Our sustainability journey

We value and support diversity, equity and inclusion within the Arendt group.

We value differences in our workforce, whether in age, race, culture, religion or beliefs, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability or medical condition, socioeconomic background, education or any other characteristic that makes a person unique.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion extends to all practice areas and business services, being integral to our decision-making in recruitment, training, placements, mobility, advancement, compensation and benefits, social events and other areas.

We have established a number of strategic objectives putting these values into practice to:

• Apply the principle of equal opportunity at all levels, and foster inclusion by driving talent acquisition and management practices to support this aim
• Create an inclusive work environment that encourages creativity and innovation and promotes colleague engagement through awareness, inclusive leadership training, and flexible work-life balance arrangements;
• Ensure that diversity and inclusion initiatives, actions and results are transparent and engaging for different groups across our staff, clients, suppliers and subcontractors;
• Hold leadership accountable for diversity and inclusion goals and objectives, and encourage all staff, suppliers and subcontractors to promote non-discrimination.

To ensure that these goals are achieved at all levels, Arendt has implemented a range of specific governance mechanisms.

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Network at Arendt (DNA Committee) includes employees from all business services. Its role is to identify and share initiatives and best practices related to gender equality and non-discrimination, cultural diversity and the inclusion of individual differences among staff. The DNA Committee’s goal is to help build a diversified talent base within the firm. This committee is one of our initiatives in the Positive Actions programme led by the Ministry for Gender Equality and Diversity (MEGA), whose action focuses on the concept of “talent” and the promotion of diversity internally.

Among its many other projects, the DNA Committee organises the annual Arendt Speech Contest. This contest is an opportunity for employees to express themselves freely on a variety of topical subjects, also leading to an opportunity to exchange views and reveal new oratory talents. Each participant is coached in public speaking prior to the contest. A dozen teams and individual speakers then take to the stage in a speech competition, delivered in the language of their choice (English, French, German, etc.). All employees and a jury cast their votes to select a winner, who takes home the grand prize. The prize is always linked to one of Arendt’s donee organisations (a trip to Cambodia to visit schools we finance, to Madagascar to see nurseries we support, etc.). The Arendt Speech Contest has been recognised by the Diversity Awards Lëtzebuerg as an initiative that raises awareness about unconscious bias and promotes talent..

In 2019, Arendt signed the Diversity Charter Lëtzebuerg, demonstrating our commitment to the promotion and management of diversity through concrete actions that go beyond just legal obligations.

In this area, Arendt has also appointed a Diversity and Inclusion Officer (DIO) and a Recruitment and Integration Officer, who perform coordination work essential to the success of the firm’s many projects launched to develop and maintain its inclusive culture.

In December 2020, Arendt received the “Actions Positives” Label for 2020. This award was conferred in recognition of a positive action plan designed by Arendt, which followed up on an in-depth study of the well-being of our staff, funded by the Ministry for Equality.

Lastly, Arendt is a member of IMS Luxembourg (short for “Inspiring More Sustainability”) – the leading network of Luxembourg companies involved in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Arendt firmly believes that talent must be nurtured from an early age, and therefore supports several charitable organisations that work on a daily basis to educate children – both in Luxembourg (where much inequality still persists) and abroad, in countries in where poverty makes access to education more difficult.

UP _FOUNDATION is an educational foundation committed to the success and well-being of children, young people and other learners in Luxembourg, and to equal opportunities in education. The organisation initiates and coordinates educational projects, unites and supports existing educational initiatives and actions in Luxembourg and spark debates around education.

Pour un Sourire d’Enfant helps Cambodian children escape destitution, ultimately leading them to decent, skilled and well-paid jobs through programmes that deliver food security, healthcare, protection, education, vocational training and help for families. Thanks to our support, Pour un Sourire d’Enfant was able to build new classrooms in the PSE centre in Phnom Penh between November 2020 and January 2021. Children are now attending classes in the new buildings, which provide them with a suitable environment in which to study.

Friendship Luxembourg is an organisation supporting Friendship Bangladesh, providing it with human resources, research and development and fundraising. As part of its support, Arendt funds Friendship’s Inclusive Citizenship programme.

This programme aims to help the marginalised communities who live along the river Brahmaputra in Bangladesh by educating them on their rights. The cornerstone of the programme is the Friendship Community Paralegals (currently 75, the majority of whom are women) – experts on the ground who work to promote and protect the human rights of those living in the area. They receive ongoing training from Friendship.

In supporting these organisations, Arendt helps to promote education from the very start. However, we know that education is fundamental to broadening one’s horizons at every stage of life.

That is why Arendt is also proud to support theLuxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra Academy, which works to instil highly specialised know-how and skills in the musicians of student orchestra.

This relatively recent programme fosters the education of talented young musicians from all over the world. Participants have the chance to perform with outstanding conductors and work with brilliant musicians through an extensive programme of coaching, chamber music projects and workshops.

At Arendt, we empower our people to make a positive impact. Our volunteer programme allows employees to dedicate a certain number of hours per year to an NGO of their choice, which builds a culture of giving back to the community.

