POLICY STATEMENT
At Excellence, the way we lead, work and behave is driven by our core values. These values
influence the way we meet client needs while respecting the regulatory requirements and the way
we promote ethically sound practices within Excellence. Excellence is committed to integrating
responsible and sustainable business practices across our operations. It is our policy to act
responsibly in our day-to-day relationships with our clients, suppliers, employees, and
communities.
We have a long history of supporting the public that we serve. Protecting our shared environment
is of fundamental importance to Excellence, as it is to our employees. These principals are
embedded in our business; processes and ways of working. Our leadership in corporate
responsibility and sustainable excellence is driven by a bold and influential approach that
encompasses:
- High ethical standards when conducting business,
- Acts in an environmentally conscientious and responsible manner,
- Respects the privacy and dignity of our employees, suppliers, clients, and contractors,
- Promotes a work environment of equal opportunity and never engages in unlawful
discrimination,
- Commits to employing a diverse work force,
- Maintains a safe and healthy work environment, and
- Spends time, monies and resources to give back to the community and embraces philanthropy.
This Statement is about how Excellence takes account of its economic, social and environmental
impact in the way we operate as a business. By demonstrating our commitment to Corporate Social
Responsibility we aim to align our business values, purpose and strategy with the needs of our
clients, whilst embedding such responsible and ethical principles into everything we do.
The elements of this Statement cover our approach in working with our clients, suppliers and the
local community. These principles include established standards to ensure that working
conditions are safe, that employees are treated with respect and dignity, and that business
operations are environmentally responsible and conducted ethically.
LABOR PRACTICES is committed to uphold the rights of our employees, and treat them with dignity
and respect. This applies to all employees including temporary, student, and contract, direct
and outsourced or any other type of worker. We have detailed processes and procedures in place
to ensure we are in compliance with all federal, state and local regulations and laws.
Labor Standards/Fair Wages
- All work is voluntary and workers are free to leave work at any time or terminate their
employment.
- Child labor is not used in any area. The term "child" refers to any person under the age of
15. The use of legitimate internship or student co-op programs, which comply with all laws
and regulations, is supported. Workers under the age of 18 do not perform work that is
likely to jeopardize the health or safety of young workers.
- Work weeks do not exceed the maximum set by federal, state or local law (whichever is
greatest).
- Compensation paid to employees is compliant with all applicable wage laws, including those
related to minimum wages, overtime hours and legally mandated benefits.
- In compliance with local laws, employees are compensated for overtime at pay rates greater
than regular hourly rates.
- Verification of employment eligibility is always performed per federal and state laws.
- Detailed checklists and procedures are used to verify information is processed and verified.
- Creation and maintenance of documents and records ensure regulatory compliance and
conformity to company requirements along with appropriate confidentiality to protect
privacy.
- Excellence's Human Resources conducts a regular review of our processes related to wage and
labor practices.
- Ongoing training to our Human Resources, Payroll, and Recruiting staff on the latest changes
to regulations.
Performance Management
- A key opportunity for Excellence to evaluate employees, measure progress, offer constructive
feedback, and provide developmental plans and activities is through annual goal setting and
performance reviews. Excellence has an ongoing and annual performance program focused on
providing thorough, thoughtful and candid feedback and goals to increase employee skill set
and ability.
- We also make it a point to recognize top performance and productivity both through formal
Awards programs, incentives and informal recognition.
Benefits & Total Compensation
We recognize that employee benefits participation is an important part of the employment
relationship. Some of the benefits Excellence offers include:
- Health benefits, including medical,
- Annual home country flight tickets
- Retirement plan
- Ancillary benefits, such as time off with pay (vacation, personal time, paid-time off
program, bereavement pay), employee assistance program, employee discount programs, and
voluntary insurance programs (such as cancer protection, accident, enhanced short-term
disability, life insurance, and pet insurance).
Health and Safety
Excellence recognizes that in addition to minimizing the incidence of work-related incident and
illness, a safe and healthy work environment enhances the quality of products and services,
consistency of production/performance and employee retention and morale. We also recognize that
ongoing employee input and education is essential to identifying and solving health and safety
issues in the workplace. Our policies address the following areas:
Occupational Safety
- It is the responsibility of each employee to conduct all tasks in a safe and efficient
manner complying with all local, state, federal and customer safety and health regulations,
programmatic standards, and with special safety concerns identified by Excellence for use in
a particular area or with a client.
- When on-site at a client location, Excellence employees are required to follow customer
safety rules and procedures. We provide additional training for our employees as necessary
for or specific to the client.
