Our Social Responsibility

Action welcomes around 15 million customers a week spread across 11 countries. Add to that our 60,000 employees and over 6,000 products per store – bought, warehoused and transported through the whole of Europe – and you’ve got a picture of the impact we have on our environment. We are very well aware of our impact on society and the environment which is why we have developed the Action Social Responsibility (ASR) strategy.

Action Social Responsibility

The goal of our ASR strategy is to make sure our success as a commercial business does not harm human rights, corporate responsibility or the environment. Both in terms of our own operations and our entire supply chain. The strategy is based on four pillars: Product, People, Society and Good Citizenship.

Honest products for a fair price

Even though our prices are low, we do not make any concessions in terms of quality, safety or the production conditions of our products. All our products meet the relevant requirements in the countries where we operate and they are also produced in accordance with our Ethical Sourcing Policy. Simply put, this means that if a certain product does not have the right price-quality ratio as well as the right production environment, we will not sell it in our stores.

We take care of our people

Action wants to be a good employer. We need passionate employees who feel safe, appreciated and inspired in order to keep building our business. We invest greatly to achieve that, in many different ways. An example?  Our Scholarship Fund supports Action employees who can’t afford their children’s education. Action believes in development for everyone and we believe that money should not get in the way of a good approach to the job market.

“My son really wanted to study Finance & Control at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences but it is very difficult for us to pay for that education. When I heard about the Action scholarship, I went for it. We were both cheering when we received the confirmation letter. What employer does something like that for its employees?!” - Sabine, Store assistant, Action Amsterdam.

We reduce our impact on the environment as much as possible

We are aware of the impact on the environment and we take our responsibility seriously. We are constantly discovering new ways of reducing our impact.

For example, we only use electric transport at our distribution centres and all our distribution centres have LED lighting.

We also reducing the energy costs of our stores with LED lighting and we are expanding our recycling. In addition, we are testing a recycling station in the Netherlands to encourage customers to discard recyclable materials in an environmentally friendly way.

We transport our goods in an energy efficient way: our double-deck trucks transport 60% more roll containers than traditional trucks, and all our drivers have been trained to drive responsibly and as economically as possible.

Our contribution to society

We help both the local communities near our stores and the countries our production facilities are located in. Our solid growth creates thousands of jobs each year. Our stores attract many customers, which also benefits the other stores in the area.

We also support SOS Children's Villages, an organisation that gives children around the world the care and safety they need to grow up and develop in good health. Every Action store and every team in the DCs sponsors a child in Asia. The offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and France make donations to SOS Children's Villages in other countries to support children there as well.

Do you want to read more about Action Social Responsibility and how we contribute to the 4 pillars Product, People, Society and Good Citizenship? Check out https://www.action.com/en-gb/