Ocena istotnoล›ci niefinansowej 2019-2020 Nielsen

Updated responsibility & sustainability non-financial materiality assessment highlights Nielsen’s commitment to proactive engagement with its stakeholders

Streszczenie

W ramach naszego zobowiฤ…zania do ciฤ…gล‚ego doskonalenia caล‚ej naszej dziaล‚alnoล›ci, zaangaลผowaliล›my naszych interesariuszy w Nielsen i poza nim, aby stworzyฤ‡ naszฤ… trzeciฤ… niefinansowฤ… ocenฤ™ istotnoล›ci. Te moลผliwoล›ci proaktywnego sล‚uchania naszych interesariuszy sฤ… kluczowe dla naszego strategicznego i ewoluujฤ…cego zrozumienia zdolnoล›ci Nielsena do bezpoล›redniego i poล›redniego tworzenia wartoล›ci poprzez naszฤ… dziaล‚alnoล›ฤ‡ i w naszych spoล‚ecznoล›ciach, dziล› i w przyszล‚oล›ci; jesteล›my zobowiฤ…zani do uwzglฤ™dnienia ich opinii w naszych ogรณlnych procesach, strategii biznesowej oraz globalnej odpowiedzialnoล›ci i programach zrรณwnowaลผonego rozwoju. Oprรณcz dฤ…ลผenia do lepszego zrozumienia tego, jak interesariusze postrzegajฤ… Nielsena dzisiaj, wykorzystujemy rรณwnieลผ te informacje zwrotne do identyfikacji przyszล‚ych potencjalnych zagroลผeล„ i moลผliwoล›ci, w tym wszelkich pojawiajฤ…cych siฤ™ kwestii, ktรณre mogฤ… mieฤ‡ wpล‚yw na sukces biznesowy Nielsena i relacje z interesariuszami. Aby przeprowadziฤ‡ tฤ™ ocenฤ™, zaangaลผowaliล›my interesariuszy bezpoล›rednio lub za poล›rednictwem peล‚nomocnikรณw we wszystkich aspektach naszego ล‚aล„cucha wartoล›ci.

The results of this assessment inform our strategic approach in a variety of ways: our ongoing communications about Nielsen’s overall commitments; how we proactively respond to environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related inquiries from investors, clients, and other stakeholders; and how we allocate resources to areas of greatest impact and importance to Nielsen. These issues cut across all aspects of our business, operations, and value creation through our client and industry relationships, our employee base, and our communities.

The issue areas highlighted through this materiality assessment are naturally interconnected with the ESG issues that matter most to our business, such as our commitment to employee engagement and development; diversity across our workforce and approach to measurement; Nielsen Cares projects that leverage our data and associatesโ€™ talents to make a social impact; our work to ensure our suppliers operate sustainably; and our commitment to helping our clients embed sustainability into their product and consumer engagement strategies. Through responsible, sustainable business practices, weโ€™re committed to connecting key ESG best practices with our core purpose as a company to deliver greater value for all of our stakeholders. The responsibility to deliver on our key ESG commitments, aligned with the material priority areas identified in this assessment, is shared by all of our functional teams and leaders across our global business.

