In order to sustain the PERSOL Group's business, a healthy cooperative relationship with our business partners is essential. Our sustainability initiatives cannot be achieved by the PERSOL Group alone—this is only possible with the cooperation of our business partners throughout the supply chain (customers, contractors, suppliers of services and equipment, etc.).
We aim to ensure that our business partners understand and follow the “Group's Sustainability Policy”, “Code of Conduct”, and basic approach to sustainability, and request that they proactively pursue sustainability initiatives in line with these policies.
When commencing business with a new supplier, the Group's risk and compliance-related divisions conduct a variety of screening procedures before concluding a contract in order to minimize risk. On such occasions, we request that new suppliers understand the Group's approach to procurement and agree to abide by these principles.
One of our consolidated subsidiaries, Programmed a large Australian and New Zealand maintenance services and labour provider, does not engage in manufacturing activities, and therefore does not have significant supply chain concerns in relation to the sourcing of goods or materials. However, through the maintenance services and facility management activities it performs, it does leverage a pool of subcontractors and suppliers to assist in providing their services. As a result, Programmed maintains visibility over its subcontractors and suppliers through a range of controls to identify and minimise the risk of modern slavery exposures arising.
All of Programmed's suppliers must comply with all applicable human rights and employment laws in the jurisdictions in which they operate. This includes complying with the Modern Slavery Act 2018 as part of Programmed’s prequalification process. Suppliers and subcontractors are assigned a risk rating according to their procurement category and country. As part of Programmed’s commitment to continuous observation and improvement to its supply chain, Programmed have identified several high risk supply categories for ongoing review.
| Country | Modern Slavery Risks Indicators |
High Risk Supply |
| Australia New Zealand |
|
|
In response to the Modern Slavery Act, Programmed publishes its
Modern Slavery Statement annually.
Programmed has taken a number of steps to continue its commitment to the eradication of modern slavery in its supply chain. These actions have included;
＜Training Efforts＞
In addition to supplier and subcontractor training, modern slavery training has been established to assist internal employees in understanding what modern slavery is, our modern slavery statement and the approach we take to ensuring human rights and protecting against modern slavery involvement both internally and within our supply chain. Mechanisms to raise grievances associated with identified modern slavery exploits such as coercion, exploitation, fair pay, servitude and the like are also described within the training.
＜Supplier Questionnaires＞
Programmed assesses modern slavery risks on supplier and subcontractors through a questionnaire for existing suppliers and as part of our prequalification process for new suppliers and subcontractors. If the supplier indicates that they engage in any of the following types of activities, then they are required to complete a high risk questionnaire.
Programmed is continues to risk assess and classify our supplier and subcontractor pool through the use of the questionnaire process and to date we have completed 139 assessments on our high risk suppliers in 2022. Updates on our progress are made through our annual Modern Slavery Statement.
＜Audit program＞
As part of their 2022 commitments, Programmed are currently developing and seeking to commence a modern slavery supplier / subcontractor audit program in 2023 for those vendors determined to be in the high risk category.