社会可持续性在国际业务中比以往任何时候都更加重要

社会可持续性是全球可持续发展不可或缺的一部分。The UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) call for social sustainability, for example, in the SDGsDecent Work and Economic Growth(SDG 8),Reduced Inequalities（可持续发展目标10）和Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions(SDG 16). Businesses have an important role in advancing these goals, for instance, through ensuring decent work, promoting equality, and fighting corruption. At Vaisala, we are committed to socially sustainable business practices, and we are aware that our social sustainability principles come to life only when all our employees and partners understand and commit to acting according to them.

社会可持续性作为我们日常工作的一部分

Our most important social sustainability principles, such as respecting human rights, anti-discrimination, safety at work, and anti-corruption are covered, among other topics, in Vaisala’s Code of Conduct. All Vaisala employees must complete a Code of Conduct training regularly to confirm their commitment to the Code.

We have a zero tolerance policy towards all forms of corruption. Our International Anti-Corruption Policy is included in the Code of Conduct training, and it strictly forbids offering, giving, soliciting, arranging, demanding, or accepting bribes. Also a more specific Anti-Corruption training has been tailored to employees who might face challenging situations in their work.

Vaisalaappreciates diversity in the workplace. We treat all our employees and applicants equally in all recruitment, hiring, training, and development. Equality and fairness are also important elements of Vaisala’s compensation policy. In 2019, we conducted a wage survey in our head office in Finland and found the wage equality between genders to be on an excellent level. Women’s wage was, on average, 100.8% of men’s wage on the same job requirement level, which is a great result.

我们员工的健康和安全至关重要，尤其是现在在19日19日大流行期间，当我们采取措施确保工厂人员的健康并鼓励其他人在家工作。我们的健康与安全实践以ISO 45001认证的职业健康和安全系统为指导。我们投资于健康和安全培训，并确保在容易发生的环境或任务中工作的人具有必要的资格。我们还鼓励主动报告工作场所周围的潜在安全危害，以便我们可以及时进行调查并采取纠正措施以防止伤害。

The global nature of our business is a major factor when discussing our social sustainability. We have business around the globe and strive to conduct responsibly also in challenging operating environments, and we expect the same from all our partners.

Managing a global partner network

We conduct business in almost all countries in the world, and the global operating environment poses various challenges, requirements, and expectations for us. This is why we pay special attention to selecting our business partners, and our partners must comply with our Code of Conduct or Supplier Code of Conduct under all circumstances.

To serve our customers as efficiently as possible, we conduct business through a network of distributors, agents, and resellers in more than 100 countries. Our agreements with these partners typically include strict clauses concerning immediate termination if a partner violates any aspects of our Code of Conduct or International Anti-Corruption Policy.

Our solution offering is based on a wide selection and low volumes, and this special expertise depends on the effective management of hundreds of suppliers. To meet stakeholder expectations, we must have a reliable and responsible supply chain. We set strict requirements for our suppliers and cooperate with them closely over the long term. We also audit and assess our suppliers to check aspects related to quality and sustainability.

We respect human rights and do not condone violations of human rights or labor laws in any part of our supply chain. In our internal human rights risk assessment, we have identified that the salient human rights risks with the most severe impacts on people lie among those actors in our supply chain that do not have a direct link with Vaisala’s operations. This means our suppliers’ suppliers that go beyond the third tier. These risks are the same as in other electronics manufacturing supply chains, including dangerous working conditions and the use of bonded labor. The human rights risks in our supply chain are mitigated by choosing preferred suppliers carefully and working closely with first-tier suppliers, insisting on policies that go beyond the requirements of local laws and obliging them to ensure that human rights are respected also in their supply chains. We assess the suppliers’ human rights performance and supplier management processes, and if a supplier’s score in the assessment does not meet Vaisala’s requirements, the supplier is expected to implement corrective measures and any weaknesses are addressed in cooperation with the supplier.

我们确定了解和管理人权风险的另一个领域是我们的全球项目分包商网络，例如，我们需要确保我们的合作伙伴遵循足够的健康和安全标准。因此，除了确保他们对供应商行为守则的承诺外，我们已经开始向分包商提供具体的安全说明和培训。我们还培训了我们的经理和工人在高风险领域的采购和项目业务，以识别和管理人权风险，同时使用潜在或选定的供应商和分包商运营。

总体而言，国际业务构成了我们努力应对运营的各个方面的挑战，从我们自己的员工到我们的供应商网络并与全球合作伙伴合作。国际合作和负责任的做法仍然是我们业务的基石，为地方和全球社区创造了好处。

***
This is the eighth and last post in our article series aboutVaisala’s commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. You can find the whole article series linked on our UN Sustainable Development Goals page. Vaisala’s multifaceted business is brimming with stories, and in the article series, we have illustrated with concrete examples, how our business is truly linked to the SDGs.