Performance

Driving Efficiency

Efficiency in working practices to make Grainger a lean business and to minimise environmental impact.

“We reduced our carbon intensity (per employee) by 10% between 2009/10 and 2010/11 despite a 12% increase in the number of employees.” Mark Robson, Managing Director, Property Services

What we want to achieve: Grainger aims to operate as efficiently as possible. This means better understanding the environmental impacts over which we have direct control, monitoring these impacts and reducing them over time.

Why it matters: By increasing our efficiency over time, we can save both costs and valuable natural resources. We can also engage employees by demonstrating that we take our environmental impact seriously and by seeking their ideas.

Our performance in 2011/12:

• Environmental management system (EMS) embedded into new areas of business and EMS aligned with best practice ISO14001 standards.
• First CR Innovation Day held that radically increased engagement and buy-in for integrating Grainger’s CR programme into the business strategy. 100% of respondents to the feedback survey expressed interest in continuing to contribute to the development of Grainger’s CR strategy.
• Ongoing challenges collecting energy meter readings for the common parts of Grainger’s flat blocks but processes put in place to enable Grainger to collect this information from 2012/13.
• Grainger did not achieve its target of conducting supply chain research as the company is moving towards a more consolidated approach to supply chain management. This target will roll over to 2012/13.

Case Studies

				Engaging employees in the development of Grainger's CR approach Grainger held its first CR Innovation Day in June 2012, bringing together staff from across the business and external speakers.