W trakcie tej oceny zebraliล›my opinie interesariuszy poprzez pogล‚ฤ™bione wywiady i grupy fokusowe, a takลผe przeglฤ…dy istniejฤ…cej dokumentacji; komentarze internetowe; ankiety; informacje zwrotne od osรณb ustalajฤ…cych standardy ESG, oceniajฤ…cych i rankingujฤ…cych; treล›ci w mediach spoล‚ecznoล›ciowych i tradycyjnych; oraz seminaria internetowe. Nasze kluczowe grupy interesariuszy obejmujฤ… miฤ™dzy innymi: pracownikรณw, klientรณw, branลผowe grupy handlowe i wpล‚ywowe osoby, organy regulacyjne i decydentรณw, organizacje spoล‚eczne i organizacje non-profit, inwestorรณw, dostawcรณw i strategicznych partnerรณw biznesowych. Staraliล›my siฤ™ zrรณwnowaลผyฤ‡ wkล‚ad wewnฤ™trzny i zewnฤ™trzny w wielu regionach geograficznych. Informacje zwrotne zostaล‚y udokumentowane, a nasz wewnฤ™trzny zespรณล‚ i zewnฤ™trzni eksperci zidentyfikowali setki istotnych obszarรณw tematycznych. Kwestie te zostaล‚y nastฤ™pnie uszeregowane, z uwzglฤ™dnieniem czynnikรณw, takich jak intensywnoล›ฤ‡, czฤ™stotliwoล›ฤ‡ wzmianek w grupach interesariuszy oraz wzglฤ™dny wpล‚yw na interesariuszy, spoล‚eczeล„stwo i naszฤ… dziaล‚alnoล›ฤ‡. Priorytet nadano obszarom, w ktรณrych Nielsen moลผe w najbardziej unikalny lub bezpoล›redni sposรณb zajฤ…ฤ‡ siฤ™ obszarami interesujฤ…cymi interesariuszy i waลผnymi dla naszej dziaล‚alnoล›ci.

Weโ€™ve linked our ESG strategy and external reporting efforts as part of a cohesive cycle focused on continuous improvement, enabling us to transparently share our ongoing journey through our Nielsen Global Responsibility Report oraz regular updates. Our next Nielsen Global Responsibility Report, planned for publication in 2020, will cover each of these material topic areas in greater depth. We will continue to publish regular updates on these and other priorities via Nielsen News Center and other outlets.

Nasze podejล›cie strategiczne

As with our previous two assessments, we intend to use this information to guide both how we prioritize and resource continuous improvement efforts, and how we publicly report on these ongoing initiatives. This is our third non-financial materiality assessment; the most recent previous assessment was published in 2017. Going forward, we are committed to continuing this practice of conducting these assessments on a periodic basis.

Weโ€™ve decided to use a new visual format to distill our priority issue areas for this assessment, as we feel this more appropriately conveys the overlapping and dynamic interactions among our most material issue areas. Rather than the traditional horizontal/vertical axes weโ€™ve used in previous years, we chose instead to use a Venn diagram format to show how these key strategic areas are inherently interconnected and interdependent. Much has changed in our business and operating environment since we published our last assessment in 2017. Shifting market and industry dynamics, increased pressure on our clientsโ€™ business models, new and emerging data privacy regulations, and the rapid pace of technological innovation are some of the key factors that weโ€™ve highlighted with our stakeholders as forces of change for our business. While change creates opportunities for evolution, we also recognize the enduring importance of foundational elements of our brandโ€”integrity, trust, transparency, and quality data representative of all consumer populationsโ€”aligned with the key areas that came out of this most recent assessment.  

Although this graphic does not include the traditional axes of โ€œimportance to stakeholdersโ€ and โ€œimportance to society,โ€ we have applied these fundamental considerations to our analysis and issue prioritization per the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards. Each issue area contains a myriad of nuanced topics that were specifically cited by our stakeholders, which we recognize as critical for Nielsen to monitor and lead on as we seek to create economic, social and environmental value within and beyond our business, both today and over the long term. We have included definitions for each issue area below to reflect our stakeholdersโ€™ feedback and to clarify their unique meaning in the context of our business.

While the most material topic areas highlighted in this narrative are those that ranked highest among the hundreds of inputs we received from our stakeholders, all should be considered important. Topics at the center of the diagramโ€”โ€œData,โ€ โ€œTrust,โ€ โ€œTransparency,โ€ and โ€œDiversity & Inclusionโ€โ€”were recognized across stakeholder groups as the foundation on which all of the other issues are based.

