Hymans Robertson - 2023 impact report review
This week’s report is from Hymans Robertson, a B Corp certified firm that is over 100 years old. They provide advice on pensions, investments, benefits and risk, as well as data and technology solutions.
👍🏻 Three things I like:
1. FOCUSED CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Their corporate foundation has a clear, measurable 10 year goal – their charitable donations and some of their volunteering activities align with this. This level of focus should enable them to make a meaningful difference.
They have also made long term commitments to charity partners, enabling the charities to unlock further funding from others.
2. ‘FREEBIE FREE’ CAREERS FAIRS
They went ‘freebie free’ at careers fairs and recruitment events – it always niggles me when businesses say they’re committed to sustainability and then give away stuff (even if described as sustainable / eco-friendly) that no one really needs.
The money saved was donated to three environmental charities – students got to choose the share of the donation between each, which is a neat engagement tool.
As well as reducing their negative environmental impact and benefitting three charities, they talk about the positive business impact of this decision – feedback received (i.e. enhanced reputation) and quality of candidates who filled vacancies.
3. TANGIBLE EXAMPLES OF EQUITY
They give some tangible examples of what ‘equity’ (vs equality) means in the context of their business – this makes it real.
“A ‘one size fits all’ approach simply won’t work. Individuals will need different levels of support depending on their circumstances. For example, those with caring responsibilities may rely more heavily on flexible and agile working than others. Our neurodivergent colleagues may require assistive technology or mentoring to help them reach their true potential. And some of our interns or new graduates may need support with the cost of accommodation to ensure that financial disadvantage doesn’t stop them pursuing an opportunity with us.”
❓ Three questions it raises:
1. WHAT ABOUT THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF THEIR ADVICE?
Their ‘core carbon footprint’ includes a lot of scope but not the impact of the advice they give. This missing element would dwarf the more operational footprint they are measuring and sharing.
They do talk about this but it’s only one page of their report. Given how material it’s likely to be, I’d like them to expand on it and give more insight / data / examples.
They say an objective for the coming year is “further work to lower our carbon emissions and deliver on our climate pledge. This will include completing the measurement of our full Scope 3 carbon footprint” Will this include investments? What are their SMART objectives?
2. HOW ARE THEY ENCOURAGING CLIENTS TO DECARBONISE ASSET PORTFOLIOS?
Following on from Question 1, they say they are encouraging their clients to “take ambitious actions and commit to the long-term decarbonisation of their asset portfolios”.
What are they doing to influence them? Do they have SMART targets around this?
3. HOW DO THEIR CHARITABLE OBJECTIVES INTEGRATE WITH THE CORE BUSINESS?
Their charitable work is focused on disadvantaged young people. How does this carry across into the day-to-day work they do as a business? E.g. their recruitment approach.
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You can read the report for yourself here and let me know what you think.
If you’re preparing to write your own impact report, you might find my FREE Impact Reporting Roadmap helpful: