Corporate Express Australia Pty Limited is a leading supplier of Office Products, IT Solutions, Business Furniture, Promotional Marketing, Print Management, Facility Supplies, Canteen & Catering and Education Essentials. Our product range includes manufacturer brands as well as our private label brands. We aim to provide a single source offering that makes it simple and cost effective for businesses to purchase products for the office.

In 2010 we became 100 per cent owned by Staples, Inc., the world’s largest office products company with operations in 26 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. This change in ownership means we are no longer listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

We operate from 46 sites throughout Australia and New Zealand. Our head office is located in Mascot, New South Wales, and office, warehouse and distribution centres are located in various sites throughout every state and territory.

Our wholly-owned subsidiary companies include Corporate Express New Zealand, The Educational Experience Pty Limited (trading as Educational Experience) and CEI Pty Limited (trading as Raeco). The sustainability performance data on this site includes information from our subsidiaries unless otherwise stated.

Customer Service and Quality

We strive to provide superior value to our customers through a combination of competitive prices, an extensive selection of products including environmentally preferable choices, high quality and innovative products, easy-to-use websites, reliable delivery and excellent customer service.

In 2010, we made a decision not to roll out customer satisfaction surveys due to the impending full purchase of the Australian and New Zealand business by Staples. As a result of this, we will align our current customer satisfaction reporting framework to the global customer satisfaction framework in 2011.

We are currently implementing a new Privacy Information Management Policy and related processes to ensure our customer information remains secure.

Quality Assurance

We have a strong focus and commitment to quality assurance and are proud to have an internationally-recognised quality management system in place. All of our sites are currently certified to the AS/NZ ISO 9001:2008 standard.

We continuously maintain and improve our product standards through independent product testing by SAI Global. All our home brand EXP products are tested to OEM equivalent standards or better before being released to the market. Selected EXP suppliers have to satisfy pre-determined quality expectations and various safety specifications applicable to their industry and production facilities. Factories have to ensure compliance to contractual or regulatory requirements in all facets of their manufacturing and sourcing activities.

Our quality commitment penetrates every aspect of our business from customer support to account management to our distribution centre. Our approach to quality assurance is to offer the most consistent possible service to our customers whilst allowing our associates the greatest degree of flexibility in meeting the needs of our customers. By having an effective quality assurance system in place, we are able to enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer needs.

SAP Implementation

As a leading provider of business products and services, we believe it is important to invest in our future and establish a foundation for profitable and sustainable growth.  As such, we are implementing SAP, an Enterprise Resource Planning system.

SAP will allow us to provide improved functionality to a wide range of business processes, from the processing of sales orders through to the financial management of customers’ account.

In 2011, we will enter our SAP implementation phase. In the vast majority of cases customers will see no immediate or noticeable impact or change in the way they do business with us. However, behind the scenes we will be implementing improvements to our internal process which are all designed to provide a better level of customer service.

Recognition/Awards

Our sustainability achievement and initiatives were recognised with the following awards in the reporting period:

• Our CEO, Paul Hitchcock was named Leading CEO for the Advancement of Women at the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) awards for driving management accountability, creating an inclusive workplace culture and for delivering improved outcomes for women and our business.
• We were named an Employer of Choice for Women for 2011 by the EOWA.
• Our diversity initiatives were recognised again when we won the Equal Advancement of Women within the Workplace Award at the Diversity@Work – Employment and Inclusion Awards in 2010.
• In 2010 our Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Jennifer Levasseur, received a Supplier Diversity Champion accolade at the Australian Indigenous Minority Supplier Council (AIMSC) Connect 2010 Business Opportunity Fair and Conference in Sydney.
• We received the 2010 iCMG Award for Best Green Architecture for our green IT initiatives.
• We received a Sustainability Award at NAB’s Annual Supplier Awards in 2010.
• We were a finalist in two of the United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day Awards on 4th June 2010: The Virgin Blue Business Award for Environmental Best Practice Program and The WSP Lincolne Scott Sustainability Leadership Award.

To find out more about our sustainability recognition click here.

Globally, we are listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2010, we were ranked number two among retailers in the Newsweek Green Rankings, which ranks the environmental efforts of the largest 500 companies in the United States.

We engaged a third party to conduct a questionnaire with our key stakeholders before developing this site to ensure that our communications on corporate responsibility – and our strategic approach – focus on the issues that are most relevant to us and our stakeholders.

