Business conduct

The business conduct of Sligro Food Group is primarily determined by the culture within our business. As culture is a rather abstract term, prone to change and not always interpreted by everyone the same way, we have given our corporate culture a specific name, elaborated it in detail and put it down in writing. Central to our culture are our purpose and our core values. In line with this, many elements of our culture are also to be found in our code of conduct, ‘Trust in Sligro Food Group’. We realise that conduct is determined not so much by how the rules of conduct are defined, but mainly by how those rules are applied in practice. As well as the commitment, engagement and intrinsic motivation of our staff, what matters is that the right guidance is provided by our management. Enabling our employees to conduct themselves well requires the right information, the right analyses, the right plans, the right processes, the right actions and the right evaluations.

Both the purpose and the core values are discussed in detail in other sections of this annual report. Below, we go into greater detail about our code of conduct, ‘Trust in Sligro Food Group’, and the documents that are closely connected to it.

Our code of conduct: ‘Trust in Sligro Food Group’

Trust in Sligro Food Group is essential to ensuring that our business can operate properly and successfully. This not only encompasses the trust of our employees in the company and in each other, but also the trust and confidence of customers, suppliers, shareholders, financial institutions, government bodies, media and social organisations in Sligro Food Group. Trust in Sligro Food Group is an important element of its successful history. However, conscious effort is needed to gain and maintain trust. Trust needs to be constantly lived up to and maintained through appropriate behaviour. This is a permanent task for the Executive Board and all Sligro Food Group employees. The code of conduct, entitled ‘Trust in Sligro Food Group’, lists fourteen points as guidelines for achieving this task. The code of conduct applies to anyone working for Sligro Food Group, either under a contract of employment or otherwise.

The code of conduct connects seamlessly to our purpose and core values. In the code of conduct, the core values are expressed in terms of specific rules of conduct. The aim of the code of conduct is to help find specific answers to specific questions, for instance in relation to our core value of being ‘Stronger Together’: ‘What conduct should I expect from my colleagues?’ and ‘What conduct should my colleagues expect from me?