Aramark

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses the channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups.

Sustainable development strategy
The company discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability impacts as well as the outcome of this process, in relation to its sustainability strategy.

Animal welfare
The company discloses a target(s) that addresses animal welfare issues in its supply chain and reports progress against the target.

Food loss and waste
The company’s FLW reduction targets are aligned with SDG 12.3 goal (50% reduction by 2030).

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company demonstrates commitment, has policies or partakes in activities related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging. Moreover, it discloses quantitative data with regards to plastic use reduction and use of sustainable packaging.

Availability of nutritious foods
The company provides updates on its reformulation efforts, revealing that 34% of the main dishes in its Eat Well recipes have reduced levels of sugar, saturated fat, and sodium. Additionally, 14% of these dishes feature whole grains as a key ingredient.

Child labour
The company requires suppliers to prohibit child labour and verify the age of recruited workers.

Forced labour
The company prohibits the payment of any recruitment fees or related costs to secure a job, and it does not retain workers’ personal documents or restrict workers’ freedom of movement in its supply chain.

Act ethically
The company publicly commits to safeguarding personal data and has implemented a policy against bribery and corruption. Additionally, the company incorporates anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses into contracts with direct business partners. In order to address concerns and complaints related to bribery and corruption, the company has established a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to express their grievances.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available policy statement in which it commits to respecting the health and safety of workers in both its operations and supply chain. Furthermore, the company provides disclosure on how it monitors the health and safety performance of its business relationships. In terms of workforce composition, the company discloses the proportion of women in each employee category within its total direct operations workforce. The company also discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce in each employee category by race or ethnicity. Notably, the company’s board of directors consists of 36.36% women.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement that commits to respecting human rights, as well as an associated policy statement that expects suppliers to respect the ILO core labor rights. Additionally, the company indicates that it has a human rights grievance mechanism in place, which is accessible to all workers. Furthermore, the company ensures that this mechanism is also accessible to external stakeholders who may be adversely affected by the company’s actions.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company has an opportunity to link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Furthermore, it could disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Lobbying and advocacy
The company has an opportunity to disclose a list of trade associations of which it is a member. Furthermore, the company can provide a clear and detailed framework for assessing the alignment of these trade associations with its sustainability targets. Additionally, the company can report any (potential) misalignments between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and its sustainability targets.

Stakeholder engagement
The company has an opportunity to disclose an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities and the outcomes of its stakeholder engagement.

Sustainable development strategy
The company has an opportunity to disclose group wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain and to report consistently against all its targets.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company discloses scope 1 and scope 2 emissions for the years 2021 and 2022, with scope 2 emissions showing a reduction compared to 2021. It also reported that the total scope 1 and scope 2 emissions for 2022 decreased by 15% compared to 2019. However, scope 1 emissions increased compared to the previous year.
There is an opportunity for the company to establish group-wide emissions targets and align with a 1.5-degree trajectory. Similarly, the company has an opportunity to set a time-bound target to reduce scope 3 emissions targets.

Animal welfare
While the company has a target that addresses animal welfare issues in its supply chain, it has an opportunity to make it applicable to all species, geographies and products.

Food loss and waste
While the company discloses its FLW reduction targets, it does not measure progress against them.

Water withdrawal
The company has an opportunity to enhance its disclosures relating to water use and withdrawal.

Accessibility and affordability of nutritious foods
The company also has the chance to introduce commercial initiatives that aim to make nutritious foods more affordable and accessible, especially for vulnerable groups. Moreover, the company can set goals to enhance the accessibility and affordability of nutritious foods by means of its commercial activities.

Availability of nutritious foods
The company has an opportunity to adopt a nutrient profiling system that aligns with government-endorsed or externally validated nutritional guidelines and to set a sales-based target to increase the percentage of more nutritious food offerings.

Clear and transparent labelling
The company has an opportunity to disclose how it provides nutritional information on its products and how it supports consumers with making healthy food choices through its labelling schemes.

Food safety
The company has an opportunity to show that all of its own operations are certified to a GFSI food safety scheme or other widely recognized industry-specific certification. Additionally, the company can disclose the percentage of food suppliers that are certified to a GFSI-recognized food safety scheme.

Child labour
The company has an opportunity to disclose examples of remediation programmes when a case of child labour is found in its operations and to indicate how it is building the capacity of its suppliers to prevent child labour impacts.

Forced labour
The company has an opportunity to disclose a prohibition for its operations to pay recruitment fees or related costs to secure a job, to retain workers’ personal documents or to restrict workers’ freedom of movement. Furthermore, it could indicate how it is building the capacity of its suppliers to prevent forced labour impacts.

Health and safety of vulnerable groups
The company has an opportunity to recognise and assess the health and safety risks to vulnerable groups, such as migrant and temporary labourers, women and young farmers. Furthermore, it could provide evidence of support activities that improve the health and safety of vulnerable groups.

Act ethically
The company could describe the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. While the company outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement in its Business Conduct Policy, there is an opportunity for it to formalize this approach in a public policy document. The company states that it only makes political contributions after approval from its business attorney. However, it should also disclose whether these contributions are made only in exceptional cases, and specify the criteria for making them. Further, the company could disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities. Moreover, it would be beneficial for the company to disclose that it requires third-party lobbyists to comply with its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
Although the company claims to pay its employees a legal wage, it could further demonstrate its commitment by establishing a specific target for paying a living wage within a defined timeframe. Additionally, the company should disclose its methodology for determining what constitutes a living wage in the regions where it operates. Although the company already sets expectations for the wages paid by its suppliers, it should also require them to pay a living wage and disclose how it assists them in meeting this requirement.

While the company expresses its dedication to diversity, it could explicitly state its commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Furthermore, it should disclose time-bound targets for achieving gender equality and promoting women’s empowerment. To ensure transparency in its operations, the company should disclose the ratio of basic salary and overall remuneration between women and men in its workforce, categorized by significant locations of operation.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect specific workers’ rights but has an opportunity to reference all the ILO fundamental rights at work. Furthermore, the company has the chance to provide a detailed account of its process for identifying and addressing human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, within its own operations and supply chain. Furthermore, the company has the possibility to describe its method for determining its most salient human rights issues, considering factors like geographical, economic, and social aspects. Lastly, it has the chance to disclose a global system to act on its salient human rights issues, aiming to prevent, lessen, or remedy them.