The questionnaire was completed by over 400 stakeholders including associates, customers, suppliers, sustainability professionals and community stakeholders. The questionnaire asked stakeholders which sustainability issues were the most important for us to address. These issues were then mapped against their impact on our business. The issues in the top right quadrant are the issues which we have prioritised in this report – i.e. the issues which were assessed as being of moderate to high stakeholder concern and impact on our business.

The sustainability issues which were considered as being the most material for us to address were:

• Ethical sourcing — ensuring to the greatest degree possible that our suppliers abide by our Ethical Sourcing Policy which requires them to treat workers fairly and operate in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner.
• Product quality — ensuring that our products meet or exceed customers’ performance expectations.
• Employee satisfaction — treating associates with dignity and respect, abiding by all employment laws, and supporting our associates’ professional development.
• Sustainable procurement — sourcing recycled, non-toxic and renewable materials that are responsibly produced.
• Eco-conscious products and services — finding, sourcing and selling environmentally preferable products.
• Packaging — minimising the amount of materials needed to package and distribute our products and selecting packaging materials that are better for the environment.
• Customer interest in sustainability — helping our customers reduce their own environmental impacts.
• Customer service — making it easy for customers to purchase the products and services they need at reasonable prices.

We implement sustainability considerations at all stages of our business operations – from sourcing the initial products to disposal of packaging. Central to this, are our people who drive these actions, along with other stakeholders who help inform our sustainability approach at all stages of the lifecycle.

Nothing is more important to us than the relationships we build as a company and as associates. We have defined our primary stakeholders (based on their level of influence and impact on our organisation) as: customers, associates, suppliers and community members. We engage with our stakeholders in many ways, from informal contact to more formal means such as supplier reviews. The different ways we engage with each stakeholder group are listed below.

Customers

To stay in touch with our customers we hold regular face-to-face meetings and hold events such as our CSR breakfasts. Our catalogues, marketing materials and our e-commerce site NetXpress are other ways we communicate with our customers.

Associates

We engage with and support associates in many ways beyond their daily interactions with their colleagues and managers:

• Print, online and broadcast communications reinforce our core goals and values and encourage associates to contribute to our ongoing success.
• Learning and development programs help associates develop their jobs skills and expertise.
• Employee surveys reveal what our associates think we do well and where we can do better.

Suppliers

Our Ethical Sourcing Policy requires our suppliers to adhere to all applicable environmental laws, as well as health, safety and labour standards. We engage with our suppliers to make sure they understand the provisions of the Ethical Sourcing Policy.

We also work closely with our key suppliers to identify opportunities to increase the financial and environmental efficiencies of our collective operations. These efficiencies include reducing packaging, improving packing space utilisation, reducing transport distance and improving transport efficiency.

In 2010 we worked closely with AIMSC Certified suppliers both for our own procurement and to develop the range of products from AIMSC Certified suppliers for our customers.

Communities

We seek to be a valued and trusted member of the communities in which our associates and customers live and work. We work closely with the not-for-profit organisations we support, whether it is a long-term partner such as Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick or whether it is one of the small grassroots groups receiving Staples Foundation for Learning® funds.

Stakeholder Questionnaire

We engaged a third party to conduct a stakeholder questionnaire in 2010 to obtain feedback on stakeholders’ views of our sustainability performance and sustainability report. More than 400 stakeholders participated in the survey, including associates, customers, suppliers, sustainability professionals and community stakeholders. The key findings were that:

• The majority of stakeholders felt that we perform better than other Australian and New Zealand companies on sustainability.
• The sections of most interest to stakeholders were the environment section, the workplace section and the dashboard of our key performance indicators on sustainability.
• The preferred format for the sustainability report was either as an online report or as a pdf – as a result we have developed this online site.

Stakeholders also made suggestions on how we can improve our reporting. These included:

• Linking the references in the Global Reporting Initiative Index to the relevant pages of the online report
• Incorporating more case studies in the report
• Improving the readability and design of the report.

We have incorporated these recommendations in the development of this report.

We rely on the talents, strengths and commitment of our associates to deliver on our corporate goal to build a world-class selling organisation. We know they perform best when they are clear on our goals and understand how they can contribute. We believe our culture and practices reflect these values.

At the same time, we know there is always room for improvement. To help us gain a comprehensive understanding of how well our associates are engaged — and more importantly, what opportunities we have to drive further engagement — Staples launched a global Associate Engagement Survey in 2010.

Associate Engagement Survey

The Associate Engagement Survey was conducted by Staples globally and provided a representative view of associate engagement at Staples around the world.

