GroGuru commits to UN Global Compact.
- Participant
- Published
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- 25-Mar-2020
- Time period
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- April 2020 – April 2021
- Format
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- Stand alone document – Basic COP Template
- Differentiation Level
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- This COP qualifies for the Global Compact Active level
- Self-assessment
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- Includes a CEO statement of continued support for the UN Global Compact and its ten principles
- Description of actions or relevant policies related to Human Rights
- Description of actions or relevant policies related to Labour
- Description of actions or relevant policies related to Environment
- Description of actions or relevant policies related to Anti-Corruption
- Includes a measurement of outcomes
- Statement of continued support by the Chief Executive Officer
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Statement of the company's chief executive (CEO or equivalent) expressing continued support for the Global Compact and renewing the company's ongoing commitment to the initiative and its principles.
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March 23rd 2020
Dear Mr Secretary General
I am pleased to confirm that GroGuru Inc. supports the Ten Principles of the United Nationals Global Compact on Human Rights, Labor, Environment and Anti-Corruption. With this communication, we express our intent to implement those principles. GroGuru Inc. continues our commitment to ensuring that the UN Global Compact and its principles are a part of the strategy, culture and day-to-day operations of our company. GroGuru Inc. seeks to engage in collaborative projects which advance the broader development goals of the UN, particularly the Sustainable Development goals. GroGuru Inc. will make a clear statement of this commitment to our stakeholders, employees and the general public.
GroGuru Inc. continues to acknowledge the key requirement for participation in the UN Global Compact is the annual submission of the Communication of Progress (COP) that describes our company's efforts to implement the Ten Principles. GroGuru Inc. supports public accountability and transparency, and therefore commit to report on progress within one year of renewing our membership with the UN Global Compact.
In this annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We also commit to share this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.
Sincerely Yours
Patrick Henry
CEO
GroGuru Inc.
- Human Rights
- Assessment, policy and goals
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Description of the relevance of human rights for the company (i.e. human rights risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on Human Rights.
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GroGuru Inc supports and respects the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights of employees, clients and the general public. GroGuru Inc has a published Employee Handbook which clearly outlines the company's policies on anti discrimination, anti harassment, anti bullying and sexual harassment. GroGuru is an Equal Opportunity employer and complies with the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) which prohibits harassment based on a protected category against an employee, an applicant, an unpaid intern or volunteer, or a contractor.
- Implementation
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Description of concrete actions to implement Human Rights policies, address Human Rights risks and respond to Human Rights violations.
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GroGuru Inc raises awareness of Human Rights policies via distribution of the GroGuru Employee Handbook to all employees and contractors. The GroGuru Employee Handbook, once received and reviewed by a GroGuru employee or contractor, is required to be signed and dated acknowledging that they have received a copy of GroGuru’s Employee Handbook and understand and agree it is their responsibility to read and familiarize themselves with the policies and procedures contained within. The Employee Handbook also outlines a formal policy for handing complaints and grievances.
Any GroGuru manager who has line reports, must undertake Online Harassment Prevention Training prior to commencing the management role.
- Measurement of outcomes
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Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.
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Employees have quarterly and annual reviews with their line manager to review and set company and personal goals. GroGuru also has an open door policy providing easy access to senior management.
- Labour
- Assessment, policy and goals
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Description of the relevance of labour rights for the company (i.e. labour rights-related risks and opportunities). Description of written policies, public commitments and company goals on labour rights.
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GroGuru Inc has a published Employee Handbook which clearly outlines the company's policies on equal employment opportunity, compliance with immigration law, anti discrimination, as well as detailed policies on supporting leaves of absence and other types of leave including medical, family, pregnancy, military, time off for voting, jury duty and for bereavement. The Handbook also details policies on employee benefits, such as paid time off and paid sick leave.
Wherever possible, GroGuru strive to work with suppliers and dealers who support similar work ethics.
- Implementation
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Description of concrete actions taken by the company to implement labour policies, address labour risks and respond to labour violations.
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GroGuru implements the labor polices outlined in the Company Employee Handbook by requiring all new hires to read and acknowledge that they will follow the policies contained within. This acknowledgement is done by way of sign-off and is part of the induction procedure. All employees who are in management positions must undertake Online Harassment Prevention Training prior to commencing the management role.
GroGuru has a diverse workforce with multiple ethnicities and a global outlook. GroGuru adheres to a 40 hour work week, with scheduled rest and meal breaks and compensates employees fairly. Groguru supports and complies with the California Fair Pay Act (CFPA) that prohibits an employer from paying any of its employees’ wage rates that are less than what it pays employees of the opposite sex, or of another race, or of another ethnicity for substantially similar work, when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions.
GroGuru ensures that all employees are provided with the tools and protective equipment that are required to undertake their roles within the company safely and efficiently.
- Measurement of outcomes
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Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.
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GroGuru has enjoyed massive expansion in the last twelve months, hiring many new employees on a permanent full time and part time basis, including many miniorities and international employees. GroGuru is committed to providing immigation support and assistance.
- Environment
- Assessment, policy and goals
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Description of the relevance of environmental protection for the company (i.e. environmental risks and opportunities). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on environmental protection.
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GroGuru's Mission Statement - "At GroGuru, we are focused on making the world the better place by allowing farmers to grow more crops in a cost-effective way, while preserving our precious resources in sustainable way".
GroGuru Inc improves global sustainability by helping farmers grow more produce using less water, less fertilizer and less energy. Our core business is to provide hardware enabled artificial intelligence to help make more sustainable on-farm decisions.
- Implementation
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Description of concrete actions to implement environmental policies, address environmental risks and respond to environmental incidents.
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GroGuru provides tools and technology to help farmers and irrigators save water by implementing strategic irrigation management. Approximately 70% (or more) of fresh water globally is consumed by irrigation and GroGuru is typically able to improve water use efficiency by 10-20%. This represents an enormous environmental benefit to the producer, the local environment and the planet.
GroGuru Inc is a small company that is housed in a shared office space that utilizes many environmentally conscious practices such as automatic lighting and heating, and product recycling. Employees who work remotely are based in home offices, which should also help to reduce our environmental footprint.
- Measurement of outcomes
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Description of how the company monitors and evaluates environmental performance.
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While we have not implemented any procedures for measuring our internal environmental footprint, externally our customers have been able to measure significant improvements in water use efficiency. This is reflected in the rapid uptake of GroGuru technology in irrigation regions that are under significant environmental threat, such as the Ogallala aquifer and California central valley. GroGuru is helping producers using these scarce water resources to farm more sustainably and produce more output per gallon of water.
- Anti-Corruption
- Assessment, policy and goals
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Description of the relevance of anti-corruption for the company (i.e. anti-corruption risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on anti-corruption.
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The GroGuru Company Handbook specifically bans any corrupt practices such as dishonesty, bribery, criminal conduct, sabotage or willful negligence. All companies are expected to accept all policies contained within and sign off to acknowledge compliance.
- Implementation
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Description of concrete actions to implement anti-corruption policies, address anti-corruption risks and respond to incidents.
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GroGuru implements several practices to guard against anti-corruption such as the expectation (as outlined in the Company Handbook) that company correspondence may not be private, or the acknowledged adherence to a Code of Conduct. If any breaches of the Company Code of Conduct are discovered, they are dealt with immediately according to the Disciplinary Procedure outlined in the company handbook.
- Measurement of outcomes
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Description of how the company monitors and evaluates anti-corruption performance.
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While GroGuru is a small company that has no formal process to measure anti-corruption performance, we do have regular financial audits and other due diligence activities associated with bringing on new investors.