Healthy corporate governance and health-related focus areas

The board of Ósar and its subsidiaries recognizes the increasing demands on companies regarding societal responsibility. Therefore, the board emphasizes healthy governance, continuously developing and strengthening it as it lays the foundation for responsible management, sound decision-making, and reliable communication.

The group’s governance outlines how internal factors contribute to active and healthy management, aligned with the group’s goals. We aim to impact society, including our employees, by promoting health, well-being, and improving quality of life. These governance principles reflect in health-focused policies in strategy, decision-making, goal-setting, and culture in both external and internal operations.

Comprehensive Risk Management and Active Quality Control

The operations of Ósa are dependent on various external conditions, notably within the defined framework of the healthcare system. Therefore, the activities are governed by laws, regulations, and public oversight, necessitating meticulous practices. Healthy governance includes risk management and oversight. Consequently, significant emphasis is placed on comprehensive risk management and active quality control as part of daily operations.

The Group’s Quality System

In 2023, we concentrated on enhancing our quality system to ensure our operations adhere to the highest standards. We introduced new procedures and upgraded existing ones to ensure reliability and enhance customer service.

A new temperature monitoring system was implemented in the warehouse to maintain storage quality. Parlogis adopted an electronic returns system to improve efficiency and traceability, simplifying the return process and reducing waste.

We also emphasized staff education and training in quality matters, with employees attending seminars both domestically and internationally, to maintain competence and foster professional development in a continually evolving environment.

Soffía Guðrún Magnúsdóttir

Quality Manager

The nature of the operations calls for the companies and their employees to adhere to the strictest standards, laws, and rules when it comes to ethical behaviour and communication of employees with stakeholders. Employees enforce a Code of Conduct and Ethics that reflects how employees conduct their dealings with consumers, suppliers, customers, colleagues, regulators, shareholders, competitors, and society as a whole. The purpose of the Code is to work towards social responsibility, promote honesty, fairness, and fairness in business, and strengthen trust in Ósar and its subsidiaries.

Ósar and its subsidiaries conduct honest and responsible business where no kind of bribery or corruption is practiced or tolerated. The Group has established a policy designed to ensure that the Group has an appropriate framework and protection against corruption and bribery.

The Group’s value chain is based on ethical and responsible values. Through the implementation of supplier assessments and audits, Ósar and its subsidiaries can have a long-term social impact on their partners and surroundings, and choose to work with suppliers and service providers who work according to the same values as the Group.

Good health and ways to promote health are at the forefront of all our work. We know that well-being in the workplace increases quality of life, and we emphasise creating a safe and good working environment and promoting the health of employees, in various ways. For this reason, we have made an increased effort to direct our focus towards an organised, internal occupational work by adding to the knowledge and awareness of managers and employees on health and occupational issues.

We are aware of that the information and data, that employees receive, collect, record, and work with etc., together with support processes, systems, networks, and other resources, is one of the Group’s most important operational assets that needs active protection against various threats. Over the past year, we have therefore placed the main emphasis on information security issues in a broad sense.

The Group has adopted an Information Security Policy and procedures to support it, which is intended to support the continuous operation and maximise the security of information values. The policy is thus intended to ensure compliance with requirements concerning information security, and the processing of personal information, e.g. requirements set out in laws and regulations, and in agreements with customers and partners.

The utmost security is maintained in the handling of personal information, and the companies’ Privacy Policies describe the responsible handling of such information. The role of Ósar’s Data Protection Officer is to assist the management and provide advice when it comes to handling personal information within our operations, but the DPO has an equally important role to play towards employees, e.g. in providing information, education, training, and other general security awareness among employees. The Group has established a policy on the privacy of employees, and special emphasis has been placed on information provision to employees.

 

Helga Björnsdóttir

Helga Björnsdóttir er lögfræðingur og persónuverndarfulltrúi samstæðunnar. Hér segir Helga frá hlutverki persónuverndarfulltrúa, m.a. þegar kemur að fræðslu og upplýsingagjöf til starfsfólks.

Investing in our Employees

The governance practices of the group aim to create opportunities and room for employees to grow and thrive in both their personal and professional lives. Emphasis is placed on offering diverse education and training that cater to a wide range of employees.

Creating opportunities to grow and thrive in life and work

Our education policy aims to enhance employees’ skills and fully utilize their talents in their roles. It also seeks to provide access to a variety of training that promotes overall well-being for employees and those close to them. This ensures maximum benefit from the invested training and education.

In 2023, 183 out of 210 employees participated in Ósar’s educational programs, amounting to 87% of all our employees.

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Icepharma
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Parlogis
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Ósar stoðsvið

The total number of participants was 1085, which means each employee attended an average of 6 educational events.

The information provided shows that training in health and communication has been prominent and popular among employees, with 36% of total participation in training belonging to the health category and 17% in the communication and teamwork category. This includes training on how to manage incidents related to bullying, sexual and gender-based harassment, as well as training on nutrition, exercise, myofascial release, psychological “first aid”, habits and goals, and more.

Additionally, leadership training for the management teams of Ósar and its subsidiaries continued, which began in the fall of 2022, with an emphasis on supporting managers and strengthening their connections. Furthermore, a comprehensive management handbook was issued to support managers in their human resource management roles. The handbook provides information on procedures and standards and access to a variety of support and educational materials.

The Guiding Principles of Ósar

The guiding principles of Ósar direct employees in their daily tasks and interactions, significantly contributing to a positive workplace culture. These principles resulted from strategic planning involving all staff members, collectively forming a communication pact. The eight guiding principles are:

  1. Treat each other well.
  2. Talk to people, not about them.
  3. Listen attentively and show interest.
  4. Speak honestly, choosing the right time and place.
  5. Care for and support each other.
  6. Share ideas and celebrate diverse perspectives.
  7. Provide space for learning and growth in communication.
  8. Take opportunities to praise one another.

These principles are designed to guide and strengthen communication, becoming an integral part of daily operations and interactions within the company.

Leiðarljós Ósa

Decent work and economic growth

At Ósar, a strong team of individuals with diverse backgrounds, various educational qualifications, and extensive experience and knowledge across different fields of society works together.

Icepharma

Parlogis

Ósar

Samstæðan

In conjunction with our equality plan, we follow an equal pay policy aimed at ensuring that all employees receive equal and fair compensation for the same or equivalent work, thereby eliminating unjustifiable wage differences. If any unexplained wage gap exists, continuous efforts are made to eradicate it.

Our goal is to maintain a gender pay gap of less than 2%.