Respect for Human Rights
We consider it our duty as a company to respect human rights and this plays a key role in our corporate policy.
We are committed to ensuring that our business does not cause or support violations of human rights. We categorically reject any form of forced labor, modern slavery, child labor, and physical or emotional abuse. In the context of our human rights policy, we have classified the topics of forced and child labor as not being relevant to those risks to which our own workforce might be exposed.
As a member of the United Nations (UN) Global Compact, we are committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to the international covenants governing the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the United Nations. We support the International Labour Organization’s “Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration)” and its core labor standards. Our approach to our due diligence when it comes to human rights is based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. In terms of occupational safety specifically, WACKER has signed the Luxembourg Declaration on Workplace Health Promotion in the European Union to promote and protect employee health.
The UN Global Compact
The UN Global Compact requires companies to respect human rights, protect the rights of employees, act in an environmentally friendly manner and combat corruption. We are committed to complying with these principles and have integrated them into our corporate structures and business practices. Complying with human rights and creating a safe and respectful working environment is an important part of our corporate culture.
ILO core labor standards
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has defined various core labor standards that protect the fundamental rights of employees, including the abolition of forced and child labor, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. WACKER acknowledges the importance of these standards and has incorporated them into its personnel policy. Our Code of Conduct is consistent with the core labor standards. We strive to create fair working conditions and to prevent discrimination of any form.
OECD principles
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises provide a framework for responsible business conduct. WACKER follows these principles to ensure that its business practices align with international standards. We adhere to the OECD principles when it comes to our due diligence in terms of human rights and ensure that any potential impact on human rights has been taken into account in our business decisions.
By applying all of these internationally recognized principles, we strive to be a company that campaigns actively for human rights. Further information on specific measures, risks and our handling of human rights matters can be found in the sections on ESRS S1 – Own Workforce and ESRS S2 – Workers in the Value Chain.
Organization and responsibilities
The CEO has overarching responsibility for sustainability and human rights issues. He signs our General Declaration of Principles, our statement regarding the Modern Slavery Act, and our Global Compact progress report. He has appointed an independent human rights officer who is responsible for the company’s human rights policy, risk management system, General Declaration of Principles and reporting system. Employees and business partners can report any potential violations anonymously via our whistleblower system.
Our Human Rights Committee, which includes the Group officer, manages and monitors our process for globally analyzing and minimizing human rights risks. It trains employees responsible worldwide at the sites and analyzes our yearly Human Rights Due Diligence Report to identify the need for action, to cross check this against findings from social audits and then introduce the right measures, as well as to check the measures we have implemented to ensure they are effective.
We raise awareness of human rights in regular meetings with our global business partners. An explanatory video and further information is available to employees on the intranet.
As a member of the Executive Board, our Personnel Director is the highest-ranking individual for employee matters. She regularly meets with employee representatives, which include the Group’s disabilities representative and representatives from interest groups like the Women’s Circle and various Diversity committees, to discuss current issues and improvements.
Our personnel policy is discussed in detail in regular meetings between the Personnel Director and HR management. Employee health is dealt with once a year in the Steering Committee for Health Promotion.
Group coordinators have been appointed to deal with health and safety matters. The Corporate Environment, Health, Safety & Product Safety (EHS & PS) committee is our most important body for dealing with health and safety issues. It meets once a year and is headed by the Executive Board member responsible for EHS & PS.
All findings and potential for improvement are discussed and implemented in this committee. Operationally, sustainability issues are managed by dedicated departments. Moreover, we have different functions for managing individual topics.
SustainaBalance® is WACKER’s holistic sustainability strategy to achieve its medium- and long-term sustainability targets. Under it, we have defined specific Group targets for our workforce to tackle challenges such as occupational safety or the career advancement of women in management positions. All stakeholders, employee representatives and relevant departments were involved in target setting. The targets are ultimately approved by the Executive Board.
We monitor our target achievement level every year. Success is not achieved as progress in a straight line, but instead through individual projects implemented in various stages over a timeframe defined as a target. In terms of our “own workforce,” we have set ourselves three main targets:
- By 2030, we would like women to hold one in three management positions and
- One in two management positions to be based in regions other than Germany.
- Safety is of the utmost priority for WACKER. We aim every year, for example, to fully avoid chemical accidents with missed workdays and severe plant-safety incidents.
To select appropriate measures, WACKER uses regular exchanges with experts and interest groups, in particular, to understand current developments and best practices and to integrate these into our strategy. Furthermore, our Human Rights Committee plays a key role in our assessment and implementation of actions to ensure the protection of human rights within our operations. Many of the actions described in this report are put into practice during ongoing business activities without any need to report dedicated spending or capital expenditures. Information on operating expenses (OpEx), capital expenditures (CapEx) and timeframes is provided if any major individual actions (action plans) are involved.
Policies
To protect our workforce, there are groupwide regulations in place to prohibit human rights violations and discrimination. The General Declaration about respecting human rights forms the basis here. In addition, we have published our ethical principles in our Compliance regulation and in our Code of Conduct. Material impacts and risks in the context of our own workforce are addressed in the Code of Conduct, which is binding on all employees. Senior executives must sign a declaration to this effect. Our Diversity fact sheet explicitly lists forms of discrimination (gender, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or worldview, disability, age, sexual orientation and identity) and forms the basis of our “Zero tolerance for intolerance” approach.
These principles are strengthened by further regulations and directives, which cover specific rules on recruitment, compensation, employee development, personnel planning and occupational safety.
Furthermore, our Data Protection Officer ensures that employee data is always protected by monitoring compliance with data protection regulations and furthering continuous improvements in data protection processes.
To facilitate collaboration with its suppliers and customers, WACKER has formulated principles based on our Code of Conduct. We expect our business partners to acknowledge and respect our ethical principles and preventative measures. This also applies to our distributors and consultants. We explicitly communicate these aspirations in our upstream value chain using our Supplier Code of Conduct, acceptance of which is a prerequisite for a business relationship. Many of the industries in which our customers operate are heavily regulated and place great emphasis on avoiding human rights violations.
For WACKER, the main principles are:
- Compliance with laws and regulations: suppliers must comply with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries in which they operate.
- Human rights and work practices: prohibition of child labor, forced labor and discrimination, ensuring fair pay and guaranteeing safe working conditions.
- Business integrity: prohibition of corruption, bribery and unfair business practices and guaranteeing transparency and accountability.
- Health and safety: providing a safe and healthy working environment for employees.
- Continuous improvement: suppliers should continuously improve their practices in line with WACKER standards.
Internal processes are defined in a Group regulation for Procurement and Supplier Management that is used alongside a handbook that outlines specific process descriptions.
To communicate our principles and firmly establish the relevant regulations and instruments, we provide all employees in our Procurement department with a basic training course worldwide. We also offer managers refresher training courses every year.
