We want to ensure that everyone we work with chooses PLMJ based on an informed decision. To this end, we have produced our Sustainability Report every year since 2020. Our aim is to create not just a document, but a window that shows our commitment and performance in sustainability and gives our stakeholders, from colleagues to clients, partners and suppliers, a clear vision of PLMJ's impact on the world.
This report tells a story that began with the 2020 edition and continued with the 2021 edition, both available here. This is the third Sustainability Report based on the materiality analysis that underpins the three-year 2020-22 Sustainability Strategy.
Continuing the story, the key topics remain unchanged: (i) mental health and well-being, (ii) diversity and inclusion, and (iii) responsible business.
The symbiotic relationship between these three priority areas has created an ecosystem where diverse voices and the promotion of mental health and well-being drive ethical decision-making, innovation and responsible action. This report explains how.
Based on these three areas, we have made commitments, each with their own targets, and these commitments are monitored and reported in in this document. We publish our performance in the economic, social and environmental dimensions based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) methodology and indicators. In this edition, we show the progress we have made year on year against the key indicators for our operations, and identify those that stand out, either positively or negatively. We also continue to monitor the commitments we have made, adding information on the initiatives associated with each commitment where relevant.
We recognise that sustainability is a journey, and we still have a long way to go. We are committed to sharing our work publicly, year after year, always with the same honesty and ambition to report more and better.
We are coming to the end of this 2020-22 strategic cycle, and next year we will again consult our stakeholders on their vision of our role in sustainability. The outcome of this process will be a new strategy with a focus on the priority areas identified and a new set of commitments for the 2023-25 cycle.
This Sustainability Report covers the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022. If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please do not hesitate to share them with us.
In a profession as dynamic and demanding as ours, the pursuit of excellence can quickly upset the balance between professional and personal priorities. At PLMJ, we see the well-being of our people as a corporate responsibility and a fundamental requirement for their ability to provide the best possible service to our clients.
Our commitment to raising awareness of the importance of mental health and ensuring well-being in the workplace includes providing our people with the resources, support and safe environment to manage stress and maintain balance in the different dimensions of their personal and professional lives, and to achieve their full potential.
The impact of these efforts goes beyond the well-being of our people. A team that is mentally and emotionally healthy is more likely to embrace differences, engage in dialogue and foster a culture of empathy and understanding, where well-being becomes a shared responsibility. And it ensures our integrity in the practice of responsible business. We advise our clients on responsible business practices, so it is our duty to present ourselves as an example of precisely those practices, particularly in terms of our team's satisfaction and productivity.
At PLMJ, we have an integrated strategy with long-term projects within the teams to promote a working environment in which people and the firm can thrive in a sustainable way. 2022 has been a year of consolidation of this approach, highlighting the in-depth review of our internal parental and flexibility policies, in which we have increased the benefits for our employees.
We have created a new role that is separate from the department heads. For this role, we have carefully selected the right people to have the necessary proximity, while removing hierarchical barriers and creating a space for unfiltered sharing. This new role is the People Advocate.
Our People Advocates have been specially trained to better recognise signs of burnout, depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. To date, their main tasks have included analysing the teams' monthly working time reports, working on the creation or revision of internal policies, and processing the anonymous feedback collected in informal interviews. This feedback is shared internally with decision-makers who can act on it.
The People Advocates are a new communication channel that has proved crucial in identifying and addressing our teams’ concerns early on, preventing them from developing into larger issues.
However, we continue to look for alternative ways to listen to our people continuously, on a greater scale, and with even greater discretion.
In 2023, a monthly survey has been sent to all employees to measure various aspects of the organisational climate, including work volume and management, and its impact on the well-being of the teams.
By fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels not only welcome but valued, we create a workplace where we can all grow and thrive. By also making certain that everyone feels respected, listened to and supported, with all their individual characteristics and circumstances, we have the key to ensuring everyone’s well-being and mental health.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is also a cornerstone of our responsible business practices. Considering different perspectives and experiences leads to better decision-making and innovative solutions for our clients. This makes our business more competitive and sustainable.
We are vigilant and committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in its many forms. However, our circumstances require us to prioritise gender balance: by 2022, 30% of our partners were women. We are proud of the journey we have made, but the work is not yet done.
Among other initiatives, we've organised Conversas Soltas (Open Conversations), where we've shared experiences that have helped to look at difficulties from a different perspective, and we've created the role of People Advocate, for issues relating to well-being and health, working conditions or others. We've come a long way and may even consider broader initiatives focusing on mental and physical/motor disabilities. After all, "we are made of transformations". That's our signature.
