Tony Khaw, NXP’s director of corporate social responsibility, is at
the United Nations in Geneva this week. He is speaking at the
U.N. Forum on Business and Human Rights, outlining the positive impact of NXP’s Social Responsibility
program. Rick Clemmer talks about the program and why
he is proud that NXP is part of the discussion with businesses, governments
and civil society groups at the U.N.
Making a difference for human rights.
NXP’s programs and products are designed to ensure healthy lives,
dignity, prosperity and justice for all people and to protect our planet for
future generations. Forced labor, modern slavery and human rights
abuses can have no place in today’s world. This is why we work hard to
protect worker rights throughout our operations and across our entire supply
chain. Participating in the U.N. Business and Human Rights Forum provides NXP
the opportunity to showcase our efforts and give examples of how change is
possible within a company and its supply chain.
Setting an industry standard.
In 2013, our Corporate Social Responsibility team under Eric-Paul Schat
launched a global campaign that went on to become an industry standard. The
program includes auditing, training and coaching for all our businesses and
suppliers. Our Corporate Responsibility program sets labor and human rights as
the top priority, followed by environmental compliance, health and safety,
business ethics and social responsibility management systems. It is recognized
by the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights as best
practice and has since been adopted by customers and others in our industry.
Making a positive impact.
NXP has a responsibility to have no negative impact on society, which we
describe as our “moral license to operate.” At NXP, we are proud
that our products can contribute to a more sustainable world. But we’re
even prouder of the way they are made in our own factories and within our
supply chain. I take special pride in the fact that our products are made
responsibly and ethically, which also has a positive impact on the lives of
our workers, their families and their communities.
Bright minds. Bright futures. NXP team members create breakthrough technologies that advance our world.
The future starts here.
Doing the right thing.
We are of course a business, with a responsibility to shareholders and
employees to make a profit. But we firmly believe that we must do that without
exploiting anyone so that everyone involved with NXP can benefit from our
activities. This is why our
Social Responsibility
campaign is close to my heart, because it is about doing the right thing.
Nobody wants their family or friends to be subjected to exploitation or abuse,
and as far as I’m concerned, our workers form part of our extended
business family. So we go to great lengths to protect them too.
Employee rights are human rights.
NXP was the first semiconductor company industry to adopt an “employer
pays” policy. This means that we pay our workers’ recruitment
fees, transportation, medical and other administration costs. We also provide
lockers to keep workers’ government-issued and personal documents safe,
and we were the first to require foreign migrant workers NOT release their
government-issued documents to labor agents.
Stop Slavery Award
Modern slavery and debt bondage are serious violations of rights and we are
determined to do what we can to end this. The success of our programs is
reward enough, but we have also garnered international recognition for our
efforts. In November 2016, the Thomson Reuters Foundation recognized our
work, awarding NXP the Stop Slavery Award
in the “Policy and Implementation” category. This award is the
first global recognition for businesses that have excelled in efforts to
eradicate forced labor from their supply chains.
Working together to change the world.
The work of NXP and the U.N makes it clear that eradicating forced labor and
human rights abuse is a collaborative and global effort—we cannot do
this alone. Governments and businesses need to step up their efforts. We need
support from the governments to address the problems within their respective
countries at all levels. Businesses need to collaborate, learn from each other
and implement within their company and supply chain. Besides that, the
extensive supply chain needs to join us and take responsibility for preventing
violations of their workers’ rights. If all parties involved increase
cooperation and work closer together then we can really start to eradicate
these shameful practices once and for all. Let’s make forced labor a
thing of the past!
