Disclosure on Management Approach: Human rights
Organisation
Human rights issues are overseen by the following bodies within Novo Nordisk:
- Human rights generally: in view of the cross-cutting nature of human rights, responsibility for human rights at an overall level is anchored in the TBL Leadership Forum, with an aim to secure implementation and development of Novo Nordisk’s TBL strategy. The forum is chaired by Lise Kingo, executive vice president and chief of staffs.
- Employees’ human rights: responsibility for oversight of these issues is anchored in the People Board. See Novo Nordisk’s Labour management approach disclosure for more information on the People Board.
- Human rights in the supply chain: are subject oversight by the Environment, Bioethics & OH&S Committee. See Novo Nordisk’s Environmental management approach disclosure for more information on this Committee.
Policy
The Novo Nordisk Way of Management sets the tone both specifically in its support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and generally in the way that it sets out how Novo Nordisk should conduct business. It also includes the Fundamental that ‘Every manager must establish and maintain procedures in the unit for living up to relevant laws, regulations, and group commitments’, which obliges managers to consider how they fulfil Novo Nordisk’s human rights commitment in their own sphere of business activity. Many aspects of human rights are embedded in different parts of the business, eg equal opportunities, occupational health, trade union liaison etc within the human resources function, intellectual property-related issues in Corporate Patents, and access to health issues.
Goals
The single human right which is most material to Novo Nordisk is the right to health. Novo Nordisk’s global health strategy was revised in late 2007 to reflect a more global, sustainable, and inclusive approach. The strategy is aimed at improving affordable, available, accessible and quality diabetes care for four specific population groups that represent the most vulnerable groups with the lowest access to diabetes care:
- People living in the least developed countries (LDCs)
- People living at the ‘base of the pyramid’ in emerging economies
- Migrant populations in the developed world
- Children worldwide.
Monitoring
- Facilitation is a specific follow-up method that is unique to companies in the Novo Group. It is used to provide systematic and validated documentation of the levels of compliance with all aspects of the Novo Nordisk Way of Management, including the human rights commitment.
- Access to health: Each year Novo Nordisk measures and reports: how many Least Developed Countries purchase insulin sold under the Best Possible Pricing policy; how many National Diabetes Programme activities have been conducted; and how many healthcare professionals and people with diabetes have received training as a result of World Partnership Programme initiatives.
- The Novo Nordisk Responsible Sourcing programme works to ensure that human rights are systematically integrated into purchasing decisions. All purchasers have been trained in the human rights and associated ILO Convention requirements that form the basis of the programme’s standards. How well the standards are met is assessed through audits, with a focus on suppliers in countries with known challenges in working conditions. Human rights included in the Responsible Sourcing programme concern: wages and benefits, working hours, health & safety, child labour, bonded labour, discrimination, disciplinary measures, and privacy.
