The wave of sustainable transition is becoming stronger and more forceful year after year and the net that it casts grows ever wider. As the impact is increasingly visible across society and business, it has come to affect culture, strategy and practices to their core. Within this framework, respect for human rights has been rightly placed at the centre of the way businesses need to care for their own employees and everyone throughout their supply chain through to end client.
But as with everything in life and business, the devil lies in the details. Accepting this new reality in theory and implementing it in action are two vastly different things. Disparity in standards and complex guidelines put a strain on large multinational businesses, let alone smaller ones. However, meeting the business responsibility to respect human rights is absolutely possible.
Cementing respect for human rights requires a shift in company culture and must be integrated into all aspects of governance and organisational frameworks. Human rights due diligence is not the task of a department, or a box to tick, but goes to the core of the business’ existence.
The effective and real implementation of this massive, and massively important, task cannot become a reality without true collaboration among all sectors of society. The private and public sectors along with civil society all have a role to play, and all share the responsibility to ensure that the rights of the most vulnerable are respected, while at the same time acknowledging the need for progress and prosperity. It is not a case of businesses on one side and regulators on the other, but rather an opportunity to cooperate for a better future.
Equally, maintaining consistency and acknowledging realistic impediments are essential parameters that regulators need to address when devising standards, to ensure effective implementation of respect for human rights.
Against this backdrop, businesses need to address their responsibility to better align their public commitments with their business practices. Due diligence of the supply chain and an ethical procurement policy; the enforcement of a code of conduct and an anti-harassment policy; checks and balances to ensure a diverse and inclusive workforce; whistleblowing protection; respect for the mental health of employees, these are just some of the areas businesses are expected to address from an employment law standpoint in their journey towards sustainable growth.
From our side, as an employer, our firm introduced a Code of Conduct a few years back, an anti-harassment policy as well as an anti-corruption policy, reflecting the principles which govern the way we treat our people, our clients and each other. In our working environment we take great care in building a culture that promotes psychological safety and in being diverse and inclusive, with 68% of our workforce being women. As per our procurement policy, we expect our suppliers to share our commitment and conduct their business with integrity, in a fair and ethical manner.
The Human Rights agenda is already on the rise. The rapidly developing trend for converting the voluntary UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights into European Law, addressing the full spectrum of the supply chain of corporations and even introducing provisions for Civil Liability of Directors with respect to Human Rights, shows that strengthening accountability and transparency to advance business respect for human rights is the only way to go.
Read more in our Footprint: bit.ly/3xvTx9D
