Our people are our greatest asset. We know that their passion and commitment will make the difference in achieving our sustainability goals. We support them by providing a safe working environment and ensuring the best opportunities, culture and support.
It’s not just about our own people though: at Samsonite, we also take care of the people in our supply chain and in the wider communities where we operate.
By 2030, we will achieve gender balance in key roles by ensuring that women represent at least 45% of the members of our management team at the director level and above. We will also seek to maintain gender balance across our entire workforce.
We want everyone at Samsonite to bring their authentic selves and unique differences to work every day because we know that will help our business – and each of us – to achieve success.
Keeping a sense of solidarity, fun, enjoyment, and engagement within our teams helps to grow loyalty, motivation, and retention – as well as making Samsonite a great place to work!
We want our people to be the best that they can be and provide a suite of educational opportunities to help them grow, including group workshops, webinars, and online courses.
We are committed to a culture that is as diverse and vibrant as the world we travel, welcoming people from all walks of life and ensuring everyone can access opportunities to reach their potential.
In 2022, we conducted our first global survey on our current culture, and how our people perceive and experience D&I in their job, team, and at Samsonite as a whole. In total, more than 8,000 people across 42 countries responded to the anonymous survey and the results were outstanding: 90% of respondents told us they felt positive about D&I at Samsonite.
We now have global and regional perspectives on how our people feel about the company, and how everyone wants to evolve. This will serve as the starting point for future work, driving behavior change at all levels, in pursuit of our Golden Rule and D&I mission.
One of the most important principles at Samsonite is the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” – to treat others as you would like to be treated. A legacy of our founder, this is a thread which runs through everything we do, inspiring our relationships across the organization and beyond, including our dealings with customers, vendors, and external stakeholders. It’s so deeply embedded in our culture that every new starter receives a marble inscribed with the Golden Rule.
Samsonite has been trading for many years and some of our supplier relationships go back decades. As we’ve grown, they’ve grown; and as we have looked more closely at issues like workers’ welfare and working conditions, they have come on the journey with us.
As a multinational company we buy from suppliers in many different countries and have an extensive procurement team spread across the different regions. No one supplies finished goods to Samsonite until they agree to meet and maintain our high standards, and we check compliance through audits and verification visits.
We are conscious of the need to manage risks in our supply chain and are always looking to do more to help to protect workers’ rights. This means going wide and deep, scrutinizing practices in each of our factories, and those of our active finished goods suppliers.
All around the world, our teams choose meaningful local causes which support vulnerable people and help them with fundraising, product donations and volunteering.
In March 2022, we donated $1 million to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to support their work assisting refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. We also donated over 23,000 bags and more than 35,000 identifying tags to charities in Poland, acting as first responders for refugees such as All Hands and Hearts and the Red Cross.
At Samsonite, we are committed to helping conserve Earth’s beautiful places for today’s travelers, and those who come after us. In 2022, our business supported the planting of over 250,000 trees across our geographies.
We recognize the importance of promoting a healthy environment, and in helping our people to stay fit and well. As well as looking out for our own people, we also fundraise for a range of charities that help people facing physical and mental health issues.
We have published an Environmental, Social and Governance Report since 2016 and continue to share our progress on an annual basis.
You will also find our statement on Modern Slavery in this section.
