Insights Article ESG reporting: Leveraging sustainability's under-utilized impact accelerator
ESG reporting can accelerate sustainability impact in multiple ways by activating both your internal and external stakeholders.
Respecting human rights
In our operations, business relationships, and supply chain
We are committed to conducting business in a manner that preserves and respects human dignity, which is fundamental to our purpose—to create amazing technology that unlocks access to energy for the benefit of all. By respecting human rights, we look to avoid harm and contribute to promoting more inclusive societies, consistent with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Respecting human rights is a key expectation of SLB and we publicly commit to supporting the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, key references for our human rights program.
We respect human rights in practice by:
- conducting due diligence to identify, assess and manage potential human rights impacts
- making human rights a topic our employees can understand, recognize and act upon
- working with suppliers who respect and comply with our Working Conditions Requirements
- providing mechanisms for employees and third parties to report any human rights concerns.
Respecting Human Rights
Our focus areas
Through engagement with our stakeholders, including IPIECA, the global oil and gas industry association for advancing environmental and social performance, we have five focus areas.
Workplace
Our approach to human rights in the workplace is based on the fundamental principles of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity. Our policies and practices take into consideration the rights of all individuals, regardless of nationality, gender identity, religion or belief, ethnic origin, race, sexual orientation, disability, age, or any other status. Our diversity, equity and inclusion program look to address the protection of the rights of women and other underrepresented or marginalized groups.
SLB is a participating member of the UN Global Compact. We are committed to its corporate responsibility initiative and its principles in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment, and anticorruption.
Supply Chain
We prohibit any use or contracting—directly or indirectly—of child labor, forced labor, human trafficking, or any form of slavery. We are committed to continuously monitoring the labor standards performance of our suppliers to promote the rights and welfare of all workers. We are also committed to purchasing only parts and products containing minerals that have been procured through a validated conflict-free supply chain to avoid the use of minerals that have financed conflict in the covered countries.
Local Communities
SLB is committed to avoiding harm to people and working with our customers to maintain a stable operating environment in which communities as well as the energy industry can prosper by
- identifying, preventing, mitigating, and resolving social risks and impacts
- optimizing employment and contracting opportunities for communities
- ensuring that community concerns, issues, or problems are taken seriously.
Indigenous Peoples
SLB recognizes the rights of distinct peoples living in various regions to self-determined development and control of ancestral lands. Where activities are undertaken on lands traditionally owned by or under customary use of indigenous peoples, we are committed to building strong relationships with the indigenous communities, interacting respectfully, and helping economically empower indigenous communities where we operate.
Security Arrangements
In compliance with the SLB Personnel and Asset Security Standard, we develop security arrangements to protect people and assets in a manner that respects human rights and is consistent with applicable laws and international standards, including the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.
Strong framework to guide our conduct
We have clear governance processes to implement our human rights program. Leveraging our ethics and compliance management system, our Human Rights Framework strengthens our management processes and embeds them in our integrity and internal controls to better identify, assess and mitigate potential human rights adverse risks.
Governance documents
We have a set of core governing documentations that define internal requirements and set out clear expectations throughout the whole organization. It includes our:
- Code of Conduct, which sets out how we are expected to behave, including our responsibility to respect human rights.
- Human Rights Position Statement, which consolidates our human rights commitments and serves as the basis for internal and external engagement on human rights issues.
- Human Rights Framework, which outlines the human rights risk areas we've identified and our management approach to further embedding human rights throughout the business.
- Conflict Minerals Position Statement, which describes our commitment to the responsible sourcing of minerals or metals in relation to conflict-affected and high-risk areas.
- Working Conditions Requirements, which defines the minimum standards that we ask our facilities and suppliers to respect and to adhere in relation to workers’ rights and worker welfare.
Tone at the top
Our Executive Leadership Team discuss human rights as part of our sustainability agenda and provide oversight of our human rights program. Our Human Rights Working Group, formed in 2018 with senior representatives across SLB, advises on priorities and reviews the operational effectiveness of the program.
Awareness
The SLB human rights training program is designed to provide our people with a general understanding of human rights issues and our key processes to enable them to speak about, implement our human rights commitments and act upon them. Additional training is available for employees that are identified with touchpoints to human rights. The program is designed to prompt consideration of human rights issues related to their own responsibilities.
We have also made the IPIECA and Building Responsibly online training materials on human rights available to our suppliers. Training is used to raise awareness of our expectations around supplier requirements.
Risk management
We take a risk-based approach to managing human rights, in line with our risk management policy, enabling us to focus resources on the countries, workers and business activities, where human rights issues present the most significant hazard.
Understanding where our key risks lie is the starting point for taking action. Working with our stakeholders, we continuously evaluate risks to people, involved and linked to our business, for each of our five human rights focus areas. Human rights assessment types we undertake include corporate-wide, issue-specific, and site-specific assessments.
To assess and manage human rights risks across our operations, we have collaborated with independent third-party experts to understand our levels of risk-exposure at SLB facilities and in our supply chain. Using these findings, we have developed two human rights dashboards. This mapping gives our local teams an informed view of risk and helps them select SLB facilities and suppliers for enhanced human rights due diligence.
Primary due diligence activities, beyond stakeholder engagement, are self-assessment questionnaires that high-risk suppliers and SLB facilities complete. Where further investigations are warranted, third-party audits are utilized.
Our annual conflict minerals filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission provides disclosures regarding supply sources of gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum.
Read more
Assurance & accountability
We track our effectiveness in managing human rights risk through biannual reviews overseen by our Human Rights Working Group, feedback provided by customers associated with human rights audits, ongoing dialogue with our suppliers through supplier forums and performance review, reviews of findings through our supplier audit processes, and investigation and analysis of allegations with links to human rights issues.
To hold ourselves accountable to the high standards of our Working Conditions Requirements and improve outcomes for workers around the globe, SLB has developed two complementary assurance programs, aligned with external initiatives such as the Joint Industry Platform on Human Rights, to promote decent work and worker welfare, and assess, address and manage modern slavery risks.
Putting the principles into practice
Our Working Conditions Requirements, beyond different country legal and regulatory requirements, provides a common baseline for the expected treatment of all workers.
These requirements set out nine fundamental principles, consistent with the ILO Declaration, to assist our operations and support our suppliers in addressing key areas of worker vulnerability.
In the event our activities cause, contribute, or are linked to adverse human rights impacts, we look to provide access to effective remedies.
Modern slavery statement
Our Modern Slavery Statement details the prevention of slavery and human trafficking within our own operations, business relationships, and supply chain as well as relevant actions taken in support of our policies and goals in this area.
ExploreAccess to remedy
We are committed to providing access to effective remedy when our activities may cause or contribute to adverse human rights impacts. We encourage third parties to do the same when the impact is linked to our business. We have a range of reporting mechanisms, including an online portal and 24-hour EthicsLine system, as described in our Code of Conduct.
A confidential and anonymous report can be made by anyone inside or outside of the organization in 150+ languages and a specific allegation type has been added into our program to deal with Human Rights specifics allegations.
SLB prohibits retaliation for good faith reporting of a potential or actual violation of our Code of Conduct, our internal requirements, or applicable laws as outlined under our Code of Conduct.
Helpful links
About SLB