HP's capability-building programs are designed to deliver substantial and lasting improvements in the social and environmental responsibility (SER) performance of suppliers. To help implement these improvements, we work closely with 1) suppliers, to build knowledge and strengthen processes, and 2) supplier employees, to ensure that practices permeate the entire organization. Our aim is to instill behavioral changes that shift practices away from historical norms and towards ever improving everyday SER performance.
Capability is built most effectively through collaboration. HP works with local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and training groups to deliver capability-building programs. These programs are directed both toward supplier management and workers, and address general awareness of HP's Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC), labor and ethics, health and safety, environment, and management systems.
We summarize our main capability-building programs active in 2010 in the table below. See Reducing hepatitis B discrimination and Building EICC awareness in Thailand for in-depth information about two of our recent programs.
New suppliers
We introduce new suppliers into our supply chain SER program each year and hold supplier education forums to communicate our SER expectations. In 2010, we held events in the Philippines, Israel, and Mexico. (See the interactive graphic below for more information.)
HP’s capability-building initiatives 2010
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HP’s EICC awareness raising
- Audience: Management (over 100 participants from 55 suppliers)
- Partners: Nidec; Toshiba; Verite
In 2010, HP co-hosted Positive Change of Labor Communications, a conference in the Philippines aiming to raise awareness of HP’s Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC). It also addressed suppliers’ concerns about code implementation. The workshop featured some of HP’s first- and second-tier suppliers. HP followed the conference with recommendations that key suppliers join training programs with local labor departments to further improve standards.
Supplier forums in Israel and Mexico
- Audience: Management (122 participants from 69 suppliers)
- Partners: CADELEC; the Mexican government (for the forum held in Mexico)
In 2010, HP hosted supplier forums in Israel and Mexico to refresh suppliers’ knowledge of HP’s EICC, as well as introduce new suppliers to our supply chain SER program. Production and nonproduction suppliers took part, and the forum in Israel also included supplier-facing HP procurement staff. In 2011, we plan to hold supplier forums in China and India.
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Hepatitis B anti-discrimination program
- Audience: Workers and management (20,000 workers at 7 suppliers)
- Partner: Inno Community Development Organisation
HP considers hepatitis B (HBV) tests in employee hiring processes to be violations of the nondiscrimination provision of HP’s EICC. We held training programs in China starting in 2009 to improve understanding of HBV transmission and prevention, and to reduce discrimination against patients. See case study for more information.
Labor agency policies and practices
- Audience: Management
- Partners: CADELEC; CANIETI; Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition
HP uses labor agencies to hire temporary workers. In Guadalajara, Mexico, we have been part of an industrywide initiative to improve SER adoption by labor agencies through third-party assessments and consulting. In 2010, three agencies assessed in the previous year showed improved understanding of HP’s EICC, and introduced programs to improve SER performance.
Worker-management communications
- Audience: Management and workers (over 10,000 workers from 9 supplier sites)
- Partners: Labor Education and Service Network; Xin Shi Min Zhi Jia (Chinese NGO)
HP piloted worker-management communications training with two Chinese suppliers, Chicony and Delta, in 2009. The training helped workers better understand their labor rights and provided an independent workers’ grievance hotline for communicating concerns about their working environment. HP also provided training for a workers’ representatives committee. In 2010, we expanded the pilot to include five more suppliers. We have plans to expand further to eight additional supplier sites in 2011.
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Health Enables Return (HER) Project
- Audience: Workers (approximately 20,000 workers at 5 facilities in China)
- Partner: BSR
The HERProject addresses the general and reproductive health needs of women working in manufacturing in a range of industries including electronics. HP joined the project in Mexico in 2008 (working with Pegatron) and extended it to China in 2010 (working with Foxconn, Jabil, Lite-on, Pegatron, and Wistron). At Foxconn, nearly 98% of the 6,000 women workers at the company’s Shenzhen facility participated in the Foxconn project. On average, 95% of those participants showed an understanding of five key reproductive health issues after the training, compared with 77% before. HP intends to continue to promote the program in 2011.
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Energy Efficiency Partnership Program
- Audience: Management
- Partner: BSR
In 2010, HP introduced 12 Chinese supplier sites to the Energy Efficiency Partnership Program. The initiative helps suppliers set energy-saving goals and provides necessary training and technical support, including energy audits and consultations, to help achieve those targets. See Product manufacturing for more information.
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Hard disk drive supplier SER program implementation
- Audience: Management and workers (170 workers from 25 suppliers)
- Partners: Hitachi GST; Seagate; Toshiba; Western Digital
HP’s yearlong program (2009-2010) with hard disk drive suppliers in Thailand raised awareness of HP's EICC and facilitated best practice sharing among supplier management and supported their implementation of SER-related management systems. The program featured HP’s first-, second-, and third-tier suppliers. We will extend the training to hard disk drive suppliers in Malaysia in 2011. See case study for more information.
As our relationships with suppliers develop, we work to instill good practices among lower-tier suppliers as well. HP has trained over 160 second-tier suppliers through programs conducted jointly with our first-tier suppliers. Suppliers representing 60% of our total production spend have benefited from at least one program.
See descriptions of our historical capability-building initiatives in our 2008 and 2009 Global Citizenship Reports.