Essity 2022 Annual and Sustainability Report: Employee Relations
For the well-being of people and planet
Originally published on Essity.com
Employee relations
Essity has a positive and constructive dialogue with employee representatives. As a global company, we experience many changes that require information and consultation with employee representatives at all levels of the company. Essity recognizes the right of every employee to be a trade union member and to participate in union activities. The company meets with employee organizations at various levels on a regular basis to inform them of and discuss issues such as the company’s results, any organizational changes, health and safety and employment terms and conditions. Essity has an agreement with the industry organization IndustriAll. When there is no union representation, Essity establishes other channels where possible, such as an employee council. We also support the global partnership Global Deal, which has members from the private and public sectors. The purpose is to improve dialogue between parties in the labor market and national governments.
Product safety and transparency
We never compromise on the safety or quality of our products. To ensure this throughout a product’s life cycle, we have extensive requirements and procedures in place, which our internal experts continuously improve in accordance with rules and regulations. We also have a certified quality system.
Essity collaborates with external experts in toxicology and life science to guarantee independent reviews. Every product and product component Essity receives from third parties must comply with Essity’s product safety and chemicals criteria, according to the specifications in our Global Supplier Standard. Internal business practices ensure that information that may be relevant for product safety, including complaints and feedback from customers and consumers as well as quality incidents, are part of the product safety concept. Essity also actively participates in contributing to public policy developments and discussions on improving product safety and transparency. We communicate with customers and consumers to raise awareness and understanding about our product content.
Answers to frequently asked questions regarding product safety are published on www.essity.com and each brand’s local website, together with detailed information about product contents. To further strengthen the availability of product information, we support the development of the EDANA Stewardship program on substances of concern, to drive transparency and align approaches to product assessments for absorbing hygiene products. We also launched the “Product Safety, For Us It’s Personal” and “Our 5 Pillars of Protection” campaigns during 2021.
Occupational health and safety
Health and safety also has the highest priority. Everyone working at our production facilities and offices, or visiting Essity, should be safe and secure. The safety, health and well-being of our employees is crucial to the success of our operations. It is also aligned with our Beliefs & Behaviors and the ethical standards and requirements expressed in our Code of Conduct.
Essity regularly monitors employee perception of health and well-being and the evolution of our safety culture. We offer clear plans and programs to lead in this field. We strive to promote physical and mental health and well-being. By developing new digital ways of working and training courses, we offer a more effective and systematic manner with which to assess, analyze and work with continuous improvements in employee health, well-being and engagement.
Essity is committed to offering a work environment that contributes to a long-term sustainable working life. We encourage an open culture, and all employees are encouraged to be aware of and take immediate action against conditions, acts and behavior that increase the risk of accidents. In April 2022, the “I Care” initiative was launched, which is our cultural journey toward a safe and healthy work environment. It brings essential tools that will empower Essity to be a safety leader. The I Care leadership training course provides various elements of safety awareness, helping us to recognize and work with safety using our hearts and minds. In 2022, we trained more than 1,000 managers and our target is to train all 16,000 employees and contractors in our production facilities by 2024. Rewards are also part of I Care and this year we recognized great achievements with our first edition of the Essity Global Health and Safety Award, delivered by Essity’s CEO. The award was followed by
a month during which there was a particular focus on health and safety, aligned with guidelines from the United Nations and International Labor Organization.
As a complement to our safety leadership program, Essity has put in place an ambitious roadmap for technical safety and safety framework to be best-in- class and reduce the occurrence of events that could result in fatalities. Key elements that have taken effect in 2022 are upgrades to the following frameworks: Machine Safety Risk Assessment (MSRA), Isolation of Hazardous Energies (IoHE), and Traffic Management. The upgrades to our safety processes are aligned with the ISO 45001 and 14001 principles and allow us to work systematically to achieve continuous improvements.
Read more about Essity’s strategic priorities, earnings and leading sustainability work in the Annual and Sustainability Report 2022, which can be downloaded at www.essity.com.
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