Data
Data is for the calendar year 2015. The majority of our data is collected quarterly through our financial reporting system. Some employment 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 – 128,000 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 66% of the Group. We are working to improve the coverage of this survey.
Our carbon footprint, some environmental and some employment data has been externally assured by
Bureau Veritas. Our per employee carbon footprint figures are calculated using data for full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).
We have restated a number of data points provided in previous reports. In 2014, we provided a combined figure for training and welfare spend. We have changed our approach this year and now report a figure for training spend only. We have restated data for 2014 and previous years to reflect this. We have also restated our carbon footprint data for 2014, having identified that a number of business units misstated their greenhouse gas emissions in 2014. Further details are shown in the notes to carbon emissions statement 2015.
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 Table for a list of disclosures and their location in our report. See GRI table.
WPP joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) in 2015 and this report forms our first 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 2016, our site was ranked second out of 524 company websites tested by Sitemorse. See sitemorse.com.