life fully as they’re inherently entitled, by providing solutions for various life challenges people with disabilities face in the realm of employment, living accommodations, and leisure. Just as in painting, where various colours are mixed together on a palette to create new colours, they create new possibilities by metaphorically replacing colours with people on a big "Palette" and widen their social life and horizons.

Our donation will be used to purchase various items, to run the event, and to pay for staffing costs.

Kids Osaka

Donated goods：Clothing, children's toys, etc.

Kids Osaka provides specialised educational programmes tailored to the development of children aged 0-18. Most children have mild disabilities; they also support employment assistance for disabled people 18+. Most of the children they support include daycare, kindergarten students and early years primary school students. Their parents are aware that their children are different from other children and are anxious about their future; the NPO provides them with necessary support and advice.

Our donation will be used to pay for children's educational materials, to hold events and, to purchase equipment to better the lives of children. Kids Osaka also equips children with life skill training, including activities such as how to fold clothes and hang out laundry effectively.

Sustainability

Making A Positive Impact on Our World

We're committed to minimising our impact on the environment

Part of powering people and organisations to fulfil their unique potential is ensuring that they have a planet on which to do it. That's why we're proud of our long-running track record of environmental stewardship — read more below to discover how we're helping to protect our planet.

Our global highlights

18,990

Trees planted through our ‘Plant a Tree’ initiative with the World Land Trust
40%

Reduction in business travel emissions per head*
35%

Company cars are hybrid or electric vehicles
14

Years as a constituent member of the FTSE4Good Index

Fully carbon-balanced

Robert Walters Group operations have been fully carbon balanced-worldwide since 2015. As part of our ongoing commitment to sustainable business practices and the organisation’s wider CSR Policy, we offset our carbon emissions through the World Land Trust’s Carbon Balanced programme.

The World Land Trust has used the funds contributed by the Group to protect and restore threatened forest in key areas of conservation importance, preventing CO2 emissions and enhancing the carbon they store. A key project that we contribute to is the Forest Protection Project at Khe Nuoc Trong in Vietnam, one of the best remaining examples of Annamite Lowland Forest in the world. Through its partnership with the World Land Trust, the Group offsets more than 2,000 tonnes of the business’ CO2 emissions each year.

Since 2015, our London business achieved a 34% decrease in carbon usage through reduced electric and heat consumption. Globally, the Robert Walters Group reduced emissions per head by 23% between 2014 and 2018. The Group continues to seek ways to further reduce its carbon footprint through consulting with the Carbon Trust.

Environmental management

Our Amsterdam, Dublin, London and Paris offices have all successfully maintained ISO 14001 accreditation, the International Standard for Environmental Management. Currently, more than one-fifth of the Group’s employees worldwide operate in locations which are covered by the ISO14001 certification. Our best practice environmental management policy is in the process of being rolled out across the rest of the Group on an ongoing basis. The Standard provides a framework for achieving the balance between maintaining profitability while setting targets for improving the organisation’s environmental performance.

Other environmental initiatives

Energy conservation

In each of our offices we have installed high-efficiency, motion-activated lighting systems and low-energy office equipment. We’ve also implemented printers that automatically delete unprinted documents after four hours and are defaulted to double sided printing - typically resulting in a 19% drop in paper usage in offices where they’ve been installed. In many offices, we also have login systems for printer and copier usage to give personal responsibility to our people for their energy consumption.

At the end of 2019, the Group prepared its Display Energy Certificate in line with the requirements of the ESOS Regulations. As a result of the 2015 energy audit and a review of the building management system, our London head office reduced its gas usage by 85% by the end of 2017.

Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

The UK has established a relationship with SPC Ltd to ensure that every part of WEEE is recycled with an auditable trail of destruction. All our offices world-wide replicate this activity to the greatest practical extent. Like many of our preferred suppliers, SPC is also certified to ISO 14001.

Confidential waste

Each office ensures that confidential waste is shredded on-site or collected by an accredited confidential shredding service where a destruction certificate is provided and the shredding used for recycling.

Recycling

Across the business, our offices follow corporate best practice, such as reducing single-use plastics and segregating waste to the maximum practical extent, as supported by local authority waste management facilities. The majority of our core consumable resources are sourced from recyclable or managed resources.

Suppliers

We evaluate the environmental credentials of each supplier we use to ensure they are compliant with local laws and, where appropriate, take account of sustainable development in the design, production, use and end-of-life disposal of their product or service. Specifically, they should use the optimum amount of raw materials, safeguard biodiversity and use energy efficiently.

Local initiatives

Robert Walters Japan makes a 1,000-yen donation for every placement as part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability. Through our donations, we support the activities of organisations that are paving the way in terms of environmental sustainability and protecting our planet.

In addition to supporting and participating in tree-planting activities, the company also contributes to environmental sustainability by actively participating in volunteer clean-ups such as beach and city clean-ups.