Performance Report
Human rights
Bayer is a founding member of the UN Global Compact, which works to promote sustainable and ethical corporate management worldwide. We used the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 2008 as an opportunity to reiterate our commitment to fair and respectful coexistence.
Our position on human rights
Our mission statement, values and leadership principles, the external link: Bayer Sustainable Development Policy and our external link: Corporate Compliance Policy obligate all Bayer employees to conduct themselves respectfully toward employees, colleagues, business partners and customers. We published our external link: Bayer Human Rights Position for the first time in the Sustainable Development Report 2006. On November 1, 2007, it took effect as a binding directive for all employees Group-wide. The Bayer Human Rights Position is available as an official company publication in nine languages and has since been enacted by all Group management companies. On January 1, 2009, a revised version went into effect.
Core statements of the Bayer Human Rights Position
- Bayer guarantees fair working conditions worldwide.
- All forms of forced or mandatory labor are strictly prohibited.
- Bayer forbids all forms of harassment and discrimination.
- All employees have a right of association and collective bargaining.
- We do not tolerate child labor.
- We ensure the health and occupational safety of employees and community members at all sites through uniformly high HSEQ standards.
Communication and training in human rights
The current version of the directive can be called up at any time from our globally accessible database. As managerial staff hold particular responsibility in the observation and communication of human rights, a special Bayer brochure on this subject was sent to about 8,000 Bayer managers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland together with a personalized letter from the member of the Board of Management responsible for Human Resources. An English version of the brochure is to be made available to managerial employees worldwide by the end of 2009.
The Human Resources Department is also currently developing a training document designed to support the managerial employees in the introduction of the principles and instruction of their teams on the subject of human rights starting in mid-2009. Employees joining the company are familiarized with the contents of the directive and its significance via our global employee portal HR//direct online and an e-learning tool that can be accessed from there.
Global monitoring and incentive systems
Our corporate compliance organization is available to our employees worldwide to answer questions and rigorously follows up possible complaints Image: link . Our performance management system also supports the implementation of the directive: Human rights aspects can also be addressed in the annual leadership goals we agree on with our approximately 25,000 managerial employees. This is an important leadership tool particularly in countries and regions in which there is an increased risk of human rights abuses.
Respecting human and employee rights in China
In recent years we have significantly increased production capacities in China, and the size of our workforce there has grown substantially. We maintain intensive contact with civil society stakeholders, including universities and media, and seek dialogue with non-governmental organizations. Bayer is supporting the Chinese government in the introduction of a new labor law that strengthens employee rights. We have developed an internal set of rules that supplements local labor law and familiarizes our employees with our company values. Our Human Resources Governance Code – which applies throughout China – obligates all employees to address one another in a fair, open and just manner. All employees in China have access to state and company health insurance programs and further social benefits at Bayer, including a comprehensive range of vocational training and continuing education measures. Working times are contractually specified at 40 hours a week, and the first employee representations have been set up. Teams made up of specialists for health, safety and environmental protection (HSE) ensure the safety of employees and community members at all of our sites.
Supply chain responsibility
We also expect our business partners to respect human rights and contribute to their implementation. Bayer’s Procurement Community Policy and the purchasing guidelines “Requirements for suppliers” are therefore based on the principles of the UN Global Compact and the Bayer Human Rights Position.
In 2008, we extended our strategy for sustainability in procurement and supplemented our requirements for suppliers in the fields of human rights, working conditions, environmental protection and management systems. To prepare for this, the Procurement Community held intensive discussions with numerous stakeholders, arranged risk assessment workshops with purchasers and conducted precise analyses of the structure of suppliers and purchasing regions. We consider dialogue and close cooperation with our suppliers to be important criteria to ensure sustainable procurement management. We are also endeavoring, step by step, to introduce a code of conduct for sustainability in procurement in 2009. Our suppliers will be assessed by the purchasing departments of the subgroups and service companies on the basis of this code of conduct Image: link .
Successfully tackling child labor
The external link: Bayer Human Rights Position is unambiguous and strictly prohibits child labor. Unfortunately, however, child labor is still widespread in many countries. In India we acquired the seed company Proagro (known today as Bayer BioScience Pvt. Ltd.) at the end of 2002 and were confronted with child labor in the production of cotton seed. We immediately began establishing an effective package of measures to counter this upon learning of this situation.
Our multi-stage plan of action in India is aimed at making clear to children and their families in cultivation regions that child labor cannot be an option for safeguarding their means of subsistence. In addition to effective monitoring in cotton fields, the Bayer CropScience Child Care Program also offers education and vocational training opportunities for children and young people. Furthermore, we comprehensively educate farmers, parents, children and the entire village community about the negative effects of child labor. As part of the monitoring program, we advise farmers on how to increase crop yields and provide them with access to affordable microcredits.
Together with the Indian-based external link: Naandi Foundation, we have established a total of 19 Creative Learning Centers since 2005; more than 1,000 children have been able to be integrated into the regular school system through these centers. In January 2008, Bayer CropScience joined with local institutions in the Hyderabad region in opening an agricultural vocational center called the Bayer School of Agriculture. A year later, the first class of 27 students successfully completed the program. 19 graduates had received job offers even before taking their final exams. In this way we help to improve the prospects for children and young people.
We conclude a clear contractual obligation with our suppliers of seeds that prohibits the employment of children as workers in the fields. Each year our monitoring teams make at least six unannounced visits to the cotton fields, establish the ages of the workers and document this information. Producers WHO adhere to the contractual obligation not to employ children as laborers receive a bonus at the end of each planting season. However, sanctions are imposed upon those WHO violate the contractual prohibition of child labor; these penalties range from a warning and the loss of the bonus through a price reduction to the cancellation of the contract in the case of repeated violations.
The monitoring system in the fields is inspected not only through internal audits, but also once a year by Ernst & Young India. These measures show that there is no systematic child labor in our Indian cotton supply chain. Today we only observe isolated child labor cases that are immediately addressed and eliminated. As a result of this positive experience, we are currently expanding the Bayer CropScience Child Care Program to include vegetable seed production in India, where we have identified a need to act.