Stakeholder engagement

Identifying important stakeholders

We maintain constant interaction with stakeholders to build a communication and response mechanism on sustainability issues. We also identify stakeholders through the five attributes of stakeholders : responsibility, influence, tension, dependency, and diverse perspectives of AA1000 SES. After the departmental assessment and discussion a few years ago, we determined the key stakeholder groups.

After discussion with the functional managers, we verified that there was no significant change in the identification results of the existing stakeholders, understood their concerns about YOKE, and reported to the general manager for approval. In 2023, we identified four important stakeholder groups: shareholders, customers, employees, and suppliers.

Engagement with key stakeholders

Each identified stakeholder group had different significance in and interactions with our operational activities. Additionally, different departments engaged with stakeholders through various methods of communication. In 2023 we continued with various methods of communication and engagement and output various results.

Types of stakeholders	Shareholders Guardian of safety value
Implications to YOKE	YOKE commits financial, intellectual, manpower, manufacturing, social and environmental capital into establishing its distinctive safety awareness.
Accountable departments	Finance Dept
Method/frequency of engagement	Shareholders’ meeting (annual) Board of directors meeting (quarterly) Strategy meetings (annual)
Results	One meeting of shareholders and four Board meetings were held, and the strategy meeting was held at the end of the year to verify the annual operating objectives for 2024.
Introspection and response	To establish links to environment, society, and corporate governance through the aspect of operational strategy to build a foundation and momentum for sustainable development. Instead of short-term profits, we will focus on our pursuit of long-term optimization regarding stakeholder interests.
Short-term plan	Activate plant expansion in three plants, continuously engage in smart manufacturing, enhance product quality and production efficiency, continuously optimize and systematize R&D management, accelerate R&D and enhance competitiveness, and continue industry-academia collaboration to help upgrade technical competency to build a more competitive operational environment and product advantages and so break through market adversities and grow against the tie in response to future development planning.
Long-term strategy	Continue to promote the market demand for new products and optimize the manufacturing process through industry-academia cooperation and smart manufacturing, so as to reduce the use of materials and consumption of YOKE products and move towards sustainable manufacturing. Design green buildings and build solar PV generation for new plants in coordination with the government’s Net-Zero Emissions 2050 policy.

Types of stakeholders	Customers Promoter of safety value
Implications to YOKE	Purchasing YOKE's products help promote safety awareness to industrial applications and individuals and to far corners of the world.
Accountable departments	8 sales Department/N Sales Department Center
Method/frequency of engagement	Exhibition/video conference with customers Customer satisfaction survey (annual) Complaint handling (at any time)
Results	Trade fair participation: 8 Sales Dept 35 times and N Sales Dept 6 times. Maintained intensive communication with customers through videoconferencing, accelerated product development schedule, and effectively enhanced work efficiency. The customer complaint closure rate was 100%.
Introspection and response	With a focus on user safety, we create safety value for products through R&D, procurement, and manufacturing and enforce the management of sustainability issues and validation of product standards to provide customers with trustworthy safety products and corporate commitment.
Short-term plan	Continuously maintain a high-standard quality management system to meet the product expectation of customers; advance the completion of the product safety verification of the latest EU and US standards to meet the product shipping requirements and so to protect the life safety of end-users. Establish the mechanism for estimating product carbon footprint in response to the international carbon reduction trend and CBAM implementation.
Long-term strategy	We will continue to optimize the marketing power of Salesforce and SAP ERP to grasp customer needs and market trends; we will continue to improve our internal environment and promote various measures for sustainable development to create a sustainable enterprise and build a sustainable brand image in the hook industry.

Types of stakeholders	Employees Enforcer of safety value
Implications to YOKE	Through responsible R&D, manufacturing and supporting service, YOKE makes safety an inherent value of all its products.
Accountable departments	Human Resource Department
Method/frequency of engagement	Safe and health committee (quarterly) Labor-management conference (quarterly) Employee satisfaction survey (annual)
Results	Four Safety and Health Committee meetings and four labor-management meetings were held. The overall satisfaction rating of Taiwanese employees was 3.77 out of 5 marks.
Introspection and response	Starting from competence management, we strive to recruit suitable talents while planning a comprehensive mentor system to help new employees acclimatize themselves to their work environment. In addition, YOKE invests in education and training to equip employees with the necessary professional skills and provides physiological and psychological care to enhance the workplace.
Short-term plan	Uphold the “people-oriented” transformation strategy; implement manufacturing automation; continue to implement our mentor system and promote education and training and plant skill proficiency test; ensure equality at work for all employees; and timely offer employee care through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP); and build a premium workplace that will motivate employees to be passionate about work.
Long-term strategy	Continue to optimize talents recruitment and compensation management, attract outstanding talents, and foster positive labor relations through comprehensive talent development planning and implementation, and build a friendly and healthy workplace in response to our 2028 operational growth strategy.

Types of stakeholders	Suppliers Collaborator of safety value
Implications to YOKE	Working with YOKE helps improve a business' product capabilities and brings value (in the form of added safety) to the overall industry.
Accountable departments	Procurement Department
Method/frequency of engagement	Supplier Evaluation (annual) Supplier Audit (annual) Supplier Counseling (project)
Results	We evaluated 55 suppliers and audited 255 suppliers.
Introspection and response	Working with our suppliers to jointly construct and shape the domestic industry for safety hooks has always been YOKE’s long-term goal for local commitment. And as such, we provide management and customized assistance mechanism for our suppliers in order to bolster their competitiveness in the market.
Short-term plan	Invite key material suppliers to participate in new product development so as to accelerate product development; provide online queries of production scheduling for long-term orders for suppliers to estimate shipping quantity and delivery time to enable appropriate production scheduling and delivery accuracy and enhance delivery efficiency; and improve the environmental and social performance of suppliers through the Supplier Code of Conduct to pursue sustainable development together with suppliers.
Long-term strategy	Expand the breadth and depth of collaborative improvement with strategic partners; build a supplier information platform to provide suppliers with real-time information, improve the operating procedures of suppliers, and enhance their competitiveness so as to promote the overall growth for the industry; and engage in active carbon reduction to maintain product competitiveness to cope with the impact of CBAM.

Stakeholder