The Client
Electrocomponents is a FTSE 250 company. They are the leading distributor of electronics and maintenance products in the world.
Polisys has worked with Electrocomponents over the last 3 years, communicating their over-arching Group Policy Manual and selected policies.
The Challenge
The UK-based company secretariat needed a way to communicate their Anti-Bribery Policy to their worldwide management initially. Their approach was two-fold, using both an eLearning programme on the company’s existing platform, and Polisys Business Policy Communication Service.
Adam Smith, Senior Legal Counsel at Electrocomponents plc, explains more to Alan Clark (Polisys).
Anti Bribery Policy Communication
Q Please explain briefly your view on the importance of the Anti-Bribery Act to your company?
A Adam Smith: Compliance with the Act, and its equivalents in the other jurisdictions where we operate is very important to our business. We do not operate in a particularly high-risk industry, but we operate in a number of markets which are high risk, and some of our activities could be classified as high or medium risk. We are a listed FTSE 250 plc, so anything other than taking this very seriously is not an option. Our shareholders, customers, suppliers and other partners also expect compliance.
Q Why did you decide on the two-pronged approach, using an eLearning application and Polisys for the policy side?
A Adam Smith: Communication of the policy, and confirmation that it has been read & understood is the basic requirement and we use Polisys to do that. We also wanted to bring the policy to life, for our employees to consider how it could apply to them in their daily lives at work, and we wanted to do that as efficiently as we could, so that’s where we supplement Polisys with eLearning.
Benefits of Polisys
QWhat benefits does using Polisys provide for your policy communication?
AAdam Smith: A reliable audit trail, a service approach where Polisys do the legwork to manage employees through the process, web-based rather than software licence, very cost effective.
QHow easy was it to get the service set up with Polisys?
AAdam Smith: Extremely easy. Commstracker are very responsive and always deliver on deadlines. The most time consuming aspect remains our internal collation of the relevant names & email addresses, but once this has been delivered to Polisys, and once the basic communication is set up, the rest is easy.
QWhat are your plans for next year regarding your Anti-Bribery Policy, and other policy communications?
AAdam Smith: We intend to deliver our Anti-Bribery Policy deeper into the international business to give us a better coverage, particularly in our risk areas. This is likely to be a multi-language approach. We will also continue to use Polisys to circulate our Group Policy Manual.
Rating of Polisys' Service
QHow do you rate Polisys' Business Policy Communication service on a scale of 1 Very Dissatisfied to 5 (Very Satisfied)?
AAdam Smith: 5.
QWhy?
AAdam Smith: Effectiveness, ease of use, responsiveness, cost effectiveness.
QIf you were asked to tell other Company Secretaries about Polisys' service what would you say?
AAdam Smith: This is a simple and effective way to communicate policies across your company. It is a web-based service, so there is no need to licence, host and maintain third party software. It will save you time, money and compliance costs.
