TEK – SER Ltd.
Global Compact – Communication on Progress Report,
2007.
CORPORATE VISION, SRATEGY AND THE VALUES OF TEKSER LTD
The small-scale economy of the minute island of Cyprus in the eastern basin of the
Mediterranean Sea coupled with the long-lasting political problem which divides the island
into two, does not make bussiness life easy and stable.
Still, as a trading company in Northern Cyprus, providing materials, tools, equipments and
machinery for the construction sector, our vision is “to achieve sustainable, profitable and
developing business by caring for and contributing to the happiness of all of our customers
whom we value most”.
The corporate strategy of our company, TEKSER LTD, is to achieve our vision in our local
market by supplying and launching high quality and innovative commodities with affordable
prices and convenient payment conditions, by providing after-sales service, and also by
contributing for sustainable development in the island. We developed a culture of being
bussiness partners with our customers and we socialize with them for more integrated
bussiness interactions.
We care for our employees as well and we developed a spirit of corporate commune. We are
successful to make our employees feel that they are an honourable member of this corporate
family. Their job safety, security during work, a good-living and their happiness in their
social life is our concern.
We pay importance to enhance the cultural, sports and environmental activities in North
Cyprus. TEKSER LTD sponsored several events of chamber orchestra performances in the
past and recently, we have contributed to publish some books and CD and we have supported
some sporting activities and teams of our customers. We continue to sponsor to develop a
small forest in an arid area successfully.
Sustainable environment is a major concern of us. It is a fact of life in Cyprus that the
Cypriots are more involved with the political problem than the natural threats which are at our
door-steps. We share the dream of our people for the resoluıtion of the Cyprus problem and at
the same time we are aware that the only problem we have is not the Cyprus problem; threats
of the climate change and of the global warming is already affecting our island. Cyprus had
the worst drought winters for the last two years in its modern history; basic water need of the
Cypriots are supplied by rationing and agriculture, farming and tourism activities are
suffering with water shortage. Also, we are aware that in case of the rise in the sea level as a
result of global warming our beautiful island will lose its best beaches irrevocably which are
our most valuable and major assets for tourism industry and tourism is the driving force of the
economy in Cyprus.
We are trying to ceate public awareness for these theats by making it a public warning in
meetings and panels we participate, and we are urging our admistration to put he necessary
steps forward before it becomes too late.
We believe that we as the TEKSER LTD have responsibilities both for the customers and for
the island; and we shall continue to be in bussiness successfully by fulfilling all of our
commercial and social obligations and with our commintment to our vision.
Kutlay Erk, BSc Mech. Eng.,
Director
MISSION & VISION:
To grow our business into a more sustainable and profitable structure without diminishing the
care for the customers, employees and other stakeholders. Also increasing the standards of
construction materials and tools and their knowledgable usage by providing the customers
with the best sevices and information before and after the sales.
GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES:
STAKEHOLDERS As TEKSER Ltd., we are very much aware of the value of our
stakeholders. As conditions may change within the company with time –to good or to bad- we
try to make sure that our stakeholders are protected from possible negative effects. We
support them in every aspect and make sure that their rights are always protected.
CUSTOMER As our customers are our main priority, we make sure that their wishes and
criticisms are taken seriously. We also care deeply for their safety while using our tools and
machinery. Organising courses to inform our customers of the way the goods are to be used,
with extra care taken about health and safety, has improved the work efficiency of our
customers and the number of hazards to health and machines has declined.
EMPOLOYEE We arrange social dinner events for our employees at least 2-3 times a year,
celebrate new year and traditional occasions together, socialising and lessening the stress of
the work place.
As Tekser Ltd., we sponsor the annual dance festival among secondary- and high-school
students. This event is organised by the Cyprus Turkish Education Foundation, and we have
sponsored the 11th one this year. Every year, it attracts more and more attention from the
students. At first, the event was in the form of a competition, but after a few years, it was
turned it into a “festival”, to avoid adding up extra stress on their already present school stress
and to encourage them to enjoy the dance, rather than get lost in the competition atmosphere.
We also sponsor a Handball and a Football team. Our handball team became a champion at
the last season’s charity tournement and our Football team has won the 2nd place at a
different charity tournament.
