This is Kantar’s Modern Slavery Act statement, following the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015. It covers the financial year 2019/2020 and describes our commitment and steps taken to prevent modern slavery in our business and supply chain.
About us
Kantar is a world leading research, data and insights group and its companies operate in many markets and countries throughout the world. In all instances we respect national laws and any other laws with an international reach. We are committed to acting ethically in all aspects of our business and to maintaining the highest standards of honesty and integrity.
In line with UK and international law, Kantar respects human rights and does not tolerate any form of modern slavery or human trafficking in any part of our business.
Organisational structure
Kantar is a global company. Through our businesses we employ more than 30,000 people (including associates) working in 79 countries.
Our people are skilled professionals and are not from vulnerable groups where slavery is a risk and our talent policies set out our core principles for people management.
Our supply chain
We work with thousands of companies across our supply chain and aim to select suppliers who meet high standards in areas such as human rights and the environment.
Our global procurement team manages centrally negotiated contracts with preferred suppliers. The majority of procurement is conducted through contracts that are negotiated by budget holders within our companies. Our expectations of suppliers are set out in our Supplier Code of Conduct, which is based on Kantar’s Code and applies to all companies and people.
Identifying and managing the risk of modern slavery
Our policies
We do not tolerate any form of modern slavery or human trafficking in any part of our business. We outline this commitment and set clear ethical standards for our people
and companies through our policy framework. The main element of this framework is our Human Rights Policy which reflects international standards and principles including the International Bill of Human Rights, the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the Children’s Rights and Business Principles. Our commitment is also reflected in our Codes of Business Conduct for our people and suppliers and our Sustainability Policy which are all available in multiple languages. All key policies, codes and information about our approach are available to existing and potential suppliers. We communicate our policy framework to our companies via the intranet, newsletters, eLearning, onsite training and emails. We have established governance processes and policies to help us manage sustainability risks and opportunities consistently across the company.
Our General Counsel and Head of Global Compliance oversee our policy framework as part of our approach to ethics and compliance. We ask suppliers and senior managers in all our companies to sign a copy of the Kantar Code of Business Conduct each year, to confirm they will comply with its principles. The Kantar legal and compliance teams investigate all alleged and confirmed breaches of our Code.
Due diligence in our business and our supply chain
Our Supplier Code of Conduct sets out our expectations of suppliers and is based on the Kantar Code of Business Conduct that applies to all our companies and people. The supplier version includes requirements for labour practices (such as anti-harassment and discrimination, and health and safety), human rights (including no child, forced or bonded labour or modern slavery), and social impacts (such as anti-bribery and corruption) as well as other sustainability issues. Supplier partners must read and sign the Kantar Supplier Code of Conduct, confirming that they will comply with our standards. We also include a “right to audit” clause in our purchase orders.
We require our companies to use centrally negotiated contracts with preferred suppliers for commonly purchased goods and services, whenever possible. In addition, our procurement policy requires that anyone who buys goods and services in any Kantar division considers sustainability risks and criteria to determine whether suppliers are fit for purpose.
We will continue to strengthen our due diligence on sustainability issues throughout 2020. The data generated will help us determine the focus of our supplier engagement strategy.
Training
We regularly update our ethics training. Topics covered include diversity, human rights, conflicts of interest and avoiding misleading work.
Monitoring
We have Human Resource, Legal and Compliance teams dedicated to ensuring compliance with law, policy and process across the business, including all those aiming to prevent modern slavery.
Our people and suppliers can report concerns or suspected cases of misconduct in confidence through our third party-managed Right to Speak facility, which is overseen by our human resources, legal and compliance departments.
We regularly review and refine our policies and procedures for ensuring ethics, compliance and respect for human rights. We will continue to expand and extend the work we do in our sustainability programme to our divisions/functions as part of our efforts to ensure there is no forced labour or human trafficking within our global operations or supply chains. We will work closely with our clients, suppliers and industry partnerships to raise awareness about human rights and modern slavery