HR4-11
As part of the ALFA Code of Conduct assessment, all plant managers receive human rights awareness-raising information on issues such as non-discrimination.
The Ethics Program also underlines the Group’s non-tolerance position on discrimination. Through the Ethics Helpline, employees can report incidents of discrimination, in local languages, either through a call center or via a web portal, alongside other ethical misconduct.
All cases of discrimination reported via the Ethics Helpline are investigated. Corrective action on confirmed incidents of misconduct includes various ways of reinforcing greater awareness of the Group’s policy, such as retraining. Please see ‘Anti-corruption and public policy’ for the outcomes in 2014.
Annually, Electrolux tracks areas that pose challenges to upholding high standards in human rights such as protecting freedom of association, the abolition of child labor and forced and compulsory labor. Auditing and monitoring describes how Electrolux maps human rights risks and uses the findings to design its audit Internal and External Code of Conduct audits and supplier audits.
A total of 12 (22) Electrolux manufacturing units were subject to CoC audits by third party and internal (but independent) auditors in China, Egypt, Mexico, Romania, Thailand and Ukraine in 2014. The number of audits was reduced, due to planning the updated CoC roll-out, the consolidation of manufacturing units and the successful integration of acquisitions in Egypt, Chile and Argentina. In 2015 audits will be conducted in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, Mexico and Thailand.
Health and safety remains the area with the highest number of non-compliances, often revolving around emergency preparedness. The second most common category of findings relate to working hours – records indicating some employees work above 48 hour and 12 hours overtime per week, alternatively not having a day of rest per week. Audits also underline the need to focus on environmental issues, such as safe storage of chemicals and correct segregation of waste. The aggregated audit outcomes indicate an improvement as the number of findings decreased from 10 findings per audit in 2013 to 5 in 2014.
Electrolux conducted 11 internal Code of Conduct audits by third party auditors and independent internal auditors in China, Egypt, Mexico, Romania, Thailand and the Ukraine, covering 12 of our manufacturing sites. The graph reflects the number of findings.
In those regions where worker associations are not possible due to national praxis, each unit and its suppliers are expected to find appropriate and legal mechanisms through which workers can effectively express workplace concerns to management.
Records are to be kept from these formalized consultations and be made available upon request, as outlined in Management approach: Labor practices.
The Group’s supplier audits reveal that issues relating to under-age labor remain at a low level. Two (zero) cases of under-aged workers were found in 2014. In common with past experiences, these few cases of under-aged labor were primarily found in Asia/Pacific. The majority of age-related findings concern insufficient protection of authorized minors (16–18 years of age). In dealing with under-aged workers, Electrolux puts the welfare of the child first as described in Human Rights Management Approach
The Responsible Sourcing program is designed to help ensure that the company is not complicit in any forms of abuse of forced or bonded labor in its supply chain, as outlined in Management approach: Human rights. Electrolux complies with California’s Transparency in Supply Chains Act.
During 2012, a corporate human rights impact assessment was conducted to identify key human rights risks and impacts for the Group. The assessment was conducted according to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
This assessment was an important basis for the revision of the CoC and Workplace Standard. It impacted training and auditing of operations in high-risk countries as reported in Human rights.
The priority of the Responsible Sourcing program is the growing supplier base in Ukraine, Egypt, Chile, Argentina, China and South East Asia.
In Egypt, the focus is on meeting Group expectations regarding environmental standards and working hours where Electrolux requirements exceed local minimum legal requirements. Additionally, the existence of migrant workers requires particular attention to work permits, contract issues and language barriers. The current political situation poses challenges regarding obtaining the necessary permits and licenses.
Audits indicate rapid improvements however. Greater emphasis on human rights is demonstrated by few and decreased findings relating to harassment and discrimination. Improvements in total between initial and follow-up audit remains over 50%. In 2015 Electrolux plans to expand the Responsible Sourcing program with a focus on sourcing from the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia.