Human Rights

Human rights are universal values that guide our conduct in every aspect of our activities. OMV strives to be a fair and responsible employer and recognizes its responsibility to respect, fulfill, and support human rights in all business activities. Our approach entails ensuring that OMV does not become complicit in any human rights abuses as defined under current international law.

OMV holds itself responsible for protecting the human rights of our employees as well as of the outside world, for example our suppliers, communities, indigenous peoples, and society as a whole. Our responsibilities in the area of human rights include, but are not limited to, equality and non-discrimination, decent wages, working hours, employee representation, security, primary health care, labor rights in the supply chain, education, poverty reduction, land rights, and free, prior, and informed consultation. We specifically concentrate on the impact of our activities on the human rights of vulnerable groups, such as indigenous peoples, women, and children.

Specific Policies and Commitments

Our Code of Conduct and the OMV Human Rights Policy Statement, which are both approved by the Executive Board, set out our understanding and responsibility for respecting and realizing human rights in our business environment. OMV respects and supports human rights as described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in internationally recognized treaties, including those of the International Labour Organization (ILO). OMV has signed the UN Global Compact and is fully committed to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. This includes a commitment to upholding labor rights, including decent wages, working hours, employee representation, and provisions against forced labor, child labor, and human trafficking. We therefore fully support the aims of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 and are committed to operating our business and supply chain free from forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking. The OMV Statement against Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking explains in detail the countermeasures taken in all parts of the business and supply chain.

In addition to these commitments to international norms, we have further mapped our human rights responsibilities in a comprehensive Human Rights Matrix designed to serve as the foundation for our activities in this area. The OMV Human Rights Matrix covers responsibilities in the areas below. The management of these commitments is further defined in a number of internal directives and regulations, such as the Community Relations and Community Development handbook available for all CSR focal points in the OMV Group, the Human Rights Management System, and our Community Grievance Procedure.

Equality and Non-Discrimination

This includes the implementation of appropriate guidelines and awareness raising. Read more about our approach to this topic in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Security

This includes preventive, defensive, and community-oriented approaches to security, clear guidelines, supervision and trainings. Read more about our approach to this topic in Corporate Security.

Health and Safety

This includes OMV health and safety management as well as community arrangements. Read more about our approach to this topic in Health, Safety, and Well-Being.

Labor Rights

This includes decent wages, working hours, employee representation, collective bargaining, and provisions against forced labor, child labor, and human trafficking. We ensure compliance with locally applicable minimum wage standards, for example, as laid down in collective bargaining agreements. We also ensure compliance with applicable local working time and overtime payment provisions, which are essential for a professional working environment.

Part-time work is offered, and some jurisdictions where we operate also stipulate a legal entitlement to part-time work. In general, our part-time employees are entitled to the same benefits as full-time employees, except where benefits are tied to working time (e.g., a certain number of home office days per month, with full-time employees being entitled to more home office days than part-time employees). In line with local laws, we offer other flexible work options like special part-time work for certain age groups and have recently introduced new work-from-home alternatives offering greater time flexibility for our staff. A broader group of staff can now choose to work from home, and the number of work-from-home days per month was significantly increased. We offer various forms of long- and short-term breaks from work like sabbaticals and parental leave.

Where local labor rights standards fall short of OMV standards, based on international human rights law, OMV is guided by its higher standards unless this is forbidden by law.

The Right to Education

This includes training for employees as well as support for basic education in surrounding communities. Read more on our approach in Skills Development and Training and Community Investments.

Property and Standard of Living, Including Land Rights and Poverty Reduction

We adhere to international best practices, which require involuntary resettlement to be avoided or at least minimized. Where resettlement is unavoidable, all people affected should be compensated fully and fairly. In 2021, the countries in which we do business did not report any community relocation/resettlement because of our business activities. We ensure a fair and transparent procedure for land use and compensation to local communities or authorities. If exploration, development, or production activities have the potential to impact communities and/or their land, we consult ahead of time with all relevant stakeholders and obtain permission to use the land either temporarily or permanently.

Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples

We are committed to community consultation based on free, prior, and informed consent in accordance with IFC Performance Standard 7 and ILO Convention 169.

Privacy and Family Life

This includes personal data protection and appropriate living and working conditions. An internal data protection directive is in effect for our employees, and we adhere to a public data protection policy regarding the processing of personal data.

OMV is aware that specific circumstances of operations in the field (remote locations away from family, residence in camps, etc.) potentially impact rights to privacy and to family life. We therefore apply the principles of necessity and proportionality with regard to the living and working conditions of our employees.

Governance

Overall accountability for our compliance with human rights lies with the respective country business heads. Locally based human rights officers conduct due diligence at the operating facilities with the support of five human rights experts at Group level (at OMV, SapuraOMV, OMV Petrom, and Borealis). Action plans and mitigation measures are implemented and reported by the respective functions, depending on which aspect of human rights is in question. Thus, the Human Resources department deals with human rights issues related to labor rights, the Procurement department is responsible for managing human rights issues in the supply chain, the HSSE department is responsible for security-related human rights issues, and the Community Relations and Development function within HSSE implements OMV policy related to human rights impact on communities and indigenous peoples.

Management and Due Diligence Processes

The Human Rights Due Diligence Process includes assessing the human rights risk associated with our current and future business activities, and taking risk management actions. This ongoing process makes use of external resources and expertise, and includes external stakeholders, in particular impacted groups.

Human Rights Matrix

Since 2008, we have mapped our human rights responsibilities in a comprehensive Human Rights Matrix designed to serve as the foundation for our activities in this area. We use this tool to assess our human rights challenges and activities, and prioritize our actions as essential, expected, or desirable in defense of human rights. We regularly review the priorities in our matrix and redefine them in accordance with international best practice and the latest developments in the human rights field.

At all stages of the human rights due diligence process, we use the OMV Human Rights Matrix as a common standard, mapping reality on the ground against the concrete responsibilities as defined in the matrix and identifying any gaps we need to focus on. This approach ensures that any potential human rights impact of our business activities is identified – whether this relates to non-discrimination and diversity, labor-related issues (e.g., minimum wage, adequate rest times), indigenous peoples’ rights, or human rights in the supply chain.

Risk Assessments

OMV has developed due diligence tools and techniques to assess the risk of human rights violations¹ A human rights violation happens when OMV fails to respect, fulfil, and support the realization of human rights in relation to our business activities or becomes complicit in human rights abuses, as understood under current international law and as committed to in our OMV Human Rights Policy Statement and mapped in our OMV Human Rights Matrix. related to our business, even before we launch or acquire business in a new country. Human rights are one of the components considered when making the decision to engage in a new country. The relevant human rights risks are presented to the respective OMV Executive Board member to factor into the decision on whether or not to enter a country. We use these assessments to derive concrete measures to reduce the risk of direct and indirect involvement in potential human rights violations.

We also conduct regular assessments of our current operations to determine their exposure to the risk of human rights and labor rights violations. Due diligence starts with an Initial Risk Ranking at country level: Every country we operate in (or plan to operate in) is assessed based on comprehensive human-rights-related data and on consultation with internal and external experts. The countries are ranked by low, medium, and high risk, countries with the greatest manageable risk, and “no-go” countries with unmanageable risk. Based on this ranking, we develop our yearly work plan, defining further due diligence actions and human rights training. In terms of labor rights, we work closely with employee representatives depending on the type of risk and potential impacts. Internationally recognized third-party experts support OMV in conducting the due diligence on the Company’s exposure to human rights risks. In 2020, for example, an external human rights expert assessed the human rights risks related to OMV’s business activities in UAE. The rights of workers – especially migrant workers – in the supply chain were identified as a critical issue and due diligence measures recommended.