We are very proud of these events and prepare for them with great enthusiasm every year.
ENVIRONMENT In 1995, as Tekser Ltd., we had sponsored the establishment of a 30.000
m² forest on the Nicosia-Famagusta road, which goes through a draught-hit area. Children
from different primary schools were taken there for the tree-planting activity, and it is since
being taken care of by the local municipality under our financial sponsorship.
Cyprus Turkish Educational Foundation and Cancer Patients Association have wreath
services for weddings, funerals, conferances etc, where a sum is donated and their wooden
wreath arrangements are sent to the specific event under the donator’s name. Instead of
sending real-flower arrangements, we donate to these charities and get re-cycled wooden
wreaths sent to events. It is an opportunity, which we always make use of, to protect the
environment and donate to these charities. When our employees are in need of wreaths for
any occasion, we help them with the organisation and set an example and create values for
others-especially our stakeholders.
Promoting water and fuel conservation within the company has given us positive results. Our
employees pay attention to the consumption levels, joining the duties outside of the office to
be done by a single car, in the most efficient way. They have also become aware of the
environmental threats, therefore getting the cars exhaust emission tests and checking the cars
regularly for possible needs for repairing of the broken parts that may cause overconsumption of fuel.
For us; environment, promotion of responsible consumption and regulations, people and
community are all key issues. We pay attention to these elements, and try hard to do our part
in raising awareness and helping in every aspect.
We try to create values for our stakeholders by setting ourselves as an example for them
through environmental cautions, charity and sponsorship events etc. By making them a part of
these activities, we encourage them to participate, learn and take us as examples.
“THE TEN PRINCIPLES”
Human Rights:
Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of
internationally proclaimed human rights
Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuse
As Tek-Ser Ltd., supporting human rights is a priority for us. Living in a country where there
is an incredible amount of human rights violations, we do our best to correct these mistakes in
our own business and inspire everyone do to so. We are very strict in terms of not allowing
any kind of violation of human rights in our workplace and places around us. In fact, our
company’s Secretary Director, Mrs. Emine Erk, is the head of the “Turkish Cypriot Human
Rights Association”.
All our stakeholders are aware of their human rights, but, unfortunately, living in a country
like North Cyprus, being aware of your rights does not necessarily mean that you will have
your rights in practice and can do something to prevent others from violating them. Therefore,
when our stakeholders face such problems during their daily lives, we support them legally
and guide them to report such incidents to the T. C. H. Rights Association for solutions.
We pay a great attention to our suppliers’ approaches towards human rights. It is very
important for us to make sure they are doing their best at complying with these rights and
therefore we avoid working with those who do not respect the human rights any further than a
theoretical approach.
Our employees’ and their families’ health, security and education are among our main
priorities. Their social security insuraces are paid by our company systematically and
therefore they all have legal access to any kind of health treatment in the national hospital and
education for their kids. They are always granted their days of absence for their own or their
family members’ illnesses, without cutting down from their legal number of days of absence.
In the market, our main line is construction materials and mechanical hand tools, which
can cause damage to physical health if used without self-protection. Although we only sell
products that are in compliance with the European health standards and have insured electrical
circuits, there are always chances of health hazards if those products are used without enough
information on safety. Therefore, we organise regular trainings for self-protection and safe
use of machinery and tools. As a company policy, we also give protective glasses and
helmets to our customers as promotions for their machinery purchases, to encourage
protecting themselves from the possible hazards from the machines and their construction
areas.
Within our company, our stakeholders have their freedom of speech in any terms. Their
views and critcisms on every issue, including the management, problems-solutions, work
atmosphere etc., made written or vebally are always valued and taken seriously. This freedom
is valid for political views also. There are no limitations to the role they prefer to take on, with
the condition that it does not interfere with the course of company work.
Our employees are always allowed and supported for their educational efforts. Whatever
they choose to educate themselves for, they are supported financially and motivationally.
Once they declare the time schedule approved by the organisation from which they will be
taking courses from, they are granted the time they need off, again, without cutting off from
their legal number of days of absence.