More than three-quarters of Australian and New Zealand associates participated and the results found that the majority of associates are engaged or highly engaged. This reflects the investment we have made in the past year to develop a communications team that shares information with our associates on a regular basis. We also made a significant investment in increasing the learning and development opportunities for our associates and leadership team and launched our TeamCARE values in the year, with focus sessions on what these values mean for the company.

The survey found that a large majority of our associates would recommend and rate the company as a great place to work, have confidence in the company and the leadership team and are willing to put in extra effort to meet the company’s goals. Associates also conveyed a high level of understanding and awareness of Staples Soul initiatives and the company’s corporate responsibility.

The survey also highlighted some opportunities for improvement. For example, some associates felt that we don’t always act as a team. Our national focus for our associate engagement in 2011 will therefore be on “One team” which emphasises the importance of collaboration.

Learning and Development

We support our associates by investing in developing and retaining great people. Our aim is for our people to grow within the company and develop their careers with us.

Our in-house training curriculum delivered through our Learning and Development Team includes programs on managing people and performance, communication and customer care. This year we also introduced the “Personality Type Curriculum” program which aims to provide participants with skills to help them understand themselves and others.

In 2010, we increased our training and development substantially - doubling the amount of training hours from 9,050 in 2009 to 21,063 hours in 2010.

The increase in the amount of training in 2010 was due to:

• The launch of our Leadership Development Program
• The introduction of a new Sales Training Program
• The introduction of new workshops relevant to our warehouse associates such as Process Excellence Fundamentals training
• Formal SAP training provided to associates
• Improved reporting of training in areas such as Legal and Environmental Management Systems.

Leadership Development Program

We believe everyone deserves a great leader and that great leaders are the best way for us to continue to grow and manage our business effectively. Building on our work in developing a range of competencies for managers at all levels in 2009, this year we launched our Leadership Development Program. Around 100 of our senior leaders attended the program which provides a framework for managers to create the environment where people can succeed. Participants received coaching based on a LifeStyles inventory which provides insights into how they can enhance their individual effectiveness as leaders. We will continue to build on this work by extending the program to an additional 30 leaders in our business in 2011 while leveraging additional programs from Staples.

Peak Personal Performance

We will be certifying our human resource managers to deliver Peak Personal Performance training to our associates in 2011. The program helps associates manage their time and wellbeing more effectively. We live in a demanding world, and this program helps to boost energy and maximise capacity. Once our people are certified they will start delivering the training across the organisation.

Sales Training

Consistently achieving sales growth is central to our strategy. To do this, we need to give our sales teams the tools they need to continue to develop. In 2010 we therefore introduced The CE Way, a customised Sales Training program designed to equip our sales team with the knowledge and techniques they need.

A total of 442 sales associates participated in the two-day course, which constitutes 98 per cent of the sales force. In 2011 we will be rolling out an additional two-day Sales Training program for existing sales associates as well as a one-week Sales Induction program for all new sales associates.

Ensuring the health and safety of our associates is a core focus for the business. We have Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) plans which are updated yearly and contain targets and actions for the year.

In 2010, our OHS plan included 76 action points, all of which were completed by December 20^th 2010. One of the key action points was to introduce a “Behavioural Safety” procedure to the Australian business. This was introduced in 2010 and aims to improve site safety by observing how associates are working in a particular area and recording correct and incorrect work techniques. Feedback is given to associates and statistics are collated over time.

During the year, internal safety audits were conducted for the main sites, but due to our change in ownership, the external audit program did not proceed. For 2011, our OHS plan includes 65 action points.

Managing OHS

We have a tailor-made occupational health and safety management system called “Safety Shop” which uses the principles of OHS management standards AS/NS 4801/4804 and e-learning modules on safety. It also includes a corporate risk register to identify risks and hazards and a company-wide reporting scheme. “Safety Shop” was rolled out in New Zealand in 2010 and internal safety audits were conducted in the five major New Zealand sites.

Our collective agreements include a health and safety section which covers aspects such as the lifting of heavy objects, manual handling and heat management. In addition, we have mandatory e-learning modules for manual handling, induction and risk management. This training is completed by all associates on an annual basis. Teams also hold toolbox talks where they discuss safety and learn about the latest OHS updates.

OHS Statistics

In 2010, our Lost Time Incident Frequency Rate(LTIFR)[1] (the number of lost time incidents per million hours worked) fell from 9.0 to 6.7. This was a great achievement and is an outcome of our continual focus on safety improvements. Our performance was better than the target we had set which was to reduce the LTIFR to a maximum of 7.1. The LTIFR target for 2011 is 6.1 or less. The Incidence Rate (lost time incidents per 100 employees) dropped from 0.13 in 2009 to 0.11 and there were 1,305 lost days in total.