At the center, โ€œDataโ€ was most prominently and frequently cited by all stakeholder groups. Data is at the core of our business, and it is fundamental to how we create value across all the other issue areas. Given the nature of our business across more than 90 years, the central importance of data is no surprise. The data we collect, analyze and share with the clients and industries we support each day is the lifeblood of our business. Our clients expect our data to be unbiased, accurate, trustworthy, and collected according to the highest standards of privacy, security, and integrity so they can rely on our insights for their important business decisions. Our shareholders expect us to continue to adapt our use of innovative new technology to the rapidly-changing end-markets in which we work. Our data must also represent all consumers, and we are similarly focused on ensuring that our own workforce represents the communities we seek to measure in order to harness the power of diversity to drive better business outcomes. We also recognize the unique opportunity for data to help communities and nonprofits more effectively deliver on their missions; we seek to contribute to these efforts through our Data for Good initiatives.  

Dla wielu naszych interesariuszy pewne tematy sฤ… postrzegane jako fundamentalne dla kaลผdej odnoszฤ…cej sukcesy, zrรณwnowaลผonej firmy, ktรณra chce dziaล‚aฤ‡ w sposรณb odpowiedzialny. W przypadku firmy Nielsen sฤ… to miฤ™dzy innymi:

  • Utrzymanie naszych wynikรณw gospodarczych i wzrostu w perspektywie dล‚ugoterminowej;
  • Addressing climate change-related issues that impact our global footprint;
  • Mitigating any negative ethical, social or environmental impacts that flow through our end-to-end business and supply chain; and
  • Angaลผowanie naszych spoล‚ecznoล›ci, w szczegรณlnoล›ci poprzez wolontariat pracownikรณw i przekazywanie w naturze naszych unikalnych spostrzeลผeล„ w ramach projektรณw Data for Good, ktรณre majฤ… pozytywny wpล‚yw na spoล‚eczeล„stwo.

Zdefiniowane kluczowe obszary tematyczne

Nasz diagram Venna pokazuje, w jaki sposรณb wszystkie nasze istotne tematy wzajemnie siฤ™ uzupeล‚niajฤ… i sฤ… od siebie zaleลผne. Na przykล‚ad, budujemy i utrzymujemy zaufanie do naszych danych poprzez uczciwe dziaล‚anie, przestrzeganie przepisรณw i przejrzystฤ… komunikacjฤ™ z naszymi interesariuszami. Rรณลผnorodnoล›ฤ‡ i integracja wspierajฤ… nasze dฤ…ลผenie do zatrzymywania, przyciฤ…gania i angaลผowania talentรณw, co ostatecznie pomaga naszemu modelowi biznesowemu stale ewoluowaฤ‡, aby odzwierciedlaฤ‡ wszystkich konsumentรณw w rรณลผnych regionach geograficznych i kulturach. Przejrzystoล›ฤ‡ daje naszym klientom i udziaล‚owcom pewnoล›ฤ‡, ลผe nasz model biznesowy (i dostarczane przez nas dane) jest solidny i ลผe jesteล›my zgodni z obecnymi i nowymi przepisami, ktรณre majฤ… wpล‚yw na gromadzenie i wykorzystywanie przez nas danych. Biorฤ…c pod uwagฤ™ nieodล‚ฤ…czne powiฤ…zania miฤ™dzy tymi priorytetowymi obszarami, wszystkie sฤ… rรณwnie waลผne i niezbฤ™dne dla naszego przyszล‚ego rozwoju.

Jak pokazuje nasza grafika, nasi interesariusze pomogli nam zidentyfikowaฤ‡ nastฤ™pujฤ…ce priorytetowe niefinansowe obszary tematyczne:

Data

For close to a century, Nielsen has provided data and analytics based on scientific rigor and cutting-edge innovation, continually developing new ways to answer the most important questions facing the media, advertising, retail and fast-moving consumer goods industries. Since data powers Nielsenโ€™s business, it must be of the highest quality: consistent, reliable, and representative of all consumers and channels. The business of data creates responsibilitiesโ€”a responsibility to protect the consumer, a responsibility to protect the marketing ecosystem, and a responsibility to manage it all with integrity and transparency.

