Aramark

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

Sustainability strategy and accountability
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.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company is committed to achieving zero conversion.

Solid and air pollution
The company demonstrates commitment, partakes in activities, and discloses quantitative data related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion and community impact area.

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.

Lobbying
The company has an opportunity disclose a list of trade associations of which it is a member. Additionally, it has an opportunity to disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with its sustainability targets and to report (potential) misalignments.

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

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company has an opportunity to disclose group wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain and report consistently against all its targets. Furthermore, it could link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Lastly, the company could improve its transparency by disclosing whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company provides some evidence of addressing conversion, but this does not necessarily mean they have implemented DCF-aligned practices. Additionally, the company lacks specific, time-bound targets for achieving conversion-free supply chains. Moreover, the company’s commitment to restoring ecosystems is unclear as they do not disclose details or outcomes of restoration projects in areas impacted by their operations or suppliers.

GHG emissions
The company has targets to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions and it discloses that scope 1 and scope 2 emissions for 2022 were down 15% as compared with 2019. However, it does not have targets to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions across its own operations as whole. Then, the company should set time-bound targets to reduce its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions as well as report progress against them. Crucially, the company needs to reduce its scope 1,2 and 3 emissions and its targets need to align with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company has an opportunity to disclose assessments of its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations and in its supply chain. It also has the opportunity to disclose its dependencies on nature within its own operations and upstream business relationships.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive alien species in its own operations.

Key areas and species
The company has an opportunity to disclose locations within or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity, both in its own operations and its supplier locations. It could also disclose existing species populations existing in or adjacent to both its own and its suppliers’ locations, as well as the conservation status of species identified at its own sites according to national and international lists.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
The company has an opportunity to disclose its inputs according to an international standard, and to report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. The company also has an opportunity to disclose activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices, to disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices and to report progress against it.

Solid and air pollution
The company does not disclose relevant information related to pollution in its operations or supply chains.

Water
The company does not disclose relevant information related to water, in its operations or supply chains.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
Although the company acknowledges the principles of free, prior and informed consent, there is no clear commitment to respecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples. It fails to reference the relevant part(s) of ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples or the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Furthermore, the company does not disclose its processes for identifying and recognizing the rights of Indigenous Peoples when its operations may potentially impact these rights. Additionally, it does not provide a description of how it obtains free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous Peoples.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company has an opportunity to commit to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders. Moreover, it should track its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities.

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.