Human Rights Statement

INTRODUCTION

fp Frank Partners is committed to safeguarding, respecting and advancing human rights. We seek to ensure that all of our stakeholders, including employees, clients, and business partners, are treated with respect and fairness at all times. We have the greatest potential to make a positive impact through our services as we help clients identify, prevent and mitigate human rights risks across the value chain. We guide clients through actionable and strategic recommendations, aligned with EU and national regulations and international standards on human rights, aiming to contribute to positive progress on global human rights.

In our own conduct, with employees, external partners and clients, we are committed to conducting business in a responsible and sustainable manner. This statement outlines our commitments and our approach.   

OUR COMMITMENT

We are committed to respecting all international recognised human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), among other international standards. As a participant in the United Nations Global Compact, fp Frank Partners also supports the Ten Principles on human rights, labour, environment and corruption.

fp Frank Partners complies with the laws and regulations of the markets in which it operates. Where local laws are less stringent than company policies and the abovenamed internationally recognised human rights and employment standards, fp Frank Partners is guided by the more stringent policies and standards and expects its suppliers and business partners to follow these standards and principles.

OUR APPROACH

The UNGPs serve as the foundation for implementing our policy commitment through human rights due diligence practices. We understand that human rights due diligence is an ongoing process and ensure its effectiveness by embedding it within our risk management and procurement practices. We are committed to continuously improve our systems and controls to identify and assess our human rights risks and integrate those findings to manage them effectively.

As a professional services provider, we assess our risk of human rights abuses as comparatively low relative to other high risk industries. Regardless, we commit to establishing appropriate risk identification and mitigation measures, as well as due diligence procedures to identify adverse impacts in our value chain. We also recognise that the value chain of any business is dynamic and we thus regularly review our human rights risk profile and mitigation efforts.

In our most recent assessment, the salient human rights risks for our employees and business partners centre around the work environment and protection of personal data. We are therefore committed to ensuring that everyone in our operations, and – to the extent we can – those with whom we do business, have access to a safe and healthy work environment, fair wages and terms of employment, and equitable and inclusive opportunities that respect and value diversity.

We have a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination on the basis of protected attributes including race, colour, religion, national or ethnic origin, political opinion, age, marital or relationship status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, trade union activity, or other legally protected status.

We are committed to respecting the right to privacy of our employees, clients, business partners, and other stakeholders. In line with this commitment, we collect, hold, and handle personal information in accordance with the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation).Our undertakings to protect individual personal data are outlined in our Privacy Notice.

OUR ACTIONS

Our policy	This statement, in conjunction with the fp Frank Partners Code of Conduct, defines our conduct expectations for employees and external partners, and our actions in relation to clients, as concerns respect for all human and labour rights.
Risk assessment	We work with clients and external partners across multiple jurisdictions and take necessary steps to assess risks related to any partners operating in high-risk countries or industries using publicly available indicators and guidance in line with international standards set out by the OECD, UN and ILO.
Implementation	We carry out due diligence of our external partners prior to engaging with them, which includes screening of topics such as human rights, labour rights, environmental practices and business ethics risks. In cases where we have identified elevated risks, we ensure that further steps are taken to appropriately assess and address these.
Ongoing monitoring	We conduct periodic re-screening of our external partners to ensure continuous compliance with international standards and regulations on business conduct, human rights and environmental practices. We also monitor our own employees’ work environment through several mechanisms (bi-weekly one-to-one meetings, pulse surveys and bi-annual employee surveys) to ensure that we have a healthy, safe and fair work environment.
Training	All our employees receive training on the fp Frank Partners Code of Conduct; employees will also receive introductory and ongoing training on human rights topics to stay up to date with best practices and strategies for preventing adverse impacts for our clients and for our own operations.

GRIEVANCES AND REMEDIATION

We are committed to providing avenues for affected individuals to come forward with human rights grievances, and taking appropriate remediation steps where we have caused, contributed, or are directly linked to an adverse impact.

As outlined in our Code of Conduct, all employees and business partners can report any human rights or environmental concerns without fear of retaliation.

Concerns should be reported to fp’s COO Anna Hamer at a.hamer@frankpartners.eu and/or risk@frankpartners.eu. Submissions may be made anonymously and we request the provision of sufficient detail and context to allow for an effective response.

 

If issues, risks or impacts are identified, fp’s Risk Committee (see Governance section for more information) will investigate all reports and communicate with the relevant party to discuss appropriate actions and next steps for remediation.

We are committed to continuously improving our grievance mechanisms and remediation process through stakeholder engagement to align with he effectiveness criteria set out in the UNGPs.

GOVERNANCE

The policy has been approved and is overseen by our CEO, Jakob Ravnborg.

It is the collective and individual of all fp employees to adhere to the rules, requirements and good practice outlined in this statement. Our management team is responsible for ensuring that implementation of the statement alongside clear and regular training; ensuring adherence to its stipulations in the onboarding all new business partners and employees; and for the monitoring of our actions and KPIs. Onboarding includes undertaking due diligence of new partners, ongoing monitoring of existing partners and reporting on these matters to fp’s Risk Committee.  

We are available to answer your questions and/or provide any further information or assistance at risk@frankpartners.eu

Together, we are committed to respecting and advancing human rights in business and in society.

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Jakob Ravnborg

CEO