In September 2010, we achieved a significant milestone when our head office in Mascot passed the 365-day mark without any employees incurring a Lost Time Incident (LTI). An LTI is defined as the loss of a full working shift as a result of a workplace event of injury. This contributed to the reduction in our LTIFR.

To increase awareness of health and safety in the workplace we hold an annual Safety Week which includes safety lectures, ergonomic consultations and spot hazard checks and quizzes.

[1] Historically we did not distinguish between hours worked and hours with annual leave. Due to improved reporting we now have this data. To be consistent with LTIFR comparisons with previous years our data still includes all hours worked. However, we plan to include only hours worked in 2012. The LTIFR is calculated as a 12 month rolling average.

Employee Assistance Program

We have an Employee Assistance Program and a Manager Assist Program which give associates, and their immediate families, professional, confidential counselling service free of charge. The service is provided by an independent company.

We also work in partnership with private health insurance providers in Australia and New Zealand to offer our employees discounted health insurance.

2010

• Staples’ employees choose a charity and change lives
• Corporate Express Presents $46,000 Cheque to Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation – media alert
• Corporate Express launches inaugural Reconciliation Action Plan
• Corporate Express CEO wins 'Leading CEO for the Advancement of Women'
• Corporate Express supports Indigenous economic development
• Corporate Express challenges Aussie businesses to go green
• Corporate Express sustainability initiatives fact sheet and key statistics

2009

• Call for big business to fight against poverty
• Corporate Express releases its inaugural Sustainability Report
• Corporate Express scoops the pool in this year's business sustainability awards
• Businesses switching to recycled copy paper
• Corporate Express gearing up for Fair Trade Fortnight by becoming a Fair Trade Workplace
• New energy efficient data centre at Corporate Express

2008

• Corporate Express takes out Sustainable Company of the Year Award
• Corporate Express expands support for workers with expansion of Fairtrade range
• Corporate Express takes to Mascot
• Corporate Express donates $65,000 to Sydney Children's Hospital

2007

• Corporate Express included in CR index
• Major Business supplier taking the lead on sustainability
• Corporate Express appoints a Corporate Social Responsibility Manager
• Major business supplier taking the lead on ethical sourcing

2006

• Corporate Express takes win-win approach on sustainability
• Universities support Fair Trade coffee
• Corporate support for Fair Trade coffee

We have developed this website to share information about our corporate responsibility efforts with our customers, associates, suppliers and community members.

The website covers Corporate Express Australia Pty Limited’s activities from February 1^st 2010 to January 28^th 2011. This is our third sustainability report and we report on our sustainability initiatives and performance on an annual basis.

Our previous report which covers the year to January 31^st 2010 is available for download in the Report Archive tab.

We are now 100 per cent owned by Staples and as such we are in the process of aligning our reporting and data collection processes with Staples globally. Staples’ CSR program, Staples Soul, is made up of four pillars: Ethics, Community, Environment and Diversity. As such we have structured this report to align with these four pillars.

To determine the key metrics to report on we have applied the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 sustainability reporting framework (GRI G3) to an “A” Application Level, which has been checked by a third party. View the GRI A Application Level statement. We also conducted a stakeholder questionnaire to determine the topics of highest relevance and value to our stakeholders, and have reported on these issues accordingly. Specific indicator references can be found in the GRI Index.

In 2011, Staples will be implementing a new web-based reporting tool (Credit360) to gather environmental and social data from operations from around the world. The tool will enable us to better collect, manage and communicate this data and meet our stakeholders’ requests for increased transparency.

The $ used in this site refer to Australian dollars unless otherwise stated.

Independent Assurance Statement

We believe that the information presented in this report is accurate and fairly represents our corporate responsibility programs and results. We believe that having an independent third party verify our key data and processes is important to our sustainability practices and have engaged a third party assurance provider, Banarra, to assure selected data sets in this report.

View Independent Assurance Statement.

Read and download our previous Sustainability Reports here:

• 2010 Sustainability Report
• 2009 Sustainability Report
• 2009 Sustainability Report Executive Summary
• 2008 Sustainability Report

Read and download some of our key corporate responsibility policies here:

• Environment Policy
• Ethical Sourcing Policy
• OHS Policy
• Code of Conduct Policy
• CSR Policy Statement