Suppliers                                                 

In 2008, HP launched a worker training program at Chicony, one of our suppliers. Delivered in collaboration with Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), a Hong Kong-based worker training NGO, and its training partner, the program addresses these three areas:

• Labor rights awareness training 
• Setting up a workers’ hotline 
• Labor issues resolution and tailor-made training to the workers’ representative committee

We had trained more than 1,800 workers by the end of November 2008, well over half of our goal to train more than 2,500 workers by mid-2009.

To ensure the continued success of the program, HP meets with factory management and the training partner monthly to discuss its progress and to follow up on workers’ inquiries. In 2009, the training partner will launch additional capability-building training for the workers’ representative committee at Chicony. The training will focus on counseling skills, communications and techniques for organizing recreational and communications programs, and will allow the worker representatives to take over the workers’ hotline in mid-2009.

See Chicony and the training partner’s perspectives on this program.

The Health Enables Returns project (HERproject) was launched by Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) in 2007, based on research funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The research revealed that the general and reproductive health needs of women working in the electronics industry were going unmet at a time when they had begun to make up a larger proportion of the manufacturing workforce in emerging economies. In 2008, HP joined the project, a health training program that helps female workers monitor their health regularly; we are the first and only company in our industry to do so. HERproject seeks to meet women’s health needs by catalyzing sustainable partnerships between companies, factories and local nonprofit service organizations to improve women’s general and reproductive health awareness and access to services.

HERproject in Mexico is active in two factories owned by HP suppliers Pegatron Technology and Foxconn in Ciudad Juarez. Local HERproject implementing partner Salud y Desarrollo Comunitario de Cd. Juárez, A.C. (SADEC-FEMAP) began by conducting health assessments of 10 percent of female workers in factories, followed by peer educator training for 5 percent of the female workforce. Current activities include factory-based awareness training and peer-to-peer health knowledge sharing. At the conclusion of the yearlong project, BSR and local partner SADEC-FEMAP will measure the impact on factory workers. Results are expected in late 2009.

The initiative is addressing a variety of health needs, including breast cancer, diabetes, hypertension, human papillomavirus, cervical cancer, obesity and nutrition, and family planning and reproductive health education, especially for single mothers.

"By leading companies to augment worker health awareness, HP is giving companies and workers the tools to improve and increase workplace standards and workers’ lives," said Phillip Liu, general manager, Pegatron Technology.

"eCMMS S.A. de C.V., a member of the Foxconn Technology Group, is honored to be a participant in such a collaborative effort with our stakeholders. The key demonstrated objective of this project is to encourage our employees to participate in a comprehensive health awareness program enabling peer to peer interaction," said Hugo Rey, human resources director, eCMMS S.A. de C.V.

HP will partner with BSR to roll out the HERproject in China and other Asian countries in 2009.

In 2007, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), a Dutch NGO, published a report outlining challenges in the hard-disk drive supply chain in Southeast Asia, including overtime, discrimination and the rights of temporary workers. In response, HP helped IDEMA (International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association) organize six capability-building training sessions for hundreds of factory managers throughout the region. The training, held in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Penang from May to September 2008, focused on legal requirements relating to labor issues, ways to improve worker communication and feedback, and environmental health and safety management.

Awareness of the EICC has been promoted because of the training, which was the first of its kind for many suppliers (all but a few of the suppliers who attended were sub-tier suppliers to HP). It has also encouraged participants to guide their organizations to full conformance with the code through engagement with upper management.

CSR Europe is a network of 70 companies working to incorporate global citizenship into their businesses. As a board member, HP led the 2007 organization of the Responsible Supply Chain Laboratory with Volkswagen, L’Oreal, Titan and the Business for Social Compliance Initiative.

In 2008, participants developed a portal for responsible supply chain management. The portal includes these two components targeting the main issues suppliers face in Central Europe:

• Online resources for small and medium enterprises for finding information about global citizenship standards, conventions and codes
• Training and reference materials covering topics such as management systems, supplier engagement and corrective action processes

See Awards & honors section for more detail on HP's award for leadership of CSR Europe.

Together with the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency (DCCA), HP started the Central Europe Supplier Responsibility (CESR) project in 2006. The training and workshops that HP’s small and medium-size sub-tier suppliers took part in as a result of that project formed the basis for HP and DCCA’s 2008 report, Small Suppliers in Global Supply Chains.

All first-tier suppliers that provided feedback reported positive results. Some sub-tier suppliers highlighted strong organic business growth, increased productivity and reduced injuries, lost days, staff turnover, and product reject rate, although the majority reported stable figures in these areas.

"There is a clear link between companies with strong ethics and good performance. This is because customers are increasingly demanding higher standards and decent products. Through this project we have firmly demonstrated what needs to be done in order to promote strong social and environmental standards through the supply chain."
—Carsten Ingerslev, Head of the Danish Centre for CSR, part of the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency

Read a final report and press release about the project.

Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business reviewed the China operations of three HP suppliers—Flextronics, AU Optronics (AUO) and Delta. Their report focused on the benefits and challenges of implementing HP’s SER program for suppliers.

It found that a good SER program can enhance a supplier’s reputation, helping them become an employer of choice, a supplier of choice and a partner of choice. While long-term environmental investments can be costly in the beginning, there can also be short-term payoffs and profit enhancement opportunities. Some suppliers also believe that SER labor practices such as limiting overtime, paying good wages and providing employee welfare activities will improve retention and employee satisfaction over time.

However, challenges remain in China with regards to SER and consequent program implementation. Orders are awarded based on many factors, and suppliers feel that disclosing SER-related cost-savings data may encourage buyers to request price cuts. As SER standards are more frequently enforced, the number of audits a supplier faces may increase.

Read the full Stanford report.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Sloan School of Management began a study of HP’s worldwide SER program at the end of 2008. The study aims to identify the business case for improvements in working conditions as well as opportunities for improvements to our program. We will report further on this in 2009.