Also, we are a member of a career building-improving center, which informs us on differnt
courses on improving different skills, which we share with our employees. We regularly send
our employees to these educational courses about their positions in the company. We make
sure that we send each of them to at least one course during the year. In 2007, all of our
employees have been to at least 1 course regarding their skills. They have become more
motivated in their work and willing to practice what they have learned. Which, in return, has
benefited them with their self-esteem and company in terms of better relationships with the
customers, more organised patterns of record and document keeping. More of our employees
have been interested in educating themselves after the fact that they are granted time off for
such activities and found out how much they benefit through these courses. During 2007, two
of our employees have applied for English-language courses.
In our company building, there is an adaquate number of toilets and changing rooms –both
set apart as male and female- and a kitchen –which is fully equipped for their convenieceboth for eating and socially gathering during breaks. The toilets and kitchen are cleaned on a
daily basis for their hygiene.
Arranging our shops, we pay attention to the organisation and distribution of the goods to
make sure nothing is in a danger-creating position. In our shops, we have adaquate number of
shelves and hangers where the goods are placed and displayed and we have a warehouse
where we keep the stocks, so that it does not get dangerous and inconveniently crowded
within the shops.
Supporting the human rights has given us a more comfortable self-image and an opportunity
to positively influence other companies. We had always been careful with everyone’s rights
inside and outside of our company, and, with developing facts on human rights, we improve
our conditions with time. We have been training and giving away helmets and protective eyeglasses to our customers for the past two years.
Valuing such facts increases our stakeholders’ everyday performance and quality of work, as
well as their respect to us and to others. Being treated fairly, they have come to terms with the
importance of human rights for themselves and for others. We are also proud that, being
supportive of our stakeholders human rights, we set an example for the other companies, as
well as our stakeholders’ networks.
Labour Standards:
Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the
effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
Since companies are of fairly small sizes in North Cyprus, there is not a widespread
application of association or collective bargaining procedures in the private sector. Although
we have not yet come across with such a situation, this right is given by law and the
employees hold their rights to form or become members of trade unions.
We support any kind of descion made by our employees and we are proud to say that they
have not chosen to form or become members of such unions.
Principle 4: The elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
As Tek-Ser Ltd., we are completely against foced and compulsory labour. We have never
forced or made it compulsory for anyone to work and we never will.
In our work category, we rarely need over-time work, as we have set hours, but when we do,
we ask the employee(s) prior to the need, and once they agree to come, they are paid the legal
over-time wages. All our staff are given a detailed definition of their position and duties
within the company when they are to be employed by us.
While purchasing goods from other companies, we pay attention to their work ethics and
prefer to work with those who do not use forced or compulsory labour and report them to the
legal authorities.
Our employees are not contracted. They can leave the work with minimum 2 weeks of notice.
Their salaries are based on the legal minimum wages, but minimum wage does not always
cover the costs of health and children. Therefore, we organise their wages according to their
family structures (eg: number of children and their ages), in order for them to be able to
comply with the adaquate standards of living. They are also given clear job descriptions at the
time of their hiring, so any confusion is avoided. They recieve written and verbal descriptions
in detail, and are only responsible for the listed facts. If a need for another job to be done, due
to unexpected situations etc., they are asked for their permission before assigning them to that
job. This way, we have clear roles and responsibilities within the company without any
responsibility clashes.
We also pay attention to our suppliers way of treatment to their employees. We avoid working
with those who use forced labour.
Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour
We do not have people under the legal age working for us and we do not work with those who
do. While accepting applications for work, we make sure the age of the applicant is clear, and
double check it from their identity documents.
Since we import goods from different countries, we select those companies by paying
attention to their work ethics in many ways, including child labour.
As we mentioned at “Human Rights” principle, we calculate the wages of our staff by
taking into consideration their family structure and number of children, so that they can live
within the adaquate standards and do not have to make their children work.
Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and
occupation.
During applications and evaluations we are committed to pay attention to the qualifications of
the applicant only, not giving way to discriminatory facts. Therefore, we employ people of
different identitiy backgrounds sexes and ages.
During applications and evaluations for job vacancies, our main priority is the applicants’
qualifications – we have people from different ages, religions, nationalities and both sexes.
