OUR PEOPLE
3
PROMOTE RESPONSIBLE WORKPLACE PRACTICES
In a global organization such as NKG, where people from diverse backgrounds work together, it is crucial that we all share a common understanding of our core values and principles. A central intention of our Responsible Business Program is to promote responsible workplace practices and to enable our employees worldwide to conduct their work with the highest standards of integrity. To achieve this goal, we recognize the essential roles of both Compliance and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). These two fields are not only pillars of our operational integrity, but are also closely intertwined in ensuring a safe, ethical, and sustainable working environment.
OUR COMPLIANCE WORK
Our group’s commitment is built upon a robust compliance framework comprised of various policies and procedures that uphold our ethical standards and help us to meet legal requirements. At the heart of our compliance efforts lies our Code of Conduct, providing guidance to all employees across our operations. The Compliance department at our parent company in Hamburg monitors important regulatory developments, conducts regular Integrity Risk Assessments and supports group companies with their Business Partner Due Diligence. Their work is complemented by trained Compliance Officers who serve as advocates in our group companies worldwide, multiplying our efforts and ensuring that employees have access to all relevant information, documents and mechanisms.
Since 2018, we also regularly nominate NKG Integrity Champions. With this initiative, we want to formally recognize exemplary behavior and honor colleagues who demonstrate outstanding ethical conduct in their day-to-day work. This conduct may take many forms, such as intervening effectively in critical situations, rejecting and reporting inappropriate gifts or speaking up in cases of disrespectful comments, bullying, harassment, and much more.
Hall of Fame: Meet our
NKG Integrity Champions
Integrity Champion 2024
Integrity Champion 2023
Integrity Champion 2022
Integrity Champion 2021
GRIEVANCE MECHANISM
At NKG, we are dedicated to upholding a high standard of integrity and accountability. However, we acknowledge that misconduct may still occur. For this reason, we have an Integrity Reporting Mechanism in place to report any potential or actual wrongdoing related to NKG, which violates applicable laws, the NKG Code of Conduct or the NKG Supplier Code of Conduct. Originally established for our own employees to seek advice and to report critical situations, we opened this grievance mechanism to external stakeholders such as customers and suppliers in 2022. As part of this changeover, our Compliance Officers received comprehensive training on how to handle complaints. Besides, some of our subsidiaries have created additional reporting channels such as complaint boxes and committees to further lower potential barriers if people want to report a concern.
In 2023, a total of ten internal integrity complaints were filed by NKG employees via our Integrity platform, which fell under the categories “Conflict of interest, fraud and corruption”, “Discrimination, harassment and bullying” and “Other”. Out of these, seven were validated and led to further consequences. External complaints have not reached us via the platform yet. However, we received a total of eight external integrity complaints through other communication channels and validated four of them.
Internal grievances
10
received
7
validated
7
Internal integrity complaints that
led to further consequences
External grievances
8
received
4
External integrity complaints
validated
4
External integrity complaints that
led to further consequences
NKG AWARENESS DAY
To ensure that everyone, regardless of their workspace, has regular opportunities to engage with and understand our Code of Conduct, values and shared commitments, we launched the NKG Awareness Day in 2019. This “offline” training format is conducted every year in our exporting companies and farms, with a new focus topic in each iteration. The Awareness Day features a combination of talks, exercises, and social activities designed to make learning engaging and memorable. Participating NKG companies receive guidance on training topics and planning from our parent company.
In 2022, the Awareness Day revolved around the topic of mental health. Since its inception in 2019, the central theme of the Awareness Day has been employee health and safety. In the context of NKG farms, mills, and warehouses, this typically means trainings on topics such as personal protective equipment (PPE), safe handling of tools, fire and emergency procedures, and first aid – all training modules designed to ensure the physical wellbeing of our colleagues. However, mental health is discussed less frequently, both due to stigma and as it is seen as less important than physical health. The 2022 Awareness Day set out to clear up such misconceptions, to stress that both mental and physical health and well-being are equally important, and aimed to reduce the fear of addressing such issues. Bearing in mind that the Covid-19 pandemic was still not quite over in 2022, many people have experienced a high burden of fear, worry and stress over the previous years.
To repeat what was learned from earlier Awareness Days, the focus topic in 2023 was safety culture. Under the concept, previous health and safety topics were given more depth by emphasizing people’s underlying attitudes and behaviors towards safety and showing that rules and regulations can only be one part of successful safety management at work. What is needed most is everyone’s cooperation and deep understanding of how important it is to wear PPE, follow the procedures and keep themselves and their coworkers safe. The Awareness Day reinforced the different spheres of safety, and also included a training module on food safety, to correlate with the previous Code of Conduct training. This was particularly relevant for employees in the mill and warehouse, who are in direct contact with our product and are on the front lines of ensuring its quality standards.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
In addition to our Awareness Day, we offer regular OHS training to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees. In 2023, 1,828 employees across the group participated in a training module of this kind. Nevertheless, work-related injuries and ill health are unfortunately not completely avoidable due to the physical nature of many of our workplaces. In 2023, we recorded a total of 269 cases group-wide, with 94.8 % occurring in our export companies and farms alone. The increase in cases since our last report can primarily be explained by better recording of incidents in our group companies and thus improved data availability and quality.
Regrettably, there was also a fatal accident on one of our farms in 2023 involving the driver of a ground harvester machine. In response to this incident, the affected farm implemented extensive measures to prevent similar accidents in the future. The specific type of machine involved in the accident is no longer in operation on the farm and was replaced with a safer model for ground coffee harvesting. Moreover, all employees working with machines and tractors have undergone repeated training on the relevant safety procedures. Support and psychological assistance were provided to all family members and colleagues for several months after the accident.
The accompanying chart illustrates the main types of work-related injuries, with the “Other” category including incidents such as commuting accidents, slipping and stumbling accidents, animal bites, burns, assaults, etc. Based on this data, our group companies tailor their training programs as far as possible towards demand, and adapt preventive measures to the specific occupational fields. Through this targeted approach, we aim to further reinforce responsible workplace practices, reduce the number of work- related injuries and ill health, and provide all employees with a safe and ethical working environment.
Main types of work-related injuries
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