Empowering our workforce

Our requirements cover recruitment, pay, development, promotion, the accommodation of disability, freedom of association, and the prevention of discrimination, bullying and harassment. They apply at every Xstreco workplace and to contractors under our direct supervision.

We prohibit discrimination and harassment on grounds of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family status, pregnancy, age, national origin or ancestry, disability, trade union affiliation, political belief or any other characteristic protected by the applicable law. We require equal opportunity in recruitment, pay, development and promotion, and employment decisions must be based on the requirements of the role.

Xstreco employs people in Switzerland and in Peru. We set our own requirements at the higher of the two standards on each subject, so that a person's protection does not depend on which entity employs them. Where a local legal requirement exceeds ours, the local requirement applies.

Empowerment is not a sentiment. In an operating context it means three specific things: that a person has the competence and the information to do the work assigned to them; that they have the authority to stop work they believe to be unsafe, without needing permission and without consequence; and that they have a route to raise a concern that does not depend on the goodwill of the person the concern is about. Each is a standing requirement of the framework and each is stated in the policy that governs it.

An activity conducted by people who are not competent to conduct it is an uncontrolled activity. We therefore assess competence against the work a person is assigned and verify it rather than assume it, and we identify, deliver and record the training a role requires before the person performs the work. This is stated here rather than only under health and safety because it governs every function, not only the ones with a physical hazard attached.

We respect the right to freedom of association and to collective bargaining, consistent with the ILO fundamental Conventions. No person is disadvantaged for trade union membership or activity, and where employees are represented, we engage with their representatives on matters within their remit.

Workforce composition statistics, pay gap figures, turnover and training completion rates are published where reporting them is required of us, and we maintain the records needed to produce them on a consistent basis.