Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder Engagement
We understand the importance of stakeholder contribution as they can influence business decisions and significantly affect company's operations.
Stakeholders are identified as those who are invested and involved in the company such as employees, shareholders, suppliers and customers, as well as local surrounding communities that are affected by the business operations. Documenting stakeholder engagements is also a way to transparently identify the categories of stakeholders to the public and how the company interacts with them.
Stakeholder engagement is a tool for executives to examine and review stakeholders’ expectations and satisfaction. Their opinions and interests often intertwine with and sometimes directly influence our clients' operations, hence they are taken with utmost regard when drafting ESG or sustainability reports.
Due to the importance of stakeholders to a company, their interests should be acknowledged and described in the report even when conflicting views and expectations are received. Reports will be uninformative if it lacks the contribution of the company's stakeholders.
Engagement Planning
Effective stakeholder engagement planning helps identify the importance of stakeholder participation to company operations. There are various approaches we would recommend for stakeholder engagement depending on the industries, company nature, and our clients' requirements.
The first step to stakeholder engagement planning is to identify individuals and parties that are capable of altering business decisions with various intentions, such as shareholders, employees, suppliers, customers, etc. Once the key stakeholder groups have been identified, we can move on to the next step which is to establish effective communication platforms
We strategically plan stakeholder engagements based on clients' requests and information. Our goal is to report key topics and concerns that have been raised through stakeholder engagement, and to describe how our clients have responded to those key topics and concerns.
Engagement Channels
The next step for engaging stakeholders is to develop effective platforms to communication and manage identified stakeholders in order to maintain positive relationships and to align expectations.
Companies continuously engage their stakeholders in various methods. Examples are listed as follow:
| Stakeholders | Sample Engagement Channels |
| Shareholders | Annual general meetings, financial reports, etc. |
| Employees | Business meetings, performance appraisals, information boards, etc. |
| Customers | Satisfaction surveys, tendering process, etc. |
We would also work with our clients to engage their stakeholders specifically as part of the report preparation process. These include distribution of ESG surveys, focus groups and more to understand their expectations and concerns for our clients.
