ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE ("ESG")

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At Heidrick, we help our clients change the world, one leadership team at a time.

Heidrick recognizes the importance of ESG issues to stockholders and formed a global cross-functional team, including members of our Legal Department, Human Resources Department and Sustainability practice, among others, to evolve and monitor our ESG efforts.

Our Nominating and Board Governance Committee of the Board is responsible for reviewing and making recommendations to the Board regarding the Company’s ESG programs and disclosures.

Our ESG priorities are centered around six foundational pillars which have both internal and client-facing significance, as outlined further below.


2021 ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP, SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND GOVERNANCE (“ESG”) HIGHLIGHTS

In addition to record-breaking financial results, in 2021 we also made important strides in ESG. We published our first-ever ESG report, which provides an in-depth look into our ESG initiatives, outlines a firm commitment to expand our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint and begin to substantially offset our carbon impact, and highlights our continued efforts internally and with our clients globally to build more effective and representative organizations. We are proud to share the progress we have been making on our ESG initiatives through the work and investments we have undertaken to lessen our impact on the environment, advance diversity and inclusion and innovate across our business to drive an increasingly sustainable business model for the future. At Heidrick & Struggles, we hold ourselves to the highest standards, and as a premier provider of leadership advisory services, people are at the center of all we do. Using our culture as a differentiator to attract, develop and retain the highest-performing talent and build a more diverse and inclusive firm is a strategic priority.

As trusted advisors in boardrooms around the globe, one of the most consequential conversations taking place and that we have the privilege of helping to shape is around sustainability and ESG issues.

Some highlights from our 2021 ESG efforts include:

  • At the Board of Director level, 73% of our U.S. placements were diverse and 68% globally, exceeding our Board Diversity Pledge.
  • Maintaining our own commitment to diversity, 37.5% of our own Board are women, and 25% are ethnically diverse.
  • Women represented 64% of our overall workforce. Women represented 69% of our new hires and 65% of our promotions. Professionals of color represented 26% of our U.S. workforce. In 2021, professionals of color accounted for 35% of our new hires and 21% of our promotions in the U.S.
  • We continued to take steps to support our employees and help ensure their safety and wellbeing during the ongoing pandemic, including monitoring guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization and other relevant health authorities and sharing such guidance with our employees. We have provided various benefits and resources related to the pandemic, including mental health resources and additional support, and a recognizing World Mental Health Day.
  • We formalized new hybrid workplace guidance globally. As we plan for the future of work, we continue providing our employees with flexibility in how and where we work, while maintaining our culture of mentorship, collaboration and community.
  • We began purchasing verified carbon offset credits, which are expected to increase through the coming years, and are expected to offset at least 45% of our 2019 (pre-pandemic) carbon emissions by 2023.


HOW WE CHAMPION ESG

At Heidrick, we are on the same ESG journey as our clients. In April 2021, we launched our inaugural ESG Report to outline our efforts and disclose progress across ESG initiatives. In tandem, we announced our partnership with Indigo Ag, to work closely together to begin addressing our carbon emissions, further strengthening our commitment to developing a sustainable business model and setting a plan for our carbon removal efforts. As part of our ongoing partnership, Heidrick began purchasing verified carbon offset credits, which are expected to increase through the coming years and offset at least 45% of our 2019 carbon emissions by 2023.

Referencing both Global Reporting Initiative (“GRI”) and the Value Reporting Foundation Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (“SASB”) frameworks, our ESG Report delves, in-depth, into Heidrick’s commitment to serving client needs, leading on diversity and inclusion, supporting our employees and communities where we work and prioritizing environmental sustainability.

For our complete ESG story, the Company’s latest ESG Report can be found here: https://investors.heidrick.com/static-files/518a94ad-8473-4268-8cd2-a6665ac4d731. The information contained in the Company’s ESG Report, or otherwise on or connected to the Company’s website, is not incorporated by reference into this proxy statement and should not be considered part of this or any other report filed with the SEC. 

SERVING CLIENTS: FINDING LEADERSHIP SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE, DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE BUSINESSES

Since 2017, we have conducted over 1,000 ESG related executive search and consulting assignments – representing one of the fastest growing segments of our business. In 2021, we completed approximately 270 ESG related assignments, partnering with our clients, candidates, employees and communities to make the world a better place. Our Sustainability Practice focuses on sustainability officer roles, board placements focused on sustainability, sustainable product or service businesses, businesses working to embed sustainability into their strategy, sustainable assets managers, private equity funds, not-for-profit and philanthropic organizations, development banks and others.

Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (“DE&I”) consulting practice has a proven track record of accelerating our clients’ performance by increasing diversity, addressing equity and promoting inclusion. As the industry’s authority on leadership and human capital, we take a business-focused, data-driven, and leader-led approach where DE&I not only fosters positive change, but also drives performance and growth. Our DE&I offerings provide strategic advisory services through data-driven insights designed to accelerate performance.

DRIVING CHANGE WITHIN OUR FIRM: OUR OWN DE&I JOURNEY


DE&I is embedded in everything we do and believe in as a firm. We are committed to fostering an inclusive workforce, where diverse backgrounds are represented, engaged and empowered to make meaningful contributions. Our firm values differences in ability, ethnicity, perspectives, gender, geography and sexual orientation. At Heidrick, diversity is not just a politically or socially responsible goal for our firm, it is a business imperative. As a result, we proactively recruit, develop and work to retain diverse talent across all levels of our firm.