We set out to find new ways to create a strong culture that unites us, enhances the well-being of our everyone at PLMJ and recognises that their circumstances and characteristics affect their working lives in different ways.
Only an informal approach would create a safe space for our people to speak freely about issues such as being a mum, a dad, a woman, living alone, being part of the LGBTQ+ community, having a chronic illness or having a large family. We decided to try something very simple that would allow everyone to take part. In open conversations, a PLMJ partner agreed to listen to opinions on different topics.
The ideas have been put into practice – we have implemented several changes based on our colleagues’ feedback. For example, one of the conversations, led to a new bonus policy which ensures that those who take parental leave will receive an annual bonus equal to or greater than the previous year's, and will be paid in full.
We have come a long way in terms of gender equality, although we still have some way to go. However, we recognise that diversity is much more than gender – it extends to religion, belief, ethnicity, age, physical and mental condition, socio-economic background and sexual orientation.
We are aware that we lack the mechanisms to approach the diversity that already exists in our organisation in an informed and structured way. One example is the age diversity within our teams. To ensure that this diversity adds value, we need to create an inclusive and collaborative culture that values the different experiences and perspectives of each age group.
We also know that other under-represented groups in society do not have easy access to our recruitment processes. In these cases, it is up to us to look for alternatives to traditional recruitment channels, as we have already started to do in partnership with the Portuguese Asperger’s Syndrome Association (APSA) in the recruitment of two people with Asperger’s Syndrome. This is a practice that we can develop internally.
In 2022, gender equality in the representation of women at the most senior levels slipped slightly back to the 2020 figures.
The figures clearly show a very significant representation of women at the bottom, which is reversed at the top of the pyramid. We continue to work to address this trend.
Doing business responsibly is a commitment that cuts across all areas of an organisation. At PLMJ, our focus starts in house. Some of our current concerns include a supplier selection process based on ESG1 criteria, a leadership team that is representative of gender equality, fair and transparent performance evaluation processes, opportunities for training and personal and professional development, an organisational culture that promotes well-being, and an active role in mitigating climate change. The responsible business focus reinforces our commitment to diversity and inclusion and contributes to the mental health and well-being of our people as we create a holistic approach to sustainability.
At the same time, on the external front, we recognise that we are in a privileged position to have a positive impact on our clients. Doing business responsibly also includes the use of our resources, internal expertise and recognition in the industry to accelerate our contribution to a sustainable economy.
We do this in four ways: (i) through our work with social organisations providing pro bono legal advice, volunteering and philanthropic support; (ii) by sharing our experience with other companies in key forums; (iii) by offering workshops in schools and information sessions on access to justice and legal literacy; and (iv) through our Responsible Business practice, which advises companies on ESG issues.
With a clear definition of the areas in which we intend to act to add value to our community, both internally and externally. We highlight pro bono consulting, where there is growing support for social economy organisations developing high-impact projects "in and out of house", but also internally for our employees. The goal for 2023 is to consolidate this activity in all our offices, from Porto to Luanda, especially in the areas of volunteering and promoting legal literacy.
The enthusiasm and motivation of our teams to participate in pro bono work has grown.
Several measures have contributed to this, including the inclusion of quantitative and qualitative responsible business objectives in employee performance reviews and the involvement of partners in pro bono projects wherever possible.
These were only catalysts for an uptake that already stemmed from our colleagues’ natural interest in using their time and skills to contribute to causes such as social mobility, financial inclusion, gender equality and intercultural dialogue in communities in Portugal, Angola, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe.
As the social impact area is centralised in the Lisbon office, additional efforts are needed to involve all employees in our other offices in the initiatives that are being created.
One of the measures already adopted to this end is the identification of a focal point in each office responsible for promoting initiatives at local level and mobilising employees.
However, this action still needs to be consolidated in the Porto, Faro and Luanda offices. This will be one of the main focuses of our work in 2023.
At PLMJ, we are committed to communicating our ESG performance in a transparent and responsible manner. As part of this commitment, we have been inspired by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework, which is recognised as one of the main standards for sustainability reporting. While we have used the GRI as a guiding reference, it is important to note that we have not sought to be fully compliant with the standards, but rather to report on the indicators that are most relevant to our business and size.
We have tailored our approach to reporting to our specific priorities, allowing us to focus on the aspects of sustainability that are most important to us and our stakeholders.
GRI Disclosure