12 We maintain an ongoing dialogue with our stakeholders to ensure that we know their interests and objectives and can take account of these in our sustainability activities. This is a continuous process that feeds into our daily work. Investors Because we are a family-owned company, investors are, on the one hand, kept informed on an individual basis and, on the other, are sent monthly reports from the individual companies in the group. Meetings of the Board of Directors are convened four to six times a year. The General Assembly takes place once a year. We engage in dialogue directly with our investors and communicate with them regularly, through monthly reporting, annual reports, and end-of-year financial statements. Customers These can be divided into specialist retailers and direct clients. Talks are held with both customer groups at the start of each year. In the course of these discussions, we reach agreement with the specialist retail partners on how we will work together (and this applies from March until February of the following year). In the case of both specialist retailers and direct customers, the frequency of our visits depends on the size of the customer (A-, B- or C-customer) and the current projects with them. It can vary from once to three times a week to once a year. During the next reporting period, we will again be conducting a customer survey among our specialist retailers and direct customers. The survey will be carried out by our service technicians. It will assess the quality of our products and the level of satisfaction with Girsberger’s customer service in terms of contactability, speed, friendliness and expertise. Facilitators (architects, designers and planners) Facilitators have come to play a very important role in our business. The Customized Furniture and Remanufacturing business units have now specialised in producing bespoke furniture for commercial use, based on design by architects and interior designers, and also in refurbishing existing furniture according to their own ideas and taking account of environmental, economic and design aspects. Their ideas are then made a reality at our workshops. We are in continuous dialogue with these facilitators to develop and manufacture furniture of all kinds – from unique one-off items to series production. Often these projects have to be accomplished at high speed and require great flexibility, while maintaining the highest quality standards. Those are precisely the reasons why we also give the facilitators the opportunity to work with us in the workshop on the designs and prototypes. That is essential if such joint projects are to be completed successfully. Employees All employees at Girsberger companies are kept informed about current business trends at a “ notice board” meeting roughly every two months. This is done personally by the managing directors as well as by means of a “ digital information wall” for everyone. Urgent information is communicated via Team meetings. Managers also receive quarterly reports giving detailed information about turnover and the number of orders received by the whole group. We raise awareness among our employees about environmental issues by offering tips on helping the environment and telling them about activities in the Smaragd (Emerald) project (part of the EU’s Natura 2000 network). During this reporting period, we focused particularly on food waste, meat consumption (UN report) and grey energy. We organise recreational activities to foster team spirit. Our stakeholders “Dialogue with our stakeholders is a continuous process that feeds into our daily work.”
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