At Heidrick, we have created affinity groups to help nurture an inclusive and collaborative culture that enables everyone to reach their potential and fully contribute to our success as one firm. These affinity groups, called Employee Resource Groups (“ERGs”), are internal networks of employees who work to provide professional development and business insights around a common interest in order to improve the employee experience. Each group has its own global or regional representation. Each of our ERGs are fully independent in order to create a trusting and safe environment for other members. Our current ERGs include:

Affinity Group AmericasEurope & AfricaAPAC & ME
Women Women’s Inclusion Network – Americas (WIN)Women’s Inclusion Network – Europe (WIN)Women’s Inclusion Network – APAC (WIN)
Ethnically Diverse Professionals of Color (POC)Ethnic Diversity Engagement Network (EDEN)Ethnic Diversity Engagement Network (EDEN)
LGBTQ Pride@Heidrick Pride@Heidrick Pride@Heidrick
Disability #HEID (Honor Equality and Inclusion for Disability)#HEID (Honor Equality and Inclusion for Disability)#HEID (Honor Equality and Inclusion for Disability)

PEOPLE: WINNING TEAMS COME FROM AN EXTRAORDINARY CULTURE

As leaders in helping clients attract, develop and retain great talent, we are constantly learning and promoting management best practices, which we also seek to incorporate into our own firm. We therefore strive to create an open, inclusive and committed culture where our employees find fulfillment through their jobs and can deliver their best because they feel safe bringing their whole selves to work. This work begins by implementing policies and programs that support our employees’ success by creating a welcoming environment that is free from harassment, and provides growth opportunities, as well as health and wellness benefits.

Our organization is governed according to our values and ethics by our Board of Directors and management team. Through its committee meetings and regular interactions with senior leadership, our Board of Directors provides strategic direction to our Executive Search, Heidrick Consulting and On-Demand Talent operations while encouraging the development of new initiatives to ensure we continuously strive to meet stakeholder needs and set industry standards.

We are committed to the professional development of our employees and promoting a continuous learning culture within our firm. Our learning and development programs have been created with the goal of providing our employees with resources on business development, account management, client service and strengthening leadership skills. In addition to building personal and professional capabilities, these programs set a standard for the behaviors that will help us realize our business goals and strategies.

In 2021, our Learning & Development team delivered over 12,800 hours of aggregate live training to our colleagues globally throughout the year across all programs. We continued with a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our learning catalog outlines dozens of live, virtual programs and thousands of eLearning courses designed to help build and enhance employee leadership, business acumen and business development skills. These programs are continually updated to reflect best practices and feedback received from employees. 

COMMUNITY: LENDING A HAND TO OUR NEIGHBORS

We strongly believe that the benefits of our success and scale should enrich all of our stakeholders, especially the communities in which we operate. We are committed to being responsible global and corporate citizens by positively contributing to the communities in which we work and live. In 2021:

  • We donated to charities and completed pro-bono assignments for several nonprofits, and select for-profit organizations around the world, that meet our criteria to receive assistance.
  • On our Global Day of Service in October 2021, 442 employees gave back to local communities around the world, supporting 38 non-profit organizations.
  • We formalized our global Heidrick & Struggles Pro Bono Assignment Program which provides an opportunity to support the execution of executive searches free of charge to our clients, for select organizations and roles that support our firm’s values and commitment to our communities.


ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: SHRINKING OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

As one of the world’s largest executive recruiting and leadership advisory firms, we recognize the impact our offices and operations have on the planet, and we acknowledge our responsibility to reduce our environmental impact where possible. We care about our communities – local and global – and we are committed to measuring our impact on the world, creating transparency around our activities and pursuing environmental sustainability initiatives.

In 2019 we began studying our carbon footprint which shrank considerably in 2020 and 2021 as we transitioned to serving clients virtually due to the pandemic. In 2020, as most of our employees began working remotely under our newly formalized flexible workspace philosophy, we began to reassess our total real estate footprint. We entered 2020 with 441,084 rentable square feet. Since 2020, we have successfully reduced our square footage to roughly 330,000, a 111,084 reduction in square footage or roughly 26% of our real estate footprint. With office shrinkages occurring, it has also given us the opportunity to recycle furniture throughout our various offices. 

Currently, Heidrick serves clients through a network of 49 offices in 28 countries. We lease space in over 20 green buildings across the globe, including many LEED buildings in the U.S. We pursue environmental sustainability initiatives when building and maintaining our offices globally. When assessing our lease renewals and moves, we take into consideration the type of green or LEED certified building and how it impacts our carbon footprint. When building or renovating our offices, we prioritize working with vendors and suppliers who produce eco-friendly products, and we are constantly looking to add natural greenery into our offices around the world.

In addition to reducing our footprint through office square footage and reductions in business travel due to the pandemic, we have proactively addressed our carbon emissions by purchasing verified carbon offset credits, which will increase through the coming years to further offset our carbon emissions. 

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT: REACHING BEYOND OUR FOUR WALLS

We aspire to create deeper partnerships with organizations to drive and advance our purpose and our values throughout the world. As a result, we engage with the following stakeholders:

  • Clients and Potential Clients
  • Candidates and Potential Candidates
  • Participants in our Consulting Services
  • Stockholders and Potential Stockholders
  • Employees and Potential Employees
  • Vendors/Suppliers

We additionally have relationships with a broad array of respected global organizations that guide us in our journey including: The Economist Intelligence Unit, Fortune Magazine, The Executive Leadership Council, the National Association of Corporate Directors, Nasdaq, the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, the World Economic Forum, Stanford University, the Latino Corporate Directors Association, the World Bank, INSEAD, the New World Alliance, the University of Oxford, Paradigm for Parity, ION and Catalyst.

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