- Worker exposure to chemical, biological and physical agents is identified, evaluated and
controlled. Workers are required to follow client specific requirements while on-site.
- Employees are encouraged to bring forth safety concerns and input to ensure a safe working
environment.
- Employees are provided with ready access to clean toilet facilities, potable water and
sanitary food preparation, storage, and eating facilities.
FAIR OPERATING PRACTICES
Our Supplier Diversity Program ensures that diverse supplier have the ability to compete in the
procurement process and to do business with Excellence. In addition, we ensure that the social,
environmental and ethical commitments of Excellence are reflected in working with all customers
and suppliers.
Business Integrity
Excellence ensures that we deal responsibly, openly and fairly with clients and potential
customers.
Excellence upholds the highest standards of ethics including:
- The highest standards of business integrity are upheld in all business interactions. We have
a zero tolerance policy to ensure prohibition of any and all forms of bribery, corruption,
extortion and embezzlement.
- All business dealings are required to be transparently performed and accurately reflected on
business books and records.
- Bribes or other means of obtaining undue or improper advantage are not offered or accepted.
- If an error occurs, we will acknowledge it and put corrective procedures in place to address
the root cause and minimize the likelihood of the problem repeating.
- Information regarding business activities, structure, financial situation and performance is
disclosed in accordance with applicable regulations and prevailing industry practices.
Falsification of records or misrepresentation of conditions or practices are unacceptable.
- Intellectual property rights are respected; transfer of technology and know-how is done in a
manner that protects these rights.
- Programs that ensure the confidentiality and protection of client and employee whistleblower
rights are maintained.
- Excellence is committed to protecting the reasonable privacy expectations of personal
information of everyone we do business with, including suppliers, clients, customers and
employees. Excellence complies with privacy and information security laws and regulatory
requirements when personal information is collected, stored, processed, transmitted, and
shared.
- Excellence actively solicits and uses client feedback for continuous improvement.
- Excellence ensures we benchmark and evaluate our procedures and practices in order to
constantly improve our competitiveness in the marketplace.
Suppliers
We expect our suppliers to:
- Put in place sufficient systems to monitor and take responsibility for compliance with
social policies
- Conduct regular assessments of their operations to identify eventual non-compliance cases
- Develop remediation plans to resolve non-compliance cases
- Regularly monitor the effective implementation of remediation plans
HUMAN RIGHTS
Excellence strives to foster safe, respectful, and inclusive workplaces. Excellence takes
tremendous pride in our culture and diversity. Excellence's culture is committed to respect,
integrity, service and excellence. This commitment applies to all of our employees and spans our
efforts to develop a diverse workforce, maintain safe and secure workplaces, and support the
health, wellness and career development of our employee base. We define these values to hiring;
workplace behavior; and employee conduct toward each other, our clients, and our business
partners.
Humane Treatment
- There is zero tolerance for harsh or inhumane treatment including sexual abuse, corporal
punishment, mental or physical coercion or verbal abuse of employees; nor is there to be the
threat of any such treatment. Disciplinary policies and procedures in support of these
requirements are clearly defined and communicated to employees.
Harassment Prevention and Non-Discrimination
- Unlawful harassment, in any form and regardless of intent, is a form of discrimination and
interferes with our commitment to equal employment opportunity. Excellence does not engage in
discrimination based on race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability,
pregnancy, religion, political affiliation, union membership, or any other category
protected by law. Harassment and/or discrimination contradict our values and have no place
at Excellence. Our Employee Handbook clearly addresses our policies and disciplinary action
regarding harassment.
The policy:
- Defines harassment (including sexual) and provides examples of prohibited activities.
- Describes our expectations of all employees, including complaint procedures, and the
special responsibilities of managers.
- Uses the recommendations of experts and follows the best practices of top companies
relative to integrity standards.
- If allegations of harassment or discrimination occur, our Human Resources team (with
Senior
- Management and/or legal counsel if necessary) acts swiftly to uncover and evaluate
facts, take remedial action if warranted, and eliminate root causes of the problematic
behavior.
- Our company benefits from a very diverse workforce starting with the board of directors,
leadership team.
Open Communication & Freedom of Association
- Open communication and direct engagement between employees and management are the most
effective ways to resolve workplace and compensation issues. Our company has an open
door policy that allows employees to communicate discreetly and openly with all levels
of management.
- We expect and encourage employees throughout our business operations to make Excellence
principles and practices a part of their everyday work, and hold our employees
accountable for adhering to our Conduct and Work Rules Policy in our Employee Handbook.
