Our goal: Responsible leadership
As a company, we take our economic and social role very seriously and want to be a fair, reliable and trustworthy partner to our customers, business partners and employees. In order to always comply with ethical and legal standards in our business activities and in our dealings with our supply chain, we place high demands on our governance.
Compliance – part of our corporate culture
Compliance is an integral part of our corporate strategy and is firmly anchored in our corporate culture. As an internationally active company, we ensure that we comply with all relevant laws and regulations in the countries in which we operate. This goes hand in hand with a zero-tolerance attitude toward fraud, bribery, and discriminatory and unethical behavior. Based on our corporate values, we have formulated our position in this regard in the Xella Code of Conduct and expect strict compliance from all employees. Our distinctive compliance culture enables employees to report suspected violations through various reporting channels.
We have introduced Group-wide standards in the area of data protection and information security: In Group-wide policies, we provide our employees with concrete guidance on issues relating to the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of the information and raise awareness of these topics in mandatory training courses.
Our supply chain – local and fair
As a producer of building and insulation materials from natural resources, we focus on the sustainable sourcing of our raw materials. Our entire supply chain is characterized by a strong local character, as the majority of our production sites are located in relative proximity to our customers. The same applies to procurement: Around 80 % of our purchased goods are bought locally – in the country of production.
Fair working conditions for our own employees are important to us; we also attach importance to working only with business partners who share the same values regarding anti-discrimination, anti-corruption, working conditions, safety, environmental protection, and health protection. We have laid this down in our Supplier Code of Conduct. In the Building Materials Business Unit, 98 % of our relevant suppliers have accepted and signed the Xella Supplier Code of Conduct, with the goal of reaching 100 % by the end of 2021. In the Insulation Business Unit, the Xella Supplier Code of Conduct will be rolled out in full in 2021.
This article was originally published on Xella in March 2021.