Self-Assessments

The Human Rights Self-Assessment is one of the tools we use to assess the effectiveness of our human rights due diligence approach. Such assessments create internal awareness, capture our self-perception of our human rights performance, and facilitate the definition of gaps and further actions.

Training and Awareness Raising

We pay special attention to training and raising awareness in order to bring our human rights commitment to life. We conduct trainings on human rights, which equip our employees with an understanding of our human rights management process and give them a space to work on concrete operational issues and local challenges. Even though the key concepts of OMV Human Rights Management are the same across our countries, the training focal points and discussions vary significantly, ranging from human rights in armed conflict environments and the risk of OMV’s complicity to OMV’s human rights responsibilities in joint ventures, personal legal liability, and employees human rights and grievances.

All employees are strongly encouraged to complete an interactive e-learning course, which is part of the training curriculum for all employees worldwide and guides them through human rights norms and situations. This module is an interactive 30-minute training session that teaches a basic understanding of human rights in general and their relevance to our business specifically. It provides an opportunity for employees to test their knowledge using real-life examples. In addition, the Borealis ethics code of conduct e-learning covers human rights topics including discrimination, harassment, diversity, inclusion, bribery, and corruption. This e-learning is provided to all employees of Borealis and, in 2021, 87% completed this training. In addition, 100% of the Borealis Executive and Supervisory Board have received an in-person ethics training covering human rights.

We also implement internal awareness-raising campaigns throughout the Group. All of the business heads in countries where we have operations are informed about their country’s human rights risk level. We provide information about the key challenges and recommended due diligence steps and trainings, where applicable. A human rights awareness campaign was also conducted on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day on December 10. All employees Group-wide were informed about our commitment and invited to complete the human rights e-learning program.

As regards specific labor rights issues, the rights and obligations of our employees are set out in employment contracts. We address our employees continuously via our various internal channels of communication (e.g., employee intranet, emails, newsfeed) in case of legal changes or new information. We provide local HR contacts and employee support hotlines for answering questions and providing specific information.

Employee Representation

Employee representation is a valued and long-standing feature in the Company’s strategic orientation. Employee representatives are afforded information and consultation rights as legally foreseen. A good and constructive working relationship with employee representation is an overall priority seen as in the best interest of the Group and our staff.

Given the internationality of our Group activities and the various locations where we operate, employee representation at OMV is diverse depending on the local legal situation, and the make-up and activities of the local workforce. We cooperate with all official employee representation bodies and deal responsibly with our staff directly where no employee representation is available.

Operational Changes and Minimum Notice Periods

Our personnel policy is based on long-term employment, because both staff and the organization benefit from long-term working relationships. We are also aware that job security represents a major concern not only for the individual employee, but also for society and the region concerned. We therefore make every effort to live up to these responsibilities by means of contingency planning. Where business, organizational, or security changes require adaptations in the workplace or even a termination of employment, we evaluate all the options, engage in constructive dialogue, and respond with the maximum possible care and sensitivity. Where despite training, transfer, or development programs separating from staff becomes unavoidable, we make every effort to take into account the economic and social consequences of those affected.

Grievance Management

According to the UN Guiding Principles, an effective grievance mechanism is a crucial instrument for ensuring compliance with our human rights commitment and a source of continuous learning for improving company human rights performance. Particular emphasis is placed on the prevention of human rights violations and the integration of human rights issues into our decision-making processes. This includes registering grievances to ensure a preventative approach.

Our approach to managing community grievances follows the precautionary principle of ensuring local approval for OMV operations by identifying and resolving the issues of concern to the local community early on. OMV’s localized Community Grievance Management (CGM) procedures stipulate a stringent approach to systematically receiving, documenting, addressing, and resolving grievances in all of the countries where we operate. Human rights grievances from community members and suppliers are submitted through the Community Grievance Mechanism (CGