Human Rights in our own operations
Average read time: 2 minutes
Our business is built on a foundation of respect for human rights.
Respect for human rights doesn’t have boundaries. It runs through every aspect of the way our business operates and we aim to demonstrate this commitment every day and everywhere.
Advancing respect for human rights starts with our business culture. Everyone that works for Unilever must have their rights respected. And they have a responsibility to respect human rights through their own work.
Our Code of Business Principles (PDF 5.39 MB), (our Code), defines the ethical behaviours all employees need to demonstrate when working for Unilever and the requirements that all Unilever companies need to meet to respect the rights of employees. The Code is supported by 24 Code Policies and we expect and encourage employees to bring any breach of our Code to our attention via our confidential, anonymous ‘Speak up’ platform or our independent external hotline. See Business integrity for further details.
Our Respect, Dignity and Fair Treatment Code Policy (PDF 147.15 KB) sets out what employees must do to uphold our culture. It also defines the requirements of all Unilever companies, such as ensuring there is no employment of individuals under the age of 15, or under the local legal minimum working age or mandatory schooling age, whichever is the higher. Processes are in place to verify these requirements and any non-compliances are remediated.
Training and capability building
Embedding human rights across our business means that everyone must understand how, and why, human rights matter in their day-to-day jobs.
We train all our employees on respect for human rights. We do this by constantly developing and reviewing a wide range of training resources that help employees understand their own rights and the rights of others, as well as their responsibility for respecting human rights in the way they do their work.
In addition, we highlight the importance of human rights through continuous campaigns on our internal news sites and learning platforms, as well as specific campaigns that focus on themes or events, such as our annual celebration of International Women’s Day or Human Rights Day.
Engaging on labour rights
Labour rights are human rights. Freedom of association is one of our eight salient human rights issues.
Freedom of association means that workers are able to form and/or join trade unions of their choice, and to bargain collectively. Around 55% of our total workforce (around 82% of our manufacturing employees) are covered by independent trade unions or collective bargaining agreements.
We engage with a wide range of stakeholders on human rights and labour rights, including with the International Labour Organization, the IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations) and IndustriALL.
We engage with unions through formal and informal consultations, including day-to-day interactions, regional and global consultations. These relationships help us proactively address workplace issues. In countries with restrictive legal frameworks, we ensure other credible means of worker engagement while supporting independent unions and respecting the right to freedom of association.
Working with the OECD to resolve issues
We support the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, which provide voluntary principles and standards for responsible business conduct in a variety of areas, including employment and industrial relations. The Guidelines take the form of recommendations addressed by governments to multinational enterprises. Any issues that are raised through the National Contact Points are dealt with in line with approved protocols.
Keeping our operations secure
We’re a worldwide business with our products on sale in around 190 countries. The security situation in some regions means we have to take measures to protect our people and operations. We apply due diligence, including human rights due diligence in situations where we identify issues of violence and conflict to understand Unilever’s potential impact to conflict and people. We have also adopted elements of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human rights. We monitor global situations using a range of sources, including on-the-ground engagement with rightsholders where possible, and have established processes for making decisions on the most appropriate course of action in relation to each unique situation. We also have internal guidelines for responsible disengagement.
Responsible land transactions
We work to improve our positive impact on the economy, environment and communities in which we operate and are committed to managing land transactions in a responsible way. Our internal Land Policy provides general principles that we follow for land transactions and outlines our processes for managing specific circumstances where additional safeguards may be required. We have also developed implementation guidance for our internal teams to use when operationalising our policy.
