GLOBAL ETHICS AND COMPLIANCE
Our Global Code of Conduct
Our Global Code of Conduct (GCC) is the backbone to our business. It underpins our Global Ethics and Compliance program and ensures that our value of “Do What’s Right” shines through as we continue to grow.
Our GCC was updated and relaunched in 2022 and includes five fundamental principles that guide our behavior every day:
- We are accountable.
- We respect others.
- We do what’s right.
- We protect what is ours.
- We are good stewards.
This guiding policy is shared across our entire global business and provided to all associates. It’s been translated into 8 languages and is also available online to make it accessible for everyone.
It’s important that we all know and understand our GCC and how to reach out for help when needed. Our Global Ethics and Compliance (GEC) program offers videos, e-learning modules, and live training to all our associates – much of which is mandatory.
We also have a dedicated team of 35 Code of Conduct Officers strategically located across our global operations. They are advocates for fairness, serving as trainers and resource providers for the program. If an associate wants to report an ethics issue or behavior that doesn’t reflect our values, we make it easy for them to do so with 24/7, 365–days–a–year access to an anonymous, toll-free resource line answered by third-party provider Navex Global.
When an associate makes a report, Navex immediately notifies a dedicated team in the United States. This team triages each case and assigns it locally to trained investigators in its global Code of Conduct Officer network. Every case, no matter how small, is fully investigated, elevated as appropriate to members of management, and brought to proper closure.
It is important that we gauge the effectiveness of our GEC program to ensure that it is both instilling our values and enabling our associate base to confidently come forward if they need to raise a question or concern.
How do we know whether our Global Ethics and Compliance program is really working?
We conduct an anonymous pulse survey every two years that is sent to nearly 7,600 of our associates around the world. The results are benchmarked against data from hundreds of other global companies, captured by Navex Global. The results are shared with our senior management teams and board of directors.
The survey consists of 15 questions. In our two recent surveys, we exceeded (often by significant margins) the Navex benchmarks on all 15, showing that our GEC program is performing extremely well compared to other benchmarked companies.
The chart below tracks how HBI performed versus the Navex benchmarks in six surveyed areas in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
How do we know whether our Global Ethics and Compliance program is really working?
We conduct an anonymous pulse survey every two years that is sent to nearly 7,600 of our associates around the world. The results are benchmarked against data from hundreds of other global companies, captured by Navex Global. The results are shared with our senior management teams and board of directors.
The survey consists of 15 questions. In our two recent surveys, we exceeded (often by significant margins) the Navex benchmarks on all 15, showing that our GEC program is performing extremely well compared to other benchmarked companies.
The chart below tracks how HBI performed versus the Navex benchmarks in six surveyed areas in 2018, 2020 and 2022.