Improving quality of life is our purpose. It drives everything we do, for our own people, for our clients and in communities all around the world. As such, we are committed to respecting and promoting human rights.
Our human rights and labor policy underpins this commitment with specific references to international human rights principles encompassed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the United Nations Global Compact and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
This policy lays out our ambitions aligned with international expectations for our own operations, our supply chains, including procurement, and for the project work we do for clients. Our human rights and labor policy also includes a 3-year roadmap, through which we will implement the policy and continue taking concrete steps to further embed respect and the promotion of human rights in all of our activities. We are on a continuous journey of improvement and as we learn more, we will make appropriate adjustments to this policy and our efforts to promote human rights. We will also measure and transparently communicate on our progress.
Treating all people with dignity and respect is aligned with our company’s core values: people first, client success, integrity, collaboration, and, in particular, sustainability. In the context of our projects and partnerships, this means we make conscious decisions about where we work, and with whom we work. It also means that we strive to act in ways that will contribute to a more sustainable, inclusive, and equitable world.
This policy was developed with input from a robust stakeholder engagement process, which included the people working at Arcadis, as well as external parties such as investors, civil society organizations, government agencies and clients. This, along with a thorough global risk assessment analysis, helped us identify our key human rights risks, as spelled out in this policy. Though primary responsibility for adherence to and implementation of our human rights and labor policy rest with the Arcadis Executive Leadership Team, every Arcadian is expected to adhere to our company’s commitments as spelled out in this policy.
To download the full text of our human rights and labor policy, please click the link in the box to the right.