Human Rights Risks and Major Issues

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Human Rights Risks and Major Issues

Human Rights Risks and Major Issues

Human Rights Risks and Major Issues

As a member of the global electronics supply chain, Wistron has always adhered to all local regulations and international standards. The Company has implemented varying degrees of response measures for human rights issues, including human rights risk identification and assessments, in different operations across the world.

We have also begun the RBA Validated Assessment Program (VAP). Six plants, including the Chengdu Plant, Chongqing Plant, Hsinchu Plant, Zhongshan Plant, Czechia Plant, and Mexico Plant, have passed the VAP certification. Nine plants, including the Zhongshan Plant, Kunshan Plant, Chengdu Plant, Chongqing Plant, Hsinchu Plant, Czechia Plant, Mexico Plant, Taizhou Plant, and Kunshan Optronics Plant, have adopted the Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) procedures. They communicate regularly on strategy and audit results to ensure that Wistron maintains consistent framework and compliance standards for global human rights issues.

Passed the VAP certification
Adopted the Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ)



Human Rights Risk Assessment

Wistron continues to implement the human rights risk assessment in 2021. According to the RBA audit reports completed between 2019 and 2021, among all the deficient items, mid to high risk accounted for 2.5%, with labor related issues accounting for the vast majority at 93.2%. The labor related issues were ranked according to importance and the top 3 issues were “working hours”, “wages and benefits”, and “young workers”.

Wistron will review policies and internal regulations to respond to major human rights issues of stakeholders' concerns. We will ensure the adequacy of management regulations and establish annual performance targets to regularly track the implementation achievements of related projects. We also abide by the RBA management framework for audits and request departments responsible for discrepancies to implement improvement plans to ensure the effective management and reduction of related human rights risks.



Child Labor and Young Worker

Wistron's Human Rights Policy expressly prohibits the use of child labor. Business operations review the actual age of employees in the recruitment process to ensure that no child labor is hired. Certain operations hire employees who meet the minimum age for work in accordance with local laws but are under the age of 18 to fulfill production capacity requirements. To protect their physical safety and mental health, the Company arranges low-risk work suitable for their skill level and development, pays close attention to their work training, living arrangement, and day-to-day management.

The number of young workers hired by Wistron in 2021

Unit: Number of People

Employment Type Taiwan Kunshan Plant Kunshan Opt Plant Taizhou Plant Zhongshan Plant Chongqing Plant Chengdu Plant Mexico Plant Czechia Plant
Young Workers 20 5,765 148 360 0 4,043 0 0 0



Forced Labor

Wistron's Human Rights Policy prohibits any form of forced labor, including human trafficking, coercion, slavery, and other forms of non-voluntary labor. Employees' contracts are established and signed in accordance with local regulations. Employees have the right to terminate the labor contracts and are not bound by any other arrangements that restrict the employment relationship between employees and Wistron such as withholding of deposits or identification certificates. There were no cases of forced labor in any of Wistron's business operations in 2021.



Freedom of Association

Wistron's Human Rights Policy respects employees' freedom of association and we are committed to providing channels and environments suitable for free expression of opinions. The rate of employees with union membership is 49.4% in global operations. Employees can ask the union or the Employee Relationship Promotion Committee in global operations to help express opinions in meetings and ensure that the opinions of general employees can be heard and responded by the Company.



Non-Discrimination

Wistron is committed to maintaining diversity and safety in the workplace, and adopts the principle of "zero tolerance" for any form of discrimination and harassment, in order to protect all employees’ fairness, self-respect and safety needs. To this end, Wistron has formulated the "Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy", which not only applies to the Company's direct business activities, products and services, but also applies to stakeholders in the value chain, including employees, customers, suppliers, partners and joint ventures.

Wistron has formulated the "Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy"

Wistron attaches great importance to the value of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and strictly adheres to the principles of fair treatment and equal employment opportunities. It is prohibited to discriminate against employees in hiring, salary, training, promotion, dismissal, resource allocation, etc., based on geography, race, ethnicity or background, social class, ancestry, religion, physical disability, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, pregnancy, marital status, union membership, political affiliation, appearance, age or relationship with the union, or thereby affect their rights.

To ensure that all Wistron executives and employees comply with the "Wistron Social Accountability Policy", the Company requires new employees to complete the "Corporate Sustainability and Social Responsibility (including Human Rights Policy)" training. The training program includes issues such as the fairness principle for interviews, sexual harassment, infringements of human rights, and discrimination. In 2021, the total training hours of operations around the world was 80,119 hours and the trained employees accounted for 56.8% of all employees. Related systems and regulations have been announced on the Company's internal website subject to employees' review at any time. With continuous awareness campaigns, there were no cases of discrimination in violation of the Company's policies and regulations at any of the business operations in 2021.



Living Wage

The remuneration provided by Wistron is superior to the requirements of local laws and regulations. Wistron does not provide wages less than the statutory minimum wage. We periodically conduct remuneration surveys and make adjustments when necessary. Wistron is not only focused on legal compliance and whether the employees’ compensation equals the basic living wage of the region, we also ensure that the employee remuneration we provide is competitive within the industry.



Work Environment for Persons with Disabilities

Globally, Wistron complies with the local laws and regulations related disabled persons protection to ensure that the work environments satisfy the special requirements for disabled persons with the ability to work. For example, the offices in Taiwan, China, Europe and Americas are designed to be accessible environments, which provide various caring facilities, such as dedicated parking spaces and shuttle buses, to help disabled persons work and participate in various activities.



Accessible facilities in Wistron's work environment