Clients, in particular, expressed interest in how Nielsen ensures that the consumers who provide information to us are representative of a broad range of perspectives, with a special focus on multicultural consumers. On the analytics side, they expect transparency on how we confirm that our insights are unbiased, and that consumersโ€™ privacy is protected through our approach to privacy by design. All stakeholder groups emphasized the importance of protecting the confidentiality of the data and information we collect, and utilizing the latest technology and practices to secure it. We will continue to invest in wide-ranging data privacy, security and integrity safeguards to ensure quality and security are never compromised.

Additionally, stakeholders across the board see continued opportunities for Nielsenโ€™s data to be used for societal and environmental good. To deliver on this, we plan to continue to focus on Data for Good projects where we can make a unique impact through our data, insights, and capabilities, as part of our $10 million annual commitment to pro bono work and our overarching Nielsen Cares volunteer platform.

We believe that our commitment to high-quality, science-backed data is an essential service to the marketplace. The ability to provide useful data, independent of bias towards buyer or seller, will only become more crucial. We also anticipate our ability to make a positive social impact will grow as we continue to work with key nonprofits across our priority cause areas.

Zaufanie

Naszฤ… misjฤ… jest dostarczanie najbardziej kompletnych i wiarygodnych informacji o konsumentach i rynkach na caล‚ym ล›wiecie. Aby konsumenci chฤ™tnie dzielili siฤ™ z nami informacjami, muszฤ… nam zaufaฤ‡. Powaลผnie traktujemy nasze zobowiฤ…zanie do zachowania poufnoล›ci wszystkich danych osobowych i poufnych.

Zaufanie leลผy u podstaw wszystkiego, co robimy w Nielsen i pozostaje kluczowe dla naszej spoล‚ecznej licencji na prowadzenie dziaล‚alnoล›ci, zwล‚aszcza ลผe zmieniajฤ…ce siฤ™ oczekiwania konsumentรณw i otoczenie regulacyjne wpล‚ywajฤ… na zdolnoล›ฤ‡ wszystkich firm do gromadzenia, wykorzystywania i sprzedawania informacji o konsumentach. Fundament zaufania, ktรณry zbudowaliล›my i musimy utrzymywaฤ‡ w naszych dziaล‚aniach, produktach i ludziach, pozostaje kluczowym wyrรณลผnikiem konkurencyjnym. Zdajemy sobie sprawฤ™ z kluczowej roli, jakฤ… odgrywamy dla naszych klientรณw, aby zapewniฤ‡, ลผe dane, ktรณre im dostarczamy, sฤ… reprezentatywne, dokล‚adne i przydatne do ich wล‚asnych analiz predykcyjnych, poniewaลผ wykorzystujฤ… nasze spostrzeลผenia do kierowania swoimi zasobami i ksztaล‚towania rynkรณw reklamy, towarรณw konsumpcyjnych, mediรณw i innych.

As it is critical to providing independent measurement services for the industries we support, trust is also a key aspect of our talent engagement and retention strategy. Our employees are especially interested in the future evolution of our business as it aligns with their own unique opportunities for career growth. Weโ€™re committed to openly sharing new opportunities for learning and development as we seek new ways for our associates to be engaged and grow in their careers alongside our companyโ€™s continued evolution.

Transparency

Transparency is key to our ability to showcase the differentiating value of our data, and to share our progress on how we innovate to better meet the imperatives of our world today by connecting with existing and new clients, entering new measurement channels and evolving into a new phase of Nielsenโ€™s overall growth. Specifically, stakeholders expect continued transparency around data collection methodologies and analysis, strategy and future plans, financial reporting, leadership changes and ambitions, and diversity representation. Employees, too, want to continue to be engaged in our long-term growth plans and the resulting opportunities for career development.

Media buyers and advertisers need transparency in order to effectively negotiate and trade in an open marketplace. In using rigorous, independent measurement that provides a source of truth, they want to understand just how effective their efforts are and how they can improve upon them. More clarity ultimately means more trust that they are getting exactly what they paid for. The consumers who provide this dataโ€”with every click, every like, and every transactionโ€”also want to know that they are protected. Consumers are more aware and concerned about how data about them is being captured and used today than ever before.

