Business integrity and ethics

Johnson Matthey strives to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct and corporate responsibility worldwide to ensure we act with integrity, transparency and care for the rights of the individual.

 

The group's principles are set out in our Code of Ethics.

and issues are further safeguarded through corporate governance processes and monitoring by the board and its committees. The code applies to all the group's employees. It complements the Group Control Manual and is available to staff at all sites.

 

International Business and Human Rights

Most Johnson Matthey operations are conducted in developed nations, but a small number of 'at risk' countries have emerged as significant growth opportunities for our business in recent years. While the protection of human rights and enhancement of labour conditions are largely the responsibility of governments and international bodies, we recognise our responsibility to conduct our business so as to protect the rights of individuals.

We support the principles defined within the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation Core Conventions, including the conventions in relation to child labour, forced labour, non-discrimination, freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Compliance with and respect for these core principles are integrated within the risk assessment procedures and impact assessments which are undertaken when entering into business in a new territory and within the due diligence processes when making an acquisition or entering a joint venture. Here, significant investments are defined as those that require approval by the Chief Executive's Committee or the board. All of the significant investments have undergone assessments of human rights or have included specific clauses relating to human rights. This is in accordance with Johnson Matthey's human rights position and our business integrity and ethics policy.

While we are confident of the human rights performance of our own operations, we recognise that business practices in the supply chain are not always transparent and represent a risk that must be managed. Every effort is made to ensure the issues are managed effectively.

 

Supply Chain

As stated in our Sustainability 2017 Vision we aim to encourage our suppliers to adopt the values of sustainability which we uphold and the group has recently published an Ethical and Sustainable Procurement Policy.

The Ethical and Sustainable Procurement Policy applies to all purchases of goods and services and supports our aim of ensuring that the way business is conducted throughout the whole of our supply chain conforms to our own standards. It provides clear guidance on various topics including those relating to the selection of, and ethical conduct with, suppliers. It also sets out how we will conduct business with our suppliers and describes the expectations we have of our suppliers regarding the way they conduct their business. You can view our Supplier Code of Conduct here.

This policy will support our existing systems in this area (such as supplier and toll manufacturer audits) and complements our work to further understand life cycle impacts across the supply chain.

Management of the supply chain and contractor activities is also a core component of the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 series of standards. Supply chain and contractor management questionnaires are a requirement of achieving and maintaining registration and as such, ISO registered Johnson Matthey sites require the completion of appropriate questionnaires. For those sites without ISO registration, the group EHS management system provides policy and guidance on both supply chain management and contractor control.

Compliance training is provided to employees to support their understanding of and commitment to group policies in order to protect and enhance the company's reputation. The training educates managers in their responsibilities for employees, commercial contracts and company assets and is delivered globally via online learning programmes, face to face seminars and individual training. Johnson Matthey facilities have established policies and procedures through which employees can raise employment related issues for consideration and resolution. A confidential and secure 'Speak Up' website and telephone helpline is also in place to give all employees an additional means to raise any issue of personal concern. The group control self assessment process assesses the implementation of the ethical policy. Implementation is also assessed as part of the internal audit programme.