MOORESVILLE, N.C.,
April 9, 2015
/PRNewswire/ -- Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) today
announced the release of its 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) Report, providing an expanded and enhanced review of Lowe's
sustainability objectives and the company's progress during the
past year. The 2014 CSR report can be viewed on Lowe's website.
The report outlines the company's shared approach to meeting the
needs of its customers, employees, communities and the environment
while addressing key topics that are important to its business,
stakeholders and society.
"At Lowe's, we're driven by a single purpose – to help people
love where they live," Robert A.
Niblock says in the report's CEO Message. "This is a
constant commitment that we approach together with the help of more
than 265,000 employees. We're proud of our progress in 2014 and
will continue to work hard to improve as we carry out our shared
responsibility every day in our workplace and communities."
The report details improvements Lowe's achieved in important
focus areas, including the health, safety and engagement of
employees, the company's progress against its 2020 sustainability
goals and its collaboration with suppliers to maintain the highest
ethical standards and improve the products it sells. For the first
time, Lowe's referred to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4
guidelines to compile the report and included an index of standard
disclosures to enhance transparency and offer easy access to key
data.
Lowe's highlights from 2014 include:
- Lowe's and the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation
gave $28 million to community
organizations, and more than 41,000 Lowe's Heroes employee
volunteers donated their time and expertise to improve
communities.
- Lowe's continued to reduce employee incidents across its
operations. The average Lost Time Incident Rate at Lowe's stores
and distribution centers per 200,000 hours was 2.07, a 21 percent
improvement since Lowe's 2012 baseline year and a new company
record.
- For the first time in Lowe's annual Employee Opinion Survey,
its U.S. stores, distribution centers and customer support centers
all reached the company's benchmark engagement goal of 65 percent,
indicating a highly engaged workforce. CareerBliss recognized
Lowe's as one of the 10 happiest retailers to work for in
2014.
- The company launched new fleets of natural-gas powered trucks
at five regional distribution centers, reaching its goal of serving
at least 20 percent of its stores with natural gas trucks by the
end of 2014. Lowe's also became the only retail shipping partner
ever to receive six EPA SmartWay® awards for superior environmental
performance in supply chain operations.
- Lowe's sold enough Energy Star® products in 2014 to save
customers approximately $2.4 billion
in utility costs over the lifetime of the products and eliminate
greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from nearly 2.9
million cars.
Lowe's commitments for 2015 include:
- Building on the success of its cardiac surgery and hip and knee
replacement programs, Lowe's launched a no-cost spine surgery
benefit for employees this year in collaboration with three U.S.
facilities designated as Centers of Excellence because of their
high quality of care and patient satisfaction. The initiative is
open to all Lowe's employees enrolled in the company's self-funded
health plans and includes full reimbursement of associated travel
for the patient and a companion.
- Lowe's is committed to regularly reviewing the products and
information it offers customers. Following studies that say many
factors, including neonicotinoid pesticides, could potentially
damage the health of pollinators, Lowe's has committed to take
several steps to support pollinator health. Lowe's will phase out
the sale of products that contain neonic pesticides within 48
months as suitable alternatives become commercially available.
Lowe's will include greater organic and non-neonic product
selections, work with growers to eliminate the use of neonic
pesticides on bee-attractive plants it sells and educate customers
and employees through in-store and online resources.
- Lowe's introduced a program in 2014 to develop its pipeline of
women leaders, pairing vice presidents with women store managers to
develop and expand Lowe's leadership team. This year, the company
will leverage the program with a new group of store managers and
launch a new mentoring program to pair women and minority store
managers with market directors whose expertise will support
leadership development.
To learn more about these activities, visit
Lowes.com/SocialResponsibility. Feedback is welcome at
SocialResponsibility@Lowes.com.
Download a PDF of the 2014 report
About Lowe's
Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a FORTUNE® 100 home
improvement company serving approximately 16 million customers a
week in the United States,
Canada and Mexico through its stores and online at
Lowes.com, Lowes.ca and Lowes.com.mx. With fiscal year 2014
sales of $56.2 billion, Lowe's has
1,840 home improvement and hardware stores and more than 265,000
employees. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe's supports the
communities it serves through programs that focus on K-12 public
education and community improvement projects. For more information,
visit Lowes.com.
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SOURCE Lowe's Companies, Inc.