As a globally active company, HUBER+SUHNER is obligated to respect and uphold human rights in the sphere of our influence. According to our Code of responsible business conduct, which is distributed to all employees, HUBER+SUHNER does not tolerate any form of child labour or forced labour and is committed to equal and non-discriminatory treatment of employees and their protection from harassment in the workplace. HUBER+SUHNER employees have the right to join a trade union of their choice within the framework of the applicable laws. Our Group companies have the choice to join collective bargaining in countries where this is common practice [1].
The company constantly monitors that no form of child labour [2] or forced labour [3], according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) definition, is occurring at any of its sites of operation. Since June 2020, the company has been a member to the United Nations (UN) Global Compact adhering to its ten principles of which principles 1 through 6 are related to human rights and labour practices. (See “The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact” [4]. In Switzerland, where almost one third of our workforce is based, we are a signatory of the Collective Employment Agreement (CEA) of the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Industries. Furthermore, in our Code of responsible business conduct HUBER+SUHNER has committed to fully respecting human rights within its sphere of influence. The company does not tolerate any form of child labour or forced labour and is committed to equal and non-discriminatory treatment of employees and their protection from harassment in the workplace.
To increase the focus on compliance and the possibility for employees to anonymously raise concerns, we implemented a grievance mechanism in 2021 called Trustline. In July 2023, the secure SpeakUp® service also provided by the independent third party provider SpeakUp (formerly People Intouch) was launched for suppliers and other external stakeholders. Both mechanisms are accessible around the clock in several languages, online via a website or an application as well as by phone. The platform is accessible in all local languages of key HUBER+SUHNER countries.
This anonymous means of reporting potential breaches is available in addition to the possibility of directly reaching out to superiors, country managing directors, the general counsel, or local HR business partners.
The objective is to have zero human rights or labour practices non-compliances. We encourage our employees to report any observations via our independent and secure SpeakUp® whistleblowing system
To further sensitise employees to human rights and labour practices risks and to identify potential non-compliance, in 2023 all office employees underwent a procurement due diligence training, which focused on specific risks as well as correpsonding remedation actions if non-compliance is identified. In the reporting year 2023, one cases was reported in the area of labour practices infringements via our whistleblower platform (see also Compliance and business ethics).
We will continue to focus on sensitising our employees to human rights and labour practices by: