Annual report Materiality analysis
- The most relevant points reported by VR Group arise from what major stakeholders expect of the Group’s operations.
In 2014, VR Group updated the most relevant points that are related to its corporate responsibility. VR Group asked its personnel and external stakeholders to list the matters that are important for a responsible VR Group. The Group has a large number of stakeholders and for this reason the discussion was in the form of an open online brainstorming session, which allowed participants to explore their ideas freely and to also assess each other's initiatives.
More than 1,400 persons took part in the four-week long discussion and more than 1,600 new ideas were submitted. Consumer and corporate customers, staff members, authorities, political decision-makers and representatives of non-governmental organisations and the media were among the respondents. Most of the comments concerned passenger services. The survey allows VR Group to give more consideration to important stakeholders in its business operations.
During the process of defining relevant responsibility themes, workshops were arranged for both experts and VR Group's Management Team. The workshops formulated the company's own view of responsibility, which is an important part of the relevance analysis.
One important viewpoint used to define relevance has been the VR Group strategy and matters that help the Group achieve its strategic objectives or have a significant financial impact. The relevance definition resulted in a matrix of the most essential responsibility themes that will be examined annually.
The essential themes were then put into practice by selecting the key indicators that the Group should adhere to. In the same connection, the GRI indicators to be reported were also specified.
VR Group's responsibility themes and GRI aspects
| Themes | Points-of-view | Relevant GRI-points-of-view | The affected functions |
| SAFETY | Client safety, safety of personnel, transport safety, information security | The well-being and safety of clients, work health and security, protection of privacy | Finnish functions of the corporation, announcements on accidents also include VR Track Sweden AB |
| CLIENTS | Client-based service - punctuality and trustworthiness, pricing, attractiveness of rail traffic, client communications, equal services, responsible products | Client satisfaction | Finnish functions of the corporation, Transpoint International is included. |
| TRANSPARENCY | Ethics and honesty, procurement and investments | Financial results, bribery and anti-corruption, lobbying, limits of competition, ban on discrimination, following directives, market communications, procurement practices, evaluating the working conditions of suppliers, evaluating the environmental practices of suppliers, evaluating the human rights practices of suppliers | The whole corporation |
| PERSONNEL | Well-being of personnel, know-how of personnel, being a good employer | The relationship between personnel and the employer, training, employment, diversity and equal opportunities, equal rewards | All functions in Finland |
| ENVIRONMENT | Energy efficiency, zero exhaust emissions, green energy, waste and recycling, cleanliness | Energy, amount of exhausts, products and services, waste, following directives | Finnish functions, the subcontractors for road logistics also in the energy numbers and exhausts |