Our success is dependent on stakeholdersโ€™ confidence that our data, business practices, forecasting, and financial reporting are unimpeachable. Our business practices, professional behavior, approach to corporate governance, codes of conduct, Global Responsibility Report, public filings, Spostrzeลผenia oraz Centrum aktualnoล›ci, are all a part of our focus on transparency toward our commitment to build and maintain trust across all of our stakeholder groups.

Diversity & inclusion

Diversity & Inclusion remains critical to our business, in terms of our ability to zawieraฤ‡ wszystko consumers across our measurement solutions, to ensure that our workforce represents the changing demographics around the world, and to enable all associates to perform to their full potential. As artificial intelligence and machine learning evolve and present new use cases for measurement, we recognize the importance of ensuring that these tools are used in a responsible way that is representative of all consumers.

The importance of nurturing a diverse and inclusive workplace touches every aspect of Nielsenโ€™s business. A diverse talent pool creates a more productive environment with a broad range of thoughts and experiences that spurs innovation. Clients expect Nielsen to consistently evolve and deliver to provide new insights about multicultural consumers, audiences and media. We canโ€™t effectively measure these audiences without ensuring that our own workforce also reflects a diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, and life experiences. Outreach to diverse communities also gives us access to new talent pools and a deeper understanding of multicultural communities as we expand our consumer panels.

Oczekujemy rรณwnieลผ, ลผe wszyscy nasi dostawcy i partnerzy biznesowi bฤ™dฤ… reprezentowaฤ‡ podejล›cie wielokulturowe i odzwierciedlaฤ‡ ล›wiat, ktรณry staramy siฤ™ mierzyฤ‡.

Beyond our own value chain, our recent public position opposing the proposed citizenship question in the 2020 U.S. Census was cited by various stakeholder groups as a welcome example of leadership in support of upholding strong data science principles and representing diverse populations.

Business model evolution & innovation

Business Model Evolution & Innovation reflects the importance of continuing to evolve our approach to measurement and the ways that we deliver our data and services across the industries and clients we support. Our data helps clients around the world understand what’s happening now and what’s happening next; to that end, our measurement capabilities and technology must innovate to stay ahead of the rapid pace of change all companies and industries are experiencing today.

Musimy rรณwnieลผ zapewniฤ‡ obraz caล‚ego rynku i mierzyฤ‡ wszystkie kanaล‚y, za poล›rednictwem ktรณrych konsumenci kupujฤ… towary i korzystajฤ… z mediรณw. Poniewaลผ ten ekosystem nadal szybko ewoluuje i roล›nie, pozycja Nielsena jako niezaleลผnego dostawcy danych, ktรณre sฤ… spรณjne i porรณwnywalne, bฤ™dzie tylko rosล‚a. Jesteล›my zaangaลผowani w ciฤ…gล‚e doskonalenie naszej technologii i rozszerzanie naszych moลผliwoล›ci pomiarowych poprzez ciฤ…gล‚e innowacje w duchu otwartej, elastycznej wspรณล‚pracy i skupieniu siฤ™ na prฤ™dkoล›ci, ktรณra pomoลผe naszym klientom i branลผom osiฤ…gnฤ…ฤ‡ wspรณlne cele.

Clients and investors are focused on opportunities for Nielsen to stay ahead of the curve through innovation on the cost-side of our business by growing more efficient and developing streamlined ways to collect and synthesize data in an increasingly complex world. Innovation is key to our ability to succeed, and we recognize the importance of protecting our innovations and intellectual property across our entire footprint. Protecting innovation by promptly seeking patent protection on both the revenue-generating side of the business through new products and services and the cost-side of our business through efficiency-generating processes will remain a hallmark of Nielsenโ€™s innovation strategy.

Nielsenโ€™s innovation imperative encompasses the need to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to grow our measurement capabilities in new ways, how we engage with our clients, and how we ensure that all channels, categories and consumers are reflected in our coverage. To more seamlessly deliver for our clients and the industries we support, weโ€™ve simplified our organization into two core platforms: Nielsen Global Media and Nielsen Global Connect.

