Our approach to human rights

Respect for human rights is woven into the fabric of our daily operations through some of our 36 commitments. These commitments are based on our Corporate Business Principles and are continually reviewed as goals are achieved or as the challenges we face change.

Since 2011, we have revised 18 different corporate policies, standards and commitments to incorporate the relevant human rights elements and language where they matter most for us, e.g. Nestlé’s Corporate Business Principles, Responsible Sourcing Standard, Employee Relations Policy, Consumers’ Communication Policy, Privacy Policy and, most recently, our Global Parental Support Policy.

Nestlé policy commitments (pdf, 0.1Mb)

Collaboration is at the heart of our approach to human rights, as we believe only by working with a wide range of stakeholders can we gain access to the expertise and insights we need to make the biggest impact. Through initiatives and sessions, we work with NGOs, rights holders and others to further develop our policies and procedures and improve our performance on the ground.

We are committed to engaging with stakeholders, including local communities, who are, or could be, affected by our business activities.

Since 2011, we have engaged with thousands of stakeholders through our stakeholder convenings, active participation in different forums and conferences, and one-on-one interactions with global and local community support officers.

We have partnered with some of the most expert organizations, starting with the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) back in 2010 and then with the Fair Labor Association (cocoa and hazelnuts) and Verité (seafood, palm oil and coffee).

Employee training is fundamental to promoting human rights, and we aim to train all of our employees on this topic. Our training programs raise awareness of human rights issues among employees and develop their skills in dealing with them.

Since 2011, we have trained 282 532 employees on human rights globally (vs. 273 085 total number of employees at the end of 2020), starting with those in high-risk countries in terms of human rights. In 2019, we launched a new online training tool, extended the training to all countries where we have operations and made it a mandatory training element as part of the induction program for all new employees. As our commitment came to an end, we analyzed data at country level, and have identified a handful of countries with gaps in terms of percentage of employees trained. These are mainly low-risk countries with a substantial number of factory workers with no access to computer and where face-to-face training was made difficult in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions. We will ensure that we close the gap in these countries by the end of 2021.

The risks of human rights abuses arising in our business activities are continually assessed, monitored and reviewed. This gives us a clear understanding of the landscape and allows us to proactively manage risk and address impacts.

We have integrated human rights risks within our Enterprise Risk Management Framework and within our Market Compliance Committees.

In addition, we have previously conducted 13 human rights impact assessments in high-risk countries together with the DIHR (these were completed before 2018 and are not new activity).

Salient human rights issues are those human rights issues that stand out because they are at risk of the most severe negative impact through the company’s activities or business relationships. This concept of salience uses the lens of risk to people, not the business, as the starting point, while recognizing that where risks to people’s human rights are greatest, there is strong convergence with risk to the business.

Since 2011, based on the many risk and impact assessments we have carried out at the corporate level and on the ground, we have identified 11 human rights issues that are the most salient and developed dedicated action plans to address them.

Nestlé policy commitments (pdf, 0.1Mb)

Our business is built on strong principles and sound governance. Within Nestlé, we have set out clear roles and responsibilities to ensure respect for human rights is reflected at every level of our business. Our system of boards and committees is key to this, continually assessing our progress and leading the strategic implementation of human rights work.

At the Board of Directors level, the Nomination and Sustainability Committee ensures the company carries out Human Rights Due Diligence and reports on its most severe risks to human rights, including how the company is addressing those risks.

The responsibility for Human Rights Due Diligence at the Executive Board level lies with our General Counsel, who is also in charge of Corporate Governance and Compliance.

A key part of addressing human rights issues is ensuring grievance mechanisms are available to rights holders. Our HRDD program helps us to identify and enable effective remediation. How this works varies across countries and industries, and we seek to do what we can to ensure remediation is always available.

We’re transparent about our commitments, as well as achievements and the challenges we still face on the ground, and we continually report on our progress and performance. This holds us publicly accountable for our promises and enables us to regularly review our priorities.

We have robust systems in place to ensure we can address compliance breaches and give people who work for us, as well as external stakeholders, the ability to report grievances. The challenge remains in setting up effective grievance mechanisms in remote areas, where access to technology is limited and the culture of reporting noncompliances absent.

Clean water for food, sanitation and hygiene is a basic human right, and we’re dedicated to ensuring people have access to it. Three in 10 people lack access to safely managed drinking water services and 6 in 10 lack access to safely managed sanitation facilities.

Leveraging our supply chain partners and collaborating with other key stakeholders, we’re dedicated to addressing child labor in our supply chains. Approximately 152 million children are victims of child labor worldwide, and half of those are engaged in hazardous work.

Upholding ethical principles in our business and throughout our value chain is fundamental to how we operate and underpins consumer trust and our license to operate. The right to privacy is embedded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and this applies to personal data too.

Labor rights are at the core of many of our salient issues, and we’re implementing wide-ranging programs to ensure good conditions for workers in our supply chain. In 2016, 24.9 million people were trapped in forced labor around the world (ILO). Women and girls are disproportionately affected by forced labor.

The freedom to join trade unions and bargain collectively is at the core of workers’ rights. We aim to support all our employees in being members of unions, while promoting freedom of association in our supply chain.

Because we work with farming communities around the world, land rights is an ever-present issue. We’re dedicated to remaining vigilant against any invasion of rights and upholding people’s rights to land and resources. Read about an example of our work in this area within our palm oil supply chain.

Everyone is entitled to fair work, and a living wage is an essential component of this. A living wage is what an individual needs to earn to live a decent life and to participate fully in society.

Our approach toward employees’ health is holistic, including physical and mental health dimensions and addressing both work- and non-work-related aspects of health. There are 2.78 million work-related deaths per year, and poor health and safety costs about 3.94% of global GDP (ILO).

We are dedicated to securing good conditions for workers throughout our supply chain. Many of those around the world who are in work are forced to deal with poor accommodation and a lack of basic services. Read about an example of our work within our sugar supply chain.

We’re dedicated to guaranteeing labor rights for all people who work with or for us, directly or indirectly. Working time is a key element of this. Excessive working hours can be detrimental to the health of individuals and families.