We respect the dignity and rights of every human being, and we recognise and acknowledge our responsibility to operate with respect for human rights across our operations and value chain.
Governance
With oversight from our Board of Directors, Group Management is responsible for our Human Rights Policy commitment and its implementation.
Our dedicated human rights steering committee, which comprises senior representatives from relevant group functions and divisions, ensures alignment, collaboration and actions on salient human rights issues across the organisation, and is led by the Group Human Rights and Social Sustainability Lead. Group functions are accountable for the implementation and decision making on human rights issues.
Due diligence
As part of our human rights due diligence, we conduct impact assessments to systematically identify, prioritise, and address human rights and environmental risks, understand their impacts, and evaluate our capacity to respond.
Own operation
Robust due diligence processes are in place through our broader policies including our Code of Conduct, Harassment Prevention Policy, our health, safety, and wellbeing, equity and inclusion and environmental initiatives to reduce our footprint. We gather employee feedback on the work environment through channels such as surveys and management dialogues, and we adjust our practices accordingly to cultivate a healthy work environment characterised by respect, dignity, and equality for all.
Value chain
For supplier due diligence we use tools such as new supplier screening, supply chain heatmaps, online self-assessments, onsite audits, corrective action plans, conflict minerals due diligence and capacity-building initiatives. Internal and external auditors regularly conduct on-site inspections and confidential worker interviews. Ongoing due diligence for other business relationships and customers ensures we comply with export control regulations and closely monitor dual-use products to prevent misuse and avoid adverse human rights impacts.
Salient human rights issues
We have identified and prioritised the salient human rights issues which are at risk of the most severe negative impacts by our operations and business relationships.
We regularly review our identified salient issues based on our human rights impact assessments (HRIAs), spot checks, external trends, internal and external expert insights and other relevant sources. We consider the likelihood, scope, scale and remediability during these assessments. See examples of impact and migatations of our salient human rights rigths issues here
Stakeholder engagement, partnerships and advocacy
Stakeholder engagement
We conduct our due diligence process and respond to salient human rights issues through engagement with employees, contractors, suppliers, their workers, distributors, civil society organisations, NGOs, local authorities and community members. This includes surveys, interviews, training, workshops and discussions to understand potential risks and impacts on various groups and the effectiveness of our human rights management.
Partnerships and advocacy
We collaborate across our industry to better advance, advocate and promote respect for human rights in business. As an active member of the UN Global Compact since 2002 and through engagement in various networks, we share knowledge with human rights experts to help us continually improve our understanding of risks and gain guidance on improving our performance.
Grievance and remediation
Grundfos is committed to taking measures, based on due diligence processes, to avoid causing or contributing to adverse impacts on affected individuals, workers, and communities through its activities or business relationships. If Grundfos is directly linked to adverse impacts, we strive to use and build our leverage to prevent or mitigate impacts.
Our whistleblower system enables employees, external partners, workers and other stakeholders to confidentially report suspected Code of Conduct breaches without fear of retaliation, including human rights and environment related risks and violations in our own operation and value chain. Concerns can be submitted anonymously in any language and managed by our independent Ethics Committee to ensure impartiality
Communication and reporting
We communicate on our human rights progress through channels including the Sustainability Statement, part of the Annual Report, annual Modern Slavery and Transparency Statement, website, and social media posts.
Our latest Modern Slavery and Transparency Statement describes our efforts on how we comply with human rights regulations like the Norwegian Transparency Act, German Supply Chain Act, UK and Australian Modern Slavery Acts, and the Canadian Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act.
Download previous statements here.
Our policies
Available to download in multiple languages.