Data
Data is for the calendar year 2016. The majority of our data is collected quarterly through our financial reporting system. Some people data is collected through an HR Survey issued to our global HR directors.
Data from our financial reporting system covers all subsidiaries of the Group – 134,000 direct employees. A subsidiary is an entity which we control and/or have a majority shareholding. Associates and joint ventures, where the Group may have influence or joint control, but not outright control, are not included. Data in our financial reporting will include associate companies not covered in our Sustainability Report. Data from the HR survey covers 77% of the Group. We are working to improve the coverage of this survey.
Our carbon footprint, some environmental and some people data has been externally assured by Bureau Veritas. Our per person carbon footprint figures are calculated using data for full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).
As a result of an error identified in the currency conversion factors used to estimate our 2015 free media space data, we have restated the 2015 free media space figure to £20.7 million (previously £24.4 million). This reduced the 2015 total social contribution figure to £40.2 million.
Case studies and examples from our companies are collected via an annual survey. Each WPP company has nominated a sustainability representative to compile this, and surveys are signed off by the company CEO before submission to WPP.
Guidelines and reporting frameworks
The content of this report is prepared in accordance with the core option of the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G4 guidelines. See our GRI G4 context index for a list of disclosures and their location in our Report.
WPP are members of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and this Report forms our second communication on progress. We provide an index which summarises our approach and progress on each of the UNGC’s 10 principles.
Accessibility
We aim to make our website, including our online Sustainability Report, as accessible as possible. In Q1 2017, our site was ranked third out of 494 company websites tested by Sitemorse for accessibility. See www.sitemorse.com.