Philips 2015 Annual Report Download - page 192

Sustainability statements 14.2.5
192 Annual Report 2015
This year, for the rst time since Philips started
operating an ethics hotline, the dominance of the
Americas seems to be giving way to a more equal
spread between the four regions, due to a continued
increase in the number of complaints in Europe, the
Middle East and the Asia Pacic region. We believe this
continuing increase to be the result of the ongoing
intensive communication campaigns to improve
employees’ awareness across the globe of their rights
with regard to the GBP, and the reporting facilities
available to them.
Most common types of concerns reported
Treatment of employees
The most commonly reported concern still related to
the Treatment of employees category. 242 concerns
were reported, which represented 54% of all reports
(2014: 52%).
While not as evident as in 2014 (81%), the majority (64%)
of the Treatment of employees concerns still related to
two issues – Equal and fair treatment and Respectful
treatment.
Concerns that fell into the Respectful treatment
category related primarily to verbal abuse, (sexual)
harassment and a hostile work environment, whilst
concerns in the Equal and fair treatment category
related primarily to favoritism, discrimination and unfair
treatment. Almost 40% of the reports in these two
categories originated in North America, with a further
36% being reported in Latin America.
Of the 66 cases in the ‘Other’ category, the majority
related to HR procedural issues, e.g. related to salary
payment.
Business integrity
In second place, with 138 reports (31%), were concerns
reported in the ‘Business Integrity’ category (2014: 28%).
The majority (40%) of these concerns originated in
APAC, followed by Europe and the Middle East (31%),
Latin America (16%) and North America (13%).
More information on these categories can be found in
the GBP Directives at www.philips.com/gbp.
Substantiated/unsubstantiated concerns
Out of the 447 concerns reported in 2015, 180 are still
pending closure, in particular those that were led
towards the end of the year. The table below shows a
comparison between those concerns which, after
investigation, could be substantiated and those that
could not.
This year the investigations into 267 concerns were
nalized (2014: 260). Of these concerns 32% were
substantiated after investigation. The most notable
increase was in the ‘Employee treatment’ category,
where 39% of the concerns were substantiated (2014:
22%, 2013: 20%). The most notable decrease was in the
‘Business Integrity’ category, with only 21% of concerns
being substantiated (2014: 36%, 2013: 50%).
Out of the reported concerns that were substantiated,
i.e. concerns for which there was found to be a breach
of our General Business Principles, 52 were followed up
with disciplinary measures varying from termination of
employment and written warnings to training and
coaching. In other cases, corrective action was taken,
which varied from strengthening the business
processes to increasing awareness of the expected
standard of business conduct.
Philips Group
Breakdown of reported GBP concerns in number of reports
2011 - 2015
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Health & Safety 2 11 3 10 9
Treatment of
employees 132 205 203 203 242
- Collective
bargaining - 1 5 - -
- Equal and fair
treatment 41 72 80 72 44
- Employee
development - - 4 - 2
- Employee privacy 1 1 1 3 8
- Employee relations 1 2 5 6 -
- Respectful
treatment 71 102 84 93 111
- Remuneration 6 15 15 11 9
- Right to organize - 1 - - -
- Working hours 2 - 3 5 2
- HR other 10 11 6 13 66
Legal 10 19 9 30 35
Business Integrity 107 119 109 110 138
Supply management 3 3 5 6 6
IT - - 6 7 4
Other 15 17 - 27 13
Total 269 374 335 393 447
14.2.6 The Philips Foundation
The Philips Foundation was established in 2014 and is
a registered charity with the goal to make a dierence
in the communities and lives of those in most need. The
Philips Foundation seeks to make use of the expertise
of partners, visionaries and innovators and the
innovation capabilities of Philips to create lasting
impact. Over 2015, the Foundation has developed a rm
program based on the strategic pillars of community
development, disaster relief and social
entrepreneurship activities. Philips supported the
program of the Philips Foundation with a donation of
EUR 10 million in 2015 and provides the operating sta,
in kind and the expert support of over 200 skilled
employees who support the Foundation’s program for
part of their time.
The Philips Foundation has established global
innovation partnerships with UNICEF and the Red
Cross. The partnership with the Red Cross focuses on
exploring innovations that could assist in providing