- We keep our policies and practices relating to human rights under continuous and
vigorous review, recognizing the need to stay vigilant in a rapidly changing and
challenging world.
ENVIRONMENT ISSUES
Protection of the environment in which we live and operate is part of Excellence's values and
principles and we consider it to be sound business practice. Care for the environment is one
of our key responsibilities and an important part of the way in which we do business. We
strive to reduce our energy use, manage our carbon footprint and decrease our overall
environmental impact. We commit our company to:
- Comply with all relevant environmental legislation, regulations and approved codes of
practice
- Protect the environment by striving to prevent and minimize our contribution to
pollution of land, air, and water
- Seek to keep waste to a minimum and maximize the efficient use of materials and
resources
- Manage and dispose of all waste in a responsible manner
- Provide training for our staff so that we all work in accordance with this policy
statement and within an environmentally aware culture
- Regularly communicate our environmental performance to our employees and other
significant stakeholders
- Develop our management processes to ensure that environmental factors are considered
during planning and implementation
- Monitor and continuously improve our environmental performance.
The nature of our work as a service provider means that we do not inherently have a high
environmental impact but we will take consideration of environmental issues in the
professional services we provide and endeavor to reduce our environmental impact to an
absolute minimum.
We strive to ensure that Excellence reduces its environmental impact by:
- As a service provider of document imaging we not only strive to reduce paper
usage/storage in our own company we support our clients in their efforts in this area as
well.
- Reducing our transportation requirements wherever possible by utilizing zoom and
conference calls
- Using hybrid vehicles that are regularly serviced and checked
- Efficient use of energy. Ensuring that all lights and equipment are switched off when
not required including end of day checklists to ensure we are conserving energy wherever
possible. Participation in Energy Efficiencies Program involving thorough review of our
energy usage and recommendations for improvement.
- Ensuring that water is used efficiently including use of water coolers with reusable
water bottles
- Properly disposing of any electronic office equipment
- Optimizing efficiency for all printing, copying, and mailing functions including
printing in mono and double sided wherever possible
- Participating in recycling programs including paper shredding, bottles/cans, and toner
cartridges.
- Sourcing recycled materials wherever possible including toner cartridges and paper
- Using scrap paper for drafts and notes
- Encourage electronic marketing materials whenever possible
- Working with like-minded suppliers who take steps to minimize their environmental impact
CONSUMER ISSUES (CLIENTS)
Excellence recognizes the importance of understanding the needs and expectations of our
clients. We want to ensure that the client's expectations are met and exceeded. Our process
for monitoring client satisfaction encompasses regular and frequent communication with the
client. The following are some of the methods utilized by Excellence:
- Regularly schedule meetings with client including weekly and quarterly meetings with key
topics addressed including client satisfaction, scorecards, future initiatives, etc.
- Satisfaction survey. Data collected from this process is used in a number of ways. Any
dissatisfaction issues require an investigation and a corrective action. In addition,
all issues are tracked on a global basis to ascertain any trends and to effect systemic
change if needed.
- Excellence takes client feedback and complaints seriously and encourages open
communication to obtain "the voice of the customer". Processes and systems are put in
place to minimize process failures and associated complaints. When a complaint occurs,
it is addressed immediately. By protocol, the next level of management is made aware of
the complaint and can help effect resolution and implement needed corrective actions in a
prompt manner. All complaints are logged to help capture trends and identify solutions.
After the issue has been addressed, the customer is notified and follow up feedback is
obtained from customer to ensure issue was satisfactorily resolved.
- Every complaint is viewed as a defect at Excellence and steps are taken to immediately
resolve the issue. In addition, corrective action is put in place to prevent
reoccurrences of the issue.
- For process failures, Excellence uses the DMAIC process to resolve problems and identify
potential trends.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Excellence recognizes the importance of community involvement. Our business is dependent upon
our communities for employees and for clients, and our communities are dependent on our
business for employment opportunities and for our services. Excellence is active in community
participation and encourages and supports employee participation in service activities that
contribute to our communities. We participate in the following activities:
- Working, supporting and volunteering with local and national charities/organizations
- United Way/Red Cross Campaign
- Employment opportunities for disabled individuals
SUMMARY
The operations and ultimate responsibility for the commitment to our corporate social and
environmental sustainability principles lies with every employee of EXCELLENCE.
The effectiveness of the Policy Statement will be monitored and reviewed at least annually by
the President to ensure the Company's continuing compliance with any relevant legislation
and to meet new business requirements and to identify areas in need of improvement. We will
also ensure that all changes will be brought to the attention of employees as necessary.