Human Rights, a business responsibility: LafargeHolcim
01 Oct 2015 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
“Holcim (Lanka) Ltd has developed an action plan addressing potential human rights risks related to its operations and its value chain following the LafargeHolcim Group’s innovative Human Rights Management Approach,” Head of CSR and Inclusive Business at LafargeHolcim Ltd Stefanie Koch said during a recent visit to Sri Lanka to carry out a business-related human rights impact assessment.
While large businesses generally monitor adherence to core International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, they often don’t look beyond their own direct operations at their contractors. This, however, is an issue that came up repeatedly in human rights assessments done in different parts of the world as well as in Sri Lanka. Holcim therefore developed a special contract workers directive to address the risks related to the engagement of contract workers.
“We realized through our assessments that this is a critical issue, and then we had the opportunity to develop a specific directive that needed to be implemented by all companies that engaged contract workers. Through this, we could manage an issue that could potentially have become a problem,” Stefanie explained.
This is just one success story of Holcim’s Human Rights Management Approach, which has already won global recognition in the 2014 Tomorrow’s Value Rating, an annual assessment of corporate sustainability practices.
Holcim ranked second overall, and was named sector leader in the construction and materials section in the Tomorrow’s Value Rating Report.
“While human rights generally fall under the purview of governments, businesses need to be conscious of what impact they make in a human environment, as they are closely interconnected to all stakeholders”, Stefanie explained. In recognition of this fact, the United Nations appointed John Ruggie to develop guidelines (UN Guiding principles for Business and Human Rights) for companies to follow. The result was the ‘do not harm’ principle, which requires companies to assess their practices and overall impact to ensure that they are not complicit in human rights abuse.
Holcim’s own internal approach is aligned with these principles. This entailed looking at a broad spectrum of employment related human rights – from non- discrimination to freedom of religion and occupational health and safety, to core ILO conventions on working time, minimum wage and freedom of association.
In creating Holcim’s systematic Human Rights Management Approach, Stefanie and her team classified all the countries in which Holcim operated in into three categories; red, yellow and green, based on the human rights risk levels prevalent in the country environment. To do this, external indices were used such as the Freedom House Index, which measures the political and economic freedom of countries, and the Human Development Index, which measures a country’s development in terms of education, life expectancy and per-capita income. Following the classification, Holcim then worked with 2 pilot companies in the Philippines and Madagascar, conducting assessment training for the local teams, receiving valuable feedback.
“Holcim is able to identify problem areas and manage them correctly and efficiently so that potential issues do not become long lasting problems, effectively managing their risk. It also encourages mutual relationships with stakeholders, ensuring that the company attracts top talent and fosters positive relationships with its existing employees. It also gives Holcim a competitive edge during the tender process for large contracts”, Stefanie explained.
Holcim’s Human Rights Management Approach is part and parcel of the company’s overall Sustainable Development approach, and compliance with it forms the basis for the implementation of the Group’s Sustainable Development Ambition which focuses on sustainability areas in which the company aims to improve over the next decade on a macro level.
As a trusted supplier of cement for the last decade to Sri Lanka, Holcim is embedded in the hearts and minds of the people. One in three homes in Sri Lanka use Holcim, a profound testimonial of Holcim’s credentials in the marketplace.
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