OTTO Work Force is Europe’s largest international employment agency. From more than 50 offices in various countries, it connects over 27,000 international workers with temporary employers. The company therefore plays a key role in the European labour market and can really make a difference because of its size and the sector in which it operates.
At Empact, we were immediately excited when OTTO Work Force asked us to guide them in their ESG transformation when they approached us at the end of 2022. Because at Empact we are all about making a real difference with real impact together with our clients, that’s what we call ‘engaging with impact’. Now, eighteen months later, we look back on our cooperation together with CFO Peter Bouman and Risk Manager Freek Heurkens to see what we have achieved so far.
“You can see in every aspect that we both want to set the tone, and that makes for a nice cooperation”
CSRD as an opportunity to stand out
OTTO Work Force was already working on ESG even before their collaboration with Empact. Given the sector in which it operates they had a particular focus on social (S) factors. Peter: “We find it important to take responsibility towards our employees and make sure that everything is well arranged for them. Meanwhile, we have noticed that customers are also paying more and more attention to other social aspects and working conditions. Our ambition is to raise the bar on what is expected from us by law. We aim to exceed customers’ expectations.”
“We soon realised that the CSRD was an opportunity for us to differentiate ourselves from our competition,” he says.
Consequently, when it was announced that OTTO Work Force, as a large company, would fall under the scope of the CSRD, the company immediately saw this as an opportunity. Freek: “We soon realised that the CSRD is not just an obligation for us, but above all an opportunity to distinguish ourselves from our competitors. We had always felt we were ahead in our sector, but how do you make that transparent without being able to make good comparisons based on transparent data? You just can’t. The CSRD provides better comparability of performance between us and our peers. This too is a driver for further improvement. The CSRD is really a useful stepping stone for this.”
Choosing Empact as an ESG partner
Given the complexity of the CSRD, OTTO Work Force quickly realised that they needed support in their effort to start reporting according to the CSRD and further developing their ESG strategy. So the choice fell on Empact. Freek: “We really started looking for a partner that goes beyond reporting and compliance. Empact quickly came into the picture as the best option. Not only because of their expertise in the CSRD and developing and integrating an ESG strategy, but also because they came across as very knowledgeable and driven. You can see in every aspect that we both want to set the tone, and that makes for a nice cooperation.”
“It can sometimes be difficult to make decisions and sometimes you get stuck, but in these moments Empact has shown their ability to move flexibly along with us or, in other instances give that extra push with their expertise, so that we keep up to speed.”
Full CSRD implementation with support from Empact
Meanwhile, Empact has been supporting OTTO Work Force in its full CSRD implementation for a year and a half now. This starts with an analysis of the existing ESG status, stakeholder engagement, a double materiality analysis and a gap analysis. Peter and Freek experience the cooperation as very pleasant. Peter: “The cooperation has greatly reduced the burden on us, which gives us the confidence and space to engage the rest of the organisation as well. It can sometimes be difficult to make decisions and sometimes you get stuck, but in these moments Empact has shown their ability to move flexibly along with us or, in other instances give that extra push with their expertise, so that we keep up to speed.” Freek adds: “And then it also really helps that you always have a fixed contact person. As a result, there are short lines of communication and Empact is virtually always available to spar quickly if necessary.”
Experience with the CSRD so far
About the process towards the first CSRD report, Peter and Freek note that there is a lot to document: “That takes some getting used to. Also the process of arriving at the material topics took more time than we expected, but fortunately there were no surprises. As expected, the social themes are important for OTTO Work Force. The thorough and structured process of the materiality analysis has now confirmed this. The insights we gained confirm our belief that from the employee perspective, fair employment is number one.”
Whether any new insights have emerged? Freek: “What we definitely learned is that we need to communicate more about what we are already doing. We have also paid much more attention to environmental topics. Those have, partly through working on the CSRD, gained importance on the agenda.”
Making real impact together
After these first steps OTTO Work Force now has a clear picture of what is already going very well, where there is room for improvement, and what their priorities should be for the next steps. Peter: “The real work is yet to begin. Together with Empact, we are going to fully integrate ESG into our strategy. With their support and a wealth of reliable data, we are now able to stay better in control in order to manage the improvement on ESG topics. That data also helps enormously to build up a reliable reputation, from which we also benefit financially, making it worth the investment. Also, the CSRD gives reason to think about your impact on the world and whether you are doing enough. That motivates you to take the right steps and keep going, because after all, that is essentially what it is all about: making a positive impact on the world with your services.”