Social responsibility is not a series of buzzwords we use to impress our stakeholders – it is an inherent part of our company culture. Zehnder's own Code of Conduct and system of values, as well as our active membership in the United Nations (UN) Global Compact serve as the foundations and guidelines for our actions. This enables us to establish clear obligations and standards for both employees and the suppliers we work with.
It is part of our duty of care as a company to guarantee decent working conditions and respect for human rights. We actively embrace this duty by adopting a due diligence approach to the upholding of human rights by respecting the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights. We plan to minimise the use of rare earth elements and conflict minerals in our products and also involve our suppliers in this process. We are also implementing the counterproposal to the Responsible Business Initiative according to Art. 964j ff. of the Swiss Code of Obligations and the Ordinance on Due Diligence and Transparency in relation to Minerals and Metals from Conflict-Affected Areas and Child Labour.
Integrity, honesty, and reliability represent the starting point for our dealings with customers, suppliers, business partners, and colleagues. Our Zehnder Code of Conduct serves as a guide for ethically, socially, and legally correct behaviour – we use it to ensure we always do the right things. Together with our corporate values, the guidelines in our Code of Conduct form the cornerstones of how we act. The contents have been translated into ten languages, and we communicate them to all employees of Zehnder Group.
Our Code of Conduct covers the following areas:
We want to ensure that our suppliers adhere to the same sustainable and societal standards as our employees. The Supplier Code of Conduct establishes a common understanding with the business partners in our supply chain. Long-term cooperation, mutual commitment, sustainability, and social responsibility are vital principles set out in this Code of Conduct. We seek to ensure that all of our business partners sign it or adhere to an equivalent standard. In addition, we conduct regular audits of our suppliers to better assess their impact on society and the environment.
Fabian Glässer, Group Legal Counsel at Zehnder Group
