This statement is made pursuant to Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act, 2015 (the “Act”) and this statement sets out the steps that Hinduja Global Solutions UK Limited (“HGS”) has taken and is continuing to take to ensure that modern slavery of human trafficking is not taking place within our business or supply chain in compliance with the Act.
Our Business
Hinduja Global Solutions UK Limited, having its registered office at 11th Floor, Vantage London, Great West Road, Brentford, Greater London, TW8 9AG, is a leading contact centre company. It offers a range of services for optimizing the customer experience and helping its clients to become more competitive. HGS provides a full site of business process management services. HGS currently has around 2500 employees in the UK working from locations namely London, Preston, Selkirk and Liverpool and with a high proportion working from home.
Our ultimate parent company is Hinduja Global Solutions Limited. Hinduja Global Solutions has its registered office in Mumbai, India. The Group has over 20,000 employees worldwide and operates in 6 countries.
Adherence to HGS Values
Modern slavery is a serious global issue that encompasses slavery, servitude, human trafficking and forced labour. HGS has a zero-tolerance approach to any form of modern slavery. We are committed to acting ethically and with integrity and transparency in all business dealings and to putting effective systems and controls in place to safeguard against any form of modern slavery taking place within the business or our supply chain.
Our Policies
We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business. We operate a number of internal policies to ensure that we are conducting business in an ethical and transparent manner.
These Include:
- Anti-bribery and Corruption Policy:
This policy sets out the organisation’s stance on bribery and corruption explains how employees can identify any instances of this, how to report such instances and who to go to for guidance. - Recruitment Policy:
We operate a robust recruitment process, including conducting eligibility to work in the UK checks for all employees to safeguard against human trafficking or individuals being forced to work against their will. - Public Disclosure Policy:
We operate a public disclosure policy (whistleblowing) so that all employees know that they can raise concerns about how colleagues are being treated, or practices within our business or supply chain, without fear of reprisals. - Code of Business Conduct:
This code explains the manner in which we behave as an organisation and how we expect our employees and suppliers to act.
Our Suppliers
As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk, we conduct due diligence on all suppliers before engaging or working with them, whilst also ensuring that the work undertaken is proportionate to the services to be provided and risk involved. We secure confirmation from our suppliers regarding full compliance with all elements mentioned under Section 54 of the Act. Our anti-slavery policy forms part of our contract with all suppliers and they are required to confirm that no part of their business operations contradicts this policy.
Our suppliers confirm to us that:
- They have taken steps to eradicate modern slavery within their business.
- They hold their own suppliers to account over modern slavery.
- They pay their employees as per the laws applicable within their country of operations; and
- We may terminate the contract at any time should any instances of modern slavery come to light.
Training
To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we provide training to all employees and any subcontractors upon induction and through annual refreshers as part of their introduction to compliance.
Training is an important element to ensure awareness is raised and that everyone understands what they need to look out for and how to report.
Assessing and Managing Risk
We have well-established programmes in place to ensure that employees and supplier workers carrying out the services we provide, or use are treated responsibly, and to help drive improvements in working conditions across our suppliers and clients.
Managing and mitigating risk
We do not rely on audits alone to tackle modern slavery. Our approach to managing issues includes:
- Working with our clients to understand the root causes of any issues and agreeing a course of action to resolve them fully
- Assessing and helping improve suppliers’ capacity to manage risk, using our supplier performance framework
- Providing supplier training
- Collaborating with others to understand issues in the supply chain and identify solutions
We also use the information raised by employees through grievance mechanisms and whistleblowing lines, along with other sources of intelligence, to help identify and address concerns about working conditions including potential cases of modern slavery.
Our effectiveness combating slavery / human trafficking
We review our modern slavery statement and associated policy on an annual basis and ensure that sufficient steps are taken to prevent slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains. Furthermore, HGS ensures any of those associated with HGS, including its employees, supply chain and contractors, shall adhere and comply with HGS values.
Approval
This statement and associated policy was approved by the Board of Directors on 25th July 2017 and is reviewed annually.
The recent review was completed and signed by:
Name: Adam Foster
Role: Chief Executive Officer
Date: 1st February 2022
