Numbers of communication channels are in place including briefing meetings, worker boards and notice boards.

To further improve two-way communication, the Company has a Worker's Follow-Up Committee representing staff from all departments and factories that meets regularly with the Executive Board. Half of the members were replaced by new elected members from different departments of the company.

Lecico’s policy is to provide equal opportunities for all existing employees and anyone seeking to join. The Company is committed to the fair and equitable treatment of all its employees and specifically prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, sex, nationality or ethnic origin.

Employment opportunities are available to disabled persons in accordance with their abilities and aptitudes on equal terms with other employees. If an employee becomes disabled during employment, the Company makes every effort to enable them to continue employment, with re-training for alternative work where necessary.

The Company operates several employee pension schemes across its business including a retirement fund and has recently offered a tailored partial contribution private health insurance plan to its administrative staff. Lecico contributed over LE 8.3 million in pension contributions, accident and medical insurance and aids support for its staff in 2017.

Lecico recognizes the importance of a good work/life balance for its staff and offers several programs to help them make the most of their time outside of work. These programs include organizing and subsidizing day trips and weeklong holidays for them and their families in the summer; partially funding its staff’s Haj and Umrah pilgrimages and giving salary bonuses to the staff in Ramadan and around other key holidays.

In 2017, these programs (pilgrimages/childbirth/death/marriage) included a total of 2,630 subsidized holiday days enjoyed by staff and a total expense of LE 290,900.

Lecico believes it has a responsibility to contribute to the community through donations of goods, funds and time to charitable organizations and investing in the neighborhoods around its factories. The Company also offers support to its staff and their families in times of medical emergencies on a charitable basis.

The total value of the Company's donations during 2017 was LE 1.5 million (2016: LE 390,036) with the majority of this being donations of goods. It is the Company’s policy not to make political donations and as such no political donations were made in the year 2017.

The Company also funded local sporting facility rental and equipment for its workers to play football twice a week and organized a football tournament between different departments. This new benefit allowed a good opportunity to our employees to practice sports.

Lecico is committed to developing its business in a responsible manner, protecting the health and safety of its employees, addressing evolving environmental issues and ensuring compliance with applicable legal requirements.

Special sessions about protection from Silicosis risks were delivered to 49 workers in Borg El Borg Factory.

In addition to the applied HSE systems, this year Lecico has developed the system of the protection from radioactive materials used in production. This was done through:

• Hiring a consultant that specialized in the radioactive materials field.
• Installing new machineries to make the necessary measures related to these materials on regular basis.
• Maintaining regular examination every 6 months for our employees who are exposed to these materials.

Lecico has well developed environmental, packaging and waste reduction policies that are communicated to all employees who are encouraged to participate in achieving the Company’s goals.

Lecico’s ISO certificates have been upgraded to 2015 versions for ISO 9001: 2015 (quality management systems) and ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Management Systems) where the risk-based thinking has been focused.

14001 is an internationally accepted certification for effective Environmental Management System (EMS). The standard is designed to address the delicate balance between maintaining profitability and reducing environmental impact.

ISO 18001 is the internationally recognized certification for occupational health and safety management systems. It was developed by a selection of trade bodies, international standards and certification bodies to be compatible with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, and help any company meet their health and safety obligations in an efficient manner.

Lecico H&S team has started now implementing ISO 45001:2018 standard requirement.

Lecico's Health and Safety System complies with all the applicable Egyptian Laws relating to Occupational Health and Safety and is audited annually from Bureau of Health and Safety and Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) as follows:

• Labor Law number 12 (2003) that states the legislations of Occupational Health and Safety and Securing Work Environment Subsidiary Clause which covers laws number 202 to 231 concerning definition and application, work site, construction and license, requirements of work environment, social and health care, OH&S inspection, planning of OH&S systems and securing work sites, and research and development systems and consultation.
• Law number 453 (1954) related to "License for industrial and commercial organizations" and amended by Law no. 68 (2016).
• Law number 79 (1975) related to Social Security and Law number 135 (2010) related to Social Insurance and Pensions.
• Environmental Law number 4 (1994) regarding environmental protection amended by Environmental Law number 9 (2009) and Environmental Law number 105 (2015)
• The Ministerial Executive Regulations number 338 (1995) amended by Ministerial decision number 1095 (2011), Ministerial decision number 964 (2015), Ministerial decision number 544 (2016), Ministerial decision number 618 (2017) and lately Ministerial decision number 1963 (2017).

In 2018, the Company was audited and passed successfully all its recurring external audits, including:

• ISO-TUV SUD in compliance with ISO 9001: 2015, OHSAS 18001: 2007 and ISO 14001:2015
• Factory and Product audit to meet French national standards (NF)
• Factory and Product audit to meet Dutch national standards (KIWA)
• Factory and Product audit to meet Swedish national standards (NORDTEST)
• Factory and product audit to meet Spanish national standards (AENOR)
• Factory and product audit to meet American national standards (IAPMO)
• WCA and SQP Supplier audit via Intertek.

All Lecico companies seek to:

• Minimize the use of all materials, supplies and energy – and wherever possible use renewable or recyclable materials.
• Minimize the quantity of waste produced in all aspects of our business.
• Adopt an environmentally sound transport policy.
• Communicate our environmental policy to all staff and encourage them to participate in the achievement of our goals.
• Supply and promote, wherever possible, those products, which contribute to energy conservation and do not damage the environment.
• Ensure that the Company continues to meet present and future environmental standards and legislation.
• Updating the company occupational health and safety complying standard from 18001 to be complying with ISO 45001:2018.

Code of Conduct

Lecico follows a code of conduct with an emphasis on corporate social responsibility.

Human rights shall be respected with non-discrimination as well as anti-harassment.

Code of Conduct enable a fair business conduct such as anti-corruption or any conflicts of interest providing a fair competition and protecting information and property.

Sustainability Policy

Lecico strives to uphold sustainability standards in order to earn the trust of society whilst promoting and upholding stakeholder’s rights. This is achieved by improving the quality of our work through continuing professional development while participating and contributing to all community events and activities and by solving environmental problems either by minimizing the use of all material and energy minimizing the quantity of our waste and adopting up to date waste treatment solutions.

Ethical Policy

It is the set of ethical principles which are the values set as the ground rules for all what we do as employees of Lecico. It is always a challenge keeping a balance between commercial successes and maintaining our high ethical standards including credibility, integrity and trustworthiness which formulate our operation.

This trust and credibility are built on the confidence earned from our employees, customers and shareholders, respect for the individuals, creating a culture of open and honest communication is imperative to maintain that credibility whilst upholding the law and avoiding conflicts of interest.

This does not only include our Lecico’s employees, but it covers all the company resources as well as vendors and subcontractors.

All Lecico companies seek to:

• Purchase recycled and recyclable packaging where practicable, including pallets and cartons.
• Return reusable pallets to suppliers and similarly recovering used pallets from customers.
• Reuse packaging opened at branch level for internal transfers and deliveries.
• Actively take part in recycling and reclamation schemes.
• Within its businesses embrace electronic communication aimed at significant reduction in internal paperwork throughout the Company.
• Ensure that the Company continues to meet present and future environmental standards and legislation.

View copies of our quality certificates and environmental reports here.