Human Rights
Human Rights Policy and Management
In accordance with the principles of human rights outlined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Two Covenants, UN Global Compact, International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as well as local regulations in our operational locations worldwide, HIWIN not only requires compliance with labor-related regulations in our own employment practices, but also refrains from forcing unwilling employees to engage in labor practices. Additionally, through an assessment process, we evaluate suppliers’ capabilities in seven major categories based on the ” Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) Code of Conduct, ” which includes labor management mechanisms. This ensures that our supplier partners uphold basic human rights, protect employees’ lawful rights from unlawful infringement, and collectively implement corporate social responsibility.
Note: Please refer to HIWIN Human Rights Policy and Specific Management Plan. https://www.hiwin.tw/stock/human_rights_policy.aspx
To effectively identify, prevent, and mitigate human rights-related impacts and ensure the implementation of human rights issue management, HIWIN will commence the planning of a human rights due diligence process. The Company intends to disclose the findings of the due diligence assessment by 2024.
After compiling the list of human rights risks, the relevant responsible units assess these risks based on their ” Frequency of Occurrence ” and ” Impact Level ”. This assessment results in the creation of a ” Human Rights Risk Matrix. ” Subsequently, the units identify ” significant human rights risk issues ” in order of priority. The human rights risk assessment is as follows: High risk: no identified issues; Moderate risk: two issues - establishing reasonable labor conditions and ensuring humane treatment; Low risk: four issues - opposing child labor, promoting workplace health and safety, opposing forced labor, and promoting diversity, inclusivity, and equal job opportunities.
Risk Description and Mitigation Measures for Employee Human Rights Issues
After identifying employee human rights concerns, it is important to not only set goals, actions, risk assessment, mitigation, and remedial measures, but also to track the improvement of reported situations. Depending on the reasons for the cases, conducting advocacy, adjusting operational processes, or enhancing workplace environment safety measures can help prevent recurrence. This ensures the effectiveness of mitigation and remedial measures.
HIWIN Human Right Issues Management
The Company’s operations are closely tied to government regulations. HIWIN provides education and promotion of government policies on environmental safety and health, labor, new regulations for public companies, trade secrets, and information security through internal and external courses, as well as internal announcements. This approach enhances employees’ understanding and application of laws and regulations, effectively integrating human rights concerns into relevant training content. In 2022, the pandemic had an impact on the availability of physical courses for new hires and emergency response training, resulting in a decrease in training hours and participants. According to statistics, in 2022, there were 2,397 hours of courses on human rights issues, attended by a total of 2,411 trainees. Additionally, there were 2,548 hours of courses on anti-corruption issues, with a total of 2,674 trainees. Notably, there were no reported instances of human rights violations during this period.
Employee Feedback Channels and Case Management
HIWIN places a high value on employee opinions and rights. Our goal is to establish effective two-way communication between employees and the Company, ensuring that employees’ rights are protected and that any negative impacts are minimized. To achieve this, we have established various communication channels. In addition to regular labor-management meetings, we have created a dedicated employee mailbox to address their needs and listen to their voices. This allows us to continuously improve and create a workplace environment that is supportive of our employees.
(1) Regular Labor-Management Meetings
The Company engages in two-way communication with employees by listening to their feedback during quarterly labor-management meetings. These meetings provide an opportunity for employees to express their opinions and for the Company to make subsequent improvements. Even during the pandemic, online meetings were promptly held to maintain the relationship between labor and management. In 2022, a total of 24 sessions were conducted.
In October 2022, the labor representative election for the next labor-management meeting was successfully completed. To increase convenience and address the time constraints caused by different shifts, the ” electronic voting ” method was adopted. This method ensures that all employees have an equal right to vote, resulting in increased participation and a more condensed consensus between employers and employees.
(2) Employee Dedicated Mailbox
HIWIN provides three employee suggestion email addresses, allowing employees to directly send feedback to the Global Chairman, President, and Human Resources department. This ensures prompt, fair, and confidential processing of employee opinions, enabling objective and comprehensive handling. All previous complaints have been successfully resolved.
(3) Employee Care Hotline
To offer prompt support to employees, a dedicated hotline has been set up for direct communication. By dialing the hotline number 8085, responsible supervisors manage the calls and promptly address the situations reported by employees. This ensures that any issues that could disrupt employees’ work engagement are resolved, enabling them to concentrate on their job without any concerns.
(4) Case Management Process
Our objective is to maintain a safe and secure working environment for employees during their job responsibilities. In the event that an employee encounters physical violence, verbal abuse, psychological threats, sexual harassment, or stalking, we are committed to upholding their gender equality, personal dignity, privacy, and mental and physical well-being. To address such cases, we have implemented the following process:
(5) Employee Feedback Cases in 2022
In 2022, we collected 25 cases of employee feedback from various channels, and each case was processed in accordance with the procedure.