It is obvious that in difficult times when financial resources are scarce, maintaining this level of investment is challenging to say the least. Delivering on social responsibilities Our people and workforce are the backbone of our business, and it is incumbent on us as a responsible business to respect and uphold human rights, treat all with dignity and safeguard their wellbeing. Over the past few years, we have sharpened our focus on ensuring compliance to human rights and labour standards. For instance, through our affiliation with the Fair Labor Association (FLA), we have formulated an action plan covering a range of initiatives to align FGV’s policies and procedures with FLA’s Workplace Code of Conduct that is based on internationally-recognised human rights standards, and to enhance our labour practices. The key areas of focus under FGV’s affiliation to the FLA include improving FGV’s migrant worker recruitment process, developing human rights capacity-building and training programmes, strengthening grievance mechanisms and enhancing our labour monitoring systems. Together with the FLA, we have crafted a long term and comprehensive programme to implement a range of initiatives to realign our labour practices and standards to more strongly embed our responsibility to uphold the rights of our workers. Our progress under the FLA is subject to their validation. Two assessments have been conducted against the FLA Action Plan. The latest FLA Progress Report issued on 31 March 2021 notes the advancements made in strengthening our internal management systems to uphold labour standards. FGV believes that steady progress has been made and that we are on the right track towards achieving our goal of transforming our systems, structures and practices to be fully aligned with international standards and best practices. As part of FLA’s annual due diligence cycle, FLA is conducting an Independent External Assessment (IEA) on FGV’s palm oil supply chain in Malaysia. This IEA aims to evaluate workplace management systems, working conditions, and associated labour standards risks. It will include a review of employment relationships, indicators of forced labour, child labour, harassment and abuse, discrimination, hours of work, health and safety, freedom of association, and fair compensation. The comprehensive workplace assessment at the estate level will help the FLA and FGV teams document any gaps in working conditions that needs to be addressed. FGV is expected to develop a corrective action plan to address all the IEA findings. FGV has also established a steering committee to look into all matters relating to the Withhold Release Order (WRO) issued by the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This committee, of which I am the Chairman, and whose members consist of FGV’s senior management, meets on a monthly basis. In addition to overseeing and advising on the execution of initiatives aimed at addressing the WRO, this committee is, importantly, also monitoring and facilitating the independent assessment being conducted by ELEVATE. Other significant highlights in relation to our human rights agenda, specifically in relation to migrant workers were: FGV e-Wallet system, which not just enhances the security of our workers’ salaries, but also provides added convenience through cashless payments and remittances. We continually enhance the features of the e-Wallet, which now contains additional functions including e-Attendance, e-Grievance, e-Announcements, e-SOS and e-Learning. In our continuous effort to improve our workers’ wellbeing, we have allocated an amount of RM10.8 million in 2021 towards enhancing the accommodations and facilities extended to our workers. This is on top of the RM350 million invested to construct 319 blocks of new workers’ housing over the past three years. To improve access to healthcare for our workers, FGV has established 13 clinics in our plantations that are located in remote areas, with the guidance and approval of the Ministry of Health. In furtherance of our responsibility to safeguard the health of our workers, we have also facilitated COVID-19 vaccination for them. In anticipation of the Government’s decision to reopen Malaysia’s borders to new migrant recruits, FGV has put in place additional safeguards and due diligence measures including a pre-sourcing assessment mechanism, to align its recruitment procedures with best practices relating to responsible and ethical recruitment. 11 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2020/2021 CLIMATE ACTION & ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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