Introduction
Modern slavery is a heinous crime and a morally reprehensible act that deprives a person’s liberty and dignity for another person’s gain. It is a real problem for millions of people around the world, including many in developed countries, who are being kept and exploited in various forms of slavery. Every company is at risk of being involved in this crime through its own operations and its supply chain.
At Story, we have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and are fully committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking in our operation and supply chain. We have taken concrete steps to tackle modern slavery, as outlined in our statement. This statement sets out the actions that we have taken to understand all potential modern slavery risks related to our business, and to implement steps to prevent slavery and human trafficking.
Operating Standards
Story operates to the following standards for the purpose of identifying and preventing slavery and human trafficking in our operations:
- Whistleblowing – We encourage all employees, customers, and suppliers to report any suspicion of slavery or human trafficking without fear of retaliation. The Directors of Story, Film and Photography can be approached in confidence should anyone wish to raise concerns;
- Conduct – Employees are encouraged to do the right thing and clearly understand the actions and behaviour expected of them when representing the business. We strive to maintain the highest standards of employee conduct and ethical behaviour when operating abroad and managing our supply chain.
Due diligence
As part of our initiative to identify risk and mitigate against such risks we nominate our Compliance Manager to:
- Identify inappropriate employment practices;
- Identify and assess other potential risk areas;
- Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring;
- Monitor potential risk areas; and
- Protect whistle-blowers.
We require all suppliers to attest that:
- They don’t use any form of forced, compulsory or slave labour;
- Their employees work voluntarily and are entitled to leave work;
- They provide each employee with an employment contract that contains a reasonable notice period for terminating their employment;
- They don’t require employees to post a deposit/bond and don’t withhold their salaries for any reasons;
- They don’t require employees to surrender their passports or work permits as a condition of employment.
Awareness
Story has raised awareness of modern slavery issues by putting up posters across our facilities and sending an email that is focused specifically on modern slavery to all our staff, which explains:
- Our commitment in the fight against modern slavery
- Red flags for potential cases of slavery or human trafficking
- How employees should report suspicions of modern slavery
Training
To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business and our business partners, we provide relevant training to our staff which covers:
- Various forms of modern slavery in which people can be held and exploited;
- The size of the problem and the risk to our organisation;
- How employees can identify the signs of slavery and human trafficking, including unrealistically low prices;
- How employees should respond if they suspect slavery or human trafficking;
- How suppliers can escalate potential slavery or human trafficking issues to the relevant people within their own organisation;
- What external help is available for the victims of slavery;
- What terms and guidance should be provided to suppliers in relation to slavery policies and controls;
- What steps Story will take if a supplier fails to implement anti-slavery policies or controls; and
- An attestation from employees that they will abide by Story’s anti-slavery policy
Measuring how we’re performing
Story has defined a set of key performance indicators and controls to combat modern slavery and human trafficking in our organisation and supply chain. These include:
- How many employees have completed mandatory training?
- How many suppliers have rolled out an awareness and training programme?
- How many reports have been made by our employees that indicate their awareness of and sensitivity to ethical issues?
Supplier adherence
We have zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking to ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values.