Even though it is more expensive to employ foreigners (their social security insurances and
permissions are expensive), we have many who work with us. In terms of numbers, in total,
we have 18 employees (12 male and 6 female) – among which 4 are between the ages of 41 –
55, 7 are between the ages of 31 – 40 and and 7 are between the ages of 20 – 30. 10 of our
employees are of different nationalities, and 8 are Turkish Cypriots. As our work is mainly
technical, unfortunately, we have difficulty finding female technicians due to cultural
influences on peoples’ choices of professions, therefore we have a higher number of male
workers.
We do not limit women’s rights for pregnancy in any way. They are granted their legal days
of absence for labour and their “doctor visits” are not cut out from their legal days of absence.
There are no disabled people working within our company at the moment, but this is only
because none of them have applied us for any kind of jobs. But we support their fund raising
activities and donate money or goods to their charity funds and activities regularly.
We try to make sure that we share the sensitive approach to discrimination with our
suppliers and other stakeholders.
Working with people with different backgrounds has added a rich cultural atmosphere to
our company. We enjoy sharing and embracing their traditions and get them to know ours.
They also have different approaches to situations, which again adds to our managing quality.
We have only benefited from employing people of different origins, ages and sexes.
Environment:
Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to
environmental challenges;
We have always been careful with certain wastes that take longer to decompose, like plastic,
using them to the maximum and only then dumping them. Unfortunately, there is not a
widespread recycling system on the island, therefore, the waste will mostly go to the dumping
grounds and its upto the user to use it to the maximum or to waste it.
As Tek-Ser Ltd., we use papers’ both sides, re-use one-sided papers and envelopes, only print
or photocopy the very necessary documents. Most of the information are kept in our
computers where we have increased memory capacity and carry out frequent backups.
The buildings in North Cyprus are mainly built out of concrete, which is not a very efficient
way for insulation against heat and cold, making it difficult to keep the room temperatures at
a reasonable point and, especially with extremely hot summers, a fairly big amount of energy
is consumed to balance the temperatures. This year, we insulated our company building
against heat and cold by double glazing, windows with sun screening films and roof type
insulation, decreasing the energy consumption by at least 75 % through windows and 35 40% through the roof.
We try to make sure that the goods we import from other countries come in bio-degradable
packaging, as much as possible, since re-cycling is not very common in the country.
We give old car-batteries and waste oils to producers for recycling, carry out regular
pipeline checks to avoid water loss, use internet and newspaper advertising instead of
brochures and donate to Cyprus Turkish Education Foundation or Cancer Patients Association
charity funds where they send re-usable wreaths made of wood -instead of flowers- to social
events.
Although we try to do our best to protect the environment from the possible hapharzards that
we may be causing, there is only a limited amount of things we can do in terms of recycling,
since it is not very widely spread and there are limited investments in recycling.
Principle 8:
undertake
initiatives
to
promote greater
environmental
responsibility;
We take parts in the Global Compact Cypriot Network’s environment activities and support
different environmental groups and activities either by actively participating or donating.
Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally
friendly technologies
As Tek-Ser Ltd., we have been –and are committed to- updating our technology to be
completely environmentally friendly.
This year, we invested in increasing computer hard disc and software capacities to decrease
the number of printouts and paper works. Most of the communication is carried out through
computer networks and, when it is really necessary, through recycled paper.
We have also changed all of our lights to florescents and economical light bulbs. We keep all
our electrical equipments –including lighted sign boards- off at nights.
Our cars use euro-diesel for fuel and are in compliance with the European emmision
standards. We have optimized car use, organising activities in the way to minimize the
number of cars and the amount of time spent in the traffic. Since public transport is not
common in North Cyprus, we have a transport service for our employees, so they do not come
with seperate cars, which is the usual pattern.
We are in search for a packaging arrangement appropriate for both recycling or easily biodecomposing and carrying the weight of the heavy goods we sell.
Anti-corruption:
Principle 10: Businesses should work against all forms of corruption, including
extortion and bribery.
As Tek-Ser Ltd., we are against all forms of corruption, including bribery, theft, extrortion,
illegal payments for work and dishonest approach to any kind of activity.
We have always kept matters under our control and never let such things happen within our
company, also, we speak up against such activities and never supported or gave a chance for
such things to happen around our system.
The ombudsman system has recently been activated, and we when we come across problems
such as bribery and corruption, we have reported one case of bribery to ombudsman.