Materiality Assessment

Overview

In the first half of 2019, guided by the Sustainability Steering Committee and with support from an independent consultant, Hillenbrand proactively engaged with key external and internal stakeholders to identify the sustainability-related topics most important (or "material"*) to our business.

We partnered with our independent consultant to perform a materiality assessment during this time, and we looked to Global Reporting Initiative guidelines and UNGC principles as models in our selection of topics and stakeholders. Stakeholders ranked sustainability topics by importance, and the results of this research helped identify the areas defined as most “material” to our business.

We have since started a “gap analysis” to identify “gaps” in priority topics within our sustainability practices and we plan to begin incorporating sustainability practices from among these topics into our strategic planning process as we strive to make our commitment to sustainability a long-term part of the Company’s strategy.

Responses by Reporting Size Graph

*350 Internal & External Stakeholders
~70% Response Rate

Materiality Matrix

Sustainability topics are presented in this matrix to analyze the materiality (i.e., “importance”) of such matters to both internal stakeholders (X-axis) and external stakeholders (Y-axis). Material topics are defined as those that are in the quadrant when all survey topics are mapped against increasing importance to stakeholders.

The topics identified as material include:

  • Worker Safety
  • Data Security
  • Employment Practices
  • Economic Performance
  • Employee Training & Education
  • Environmental Compliance
  • Non-discrimination
  • Operational Material Efficiency & Recycling
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Anti-Corruption

Our materiality matrix depicts the topics that were identified as material during our 2019 materiality assessment and their importance to our business and stakeholders.

Matrix graph

Continuous Improvement

We plan to use the results of our materiality assessment to help drive our focus toward what is most important to our stakeholders. Although these changes cannot happen overnight, we will use the matters that our stakeholders find important to help guide our sustainability practices. We plan to revisit our materiality assessment every 3-5 years dependent on portfolio changes.

*The use of “material” or “materiality” in this context is not related to or intended to convey matters or facts that could be deemed “material” to a reasonable investor as referred to under U.S. securities laws or similar requirements of other jurisdictions.