Our focus on innovation also includes opening up to new clients and new end-users of Nielsen data and services as we become more product- and technology-focused as a company. One of these new opportunities is a focus on the sustainability related intelligence we can provide our clients, particularly in the consumer packaged goods and retail spaces.

Zaangaลผowanie talentรณw

Nielsenโ€™s future relies on a skilled and stable talent pool. Ensuring that wszystko Nielsen associates feel engaged and supported throughout their career journeysโ€”regardless of race, gender, background or any of the other factors covered by our global non-discrimination statementโ€”remains critical to our ability to attract, maintain, and grow top talent at our company in order to create and deliver better solutions to the marketplace.

As it is especially critical that our employees remain engaged throughout their time at Nielsen, in recent years weโ€™ve invested in growing employee engagement in new ways across a variety of different dimensions, such as regular employee engagement โ€œpulse checks,โ€ encouraging associates and their managers to connect through regular check-ins, and expanding the capacity of our internal mentoring and leadership development programs. Employee engagement is the emotional and psychological connection our associates feel about their workplace and the work that we do. Itโ€™s about belonging, commitment, growth, and teamwork. And ultimately, it helps lead to both individual and business success.

Obecni pracownicy wskazali, ลผe ceniฤ… sobie bezpieczeล„stwo zatrudnienia, kulturฤ™ wspierajฤ…cฤ… rรณลผnorodnoล›ฤ‡ oraz przejrzystoล›ฤ‡ w zakresie przyszล‚ego rozwoju kariery i moลผliwoล›ci awansu. Pracownicy wymieniali ciฤ…gล‚e szkolenia i moลผliwoล›ci rozwoju przywรณdztwa jako kluczowe sposoby na zatrzymanie i zaangaลผowanie pracownikรณw.

W firmie Nielsen nasza strategia dotyczฤ…ca talentรณw jest bezpoล›rednio powiฤ…zana z naszฤ… dล‚ugoterminowฤ… strategiฤ… biznesowฤ…. Oznacza to, ลผe koncentrujemy siฤ™ na innowacjach, technologii i wydajnoล›ci - i zwiฤ…zanej z tym transformacji naszej organizacji, aby nadal realizowaฤ‡ nasz cel, jakim jest pomaganie naszym klientom i obsล‚ugiwanym przez nas rynkom w bardziej efektywnym dziaล‚aniu - napฤ™dza nasz rozwรณj talentรณw i strategiczne planowanie zatrudnienia.

Compliance & integrity

Compliance & Integrity complements our cross-cutting focus on trust and transparency. This includes our internal engagement with employees on the need to protect Nielsenโ€™s brand and reputation; the way we engage with our panelists and the consumers we measure; the protections we maintain in our relationships with third-party partners and suppliers; and the end-deliverables we share with our clients. Integrity encompasses good governance, regulatory compliance, and responsible business practices.

As an independent data and measurement company, our clientsโ€”and the industries we supportโ€”depend on us to be an unbiased arbiter. To serve as a source of truth, integrity must be part of the foundation of all that we do at Nielsen. Maintaining such a culture helps protect the integrity of our data across the clients and markets we serve around the globe, builds a better workplace where employees feel respected and engaged, and increases our stakeholdersโ€™ trust in our business and brand. This connection between a strong culture of integrity and increased trust has been critical to our ability to foster a supportive work environment, effectively engage with consumers, provide cutting-edge measurement services, and ultimately to help our clients and markets grow.

Krajobraz zgodnoล›ci staje siฤ™ coraz bardziej zล‚oลผony wraz z ewolucjฤ… prywatnoล›ci danych, wymogami dotyczฤ…cymi ujawniania informacji o cyberbezpieczeล„stwie i przepisami na caล‚ym ล›wiecie. Bฤ™dziemy nadal inwestowaฤ‡ w te waลผne obszary, aby mieฤ‡ pewnoล›ฤ‡, ลผe speล‚niamy i przekraczamy te wymagania.