Our annual “Philanthropy in (Y)our Hands” contest encourages employees to present projects from NGOs they are passionate about. Arendters then vote to choose the top five projects, which are each awarded EUR 5,000, culminating in a total of EUR 25,000 given annually to support impactful initiatives.

Like innovation, education lies at the heart of Arendt’s strategy. By the very nature of our professions, we strongly promote knowledge sharing, training and learning among our staff, to our clients and through our support of NGOs.

For Arendt, education means exchange: passing on knowledge and growing everyone’s resources in the process. This motivated Arendt to found its own educational establishment, Arendt Institute, with a goal of helping our clients develop their skills through training on the legal, regulatory and operational issues they deal with each day.

Our experts at Arendt Institute aim to ensure that each course participant receives the highest standard of training and customer care. All courses are specifically designed to enrich and enhance professional performance. Arendt Institute also focuses on internal training for our staff, enabling employees to develop both their hard and soft skills. At Arendt, internal training is baked into employee development: as soon as a person joins the company, they are integrated into their role and familiarised with the corporate culture through a comprehensive on-boarding course. As their careers progress, employees also receive ongoing training, particularly in management methods.

Arendt has created a separate Learning department to support this continuous approach to development and training. The Arendt Learning team sets up talent development programmes that take into account the specific needs and abilities of each individual throughout their career, in terms of both hard skills and soft skills. Entire programmes have been designed especially for our teams, with the content adapted to fit the participants’ level of seniority.

Arendt strives to cultivate a workplace that fosters the talents of each staff member as a unique individual. As part of this, Arendt believes in encouraging the acquisition of soft skills, by including them in training programmes and individual employee development plans as early on as possible.

Arendt views education as a means of opening up to the world and to others – expanding horizons by learning about new things. This approach is also reflected in our commitment to art through our partnership with MUDAM, whose initiatives have exchange and knowledge sharing at their core.

Art forces us to expand our minds: it poses challenges, generates friction, and proves that an inquiring and critical mind is vital to take in the world around us. These principles are naturally also fundamental to our professions.

Our support for MUDAM dates back to 2010, and forms part of a global approach that centres on sharing this passion for questioning – whether internally through exhibition tours and artist meetings with our staff, or towards our clients, and even the public.

For a number of years, the firm has shown its commitment to the art of photography by exhibiting artists from all over the world at its Kirchberg premises, and inviting local art lovers to appreciate their work at weekends and in private groups.

Carbon footprint reduction and waste management

At Arendt we are dedicated to offsetting our CO₂ emissions and reducing our overall carbon footprint to make a positive contribution to climate change. We have a number of measures in place to achieve this.

Our buildings have been designed with the environment in mind: heat insulation through automatic blinds, reusing rain water, natural building materials, smart lighting and recycling stations.
Our newest building, Arendt 9, is certified Very Good by BREEAM. In addition, the whole Arendt group is certified SuperDrecksKescht® (a Luxembourg certification for environmentally friendly waste management).

We also support IMS Luxembourg’s initiative to fight single-use plastic pollution. As a signatory to the “Zero Single-Use Plastic” manifesto, the firm had phased out office products covered by the manifesto by the end of 2020, opting for sustainable replacements.

Biodiversity

We promote biodiversity to preserve local ecosystems and maintain a healthy environment through the following initiatives:

• Beehives with 400,000 bees installed on the rooftop terrace of Arendt House to support pollination in our neighbourhood
• Corporate gardens around the buildings and green facades
• Planting more flowers in the green areas and on the rooftop terrace to support our bee population
• Rainwater collection from buildings to water green facades and corporate gardens

Since the construction of Arendt House in 2015, Arendt has supported Graine de Vie to help offset its carbon emissions. This non-profit organisation supports reforestation projects in Madagascar, Togo, Benin, Cameroon and Ghana. Their local tree plantations create job opportunities, improve local living conditions, and raise awareness about environmental protection.

In its work with Graine de Vie to prevent deforestation, Arendt financed two projects to restore the surroundings of Nosy Hara National Park in Madagascar with a mangrove and the development of a tropical forest.

Mobility

Luxembourg is the first country in the world to provide nation-wide free public transport for all. We encourage our staff to make the most of this service when commuting to work, as well as implementing our own mobility measures that have proven to have a positive impact:

• E-mobility fleet for professional and private use, with e-cars, e-bikes and e-scooters
• Selecting of office locations specifically with good public transport options in mind: tram, bus and train connections that are even faster than driving to work
• E-charging bays for staff who own electric and hybrid cars

Innovation has always been a key driver in Arendt’s culture. We like to think outside the box, and to anticipate and act rather than follow along. Being at the forefront of change and at the cutting edge of technology means investing in innovative solutions, tools and ideas.

This mindset is applied in every one of our projects, whether carried out internally or delivered to our clients.

Arendt has a broad array of technological tools integrated into its service offering and continuously invests in their development to ensure better customisation and efficiency. One outcome of this is a particular focus on continuing professional training for all of our teams, to ensure that they can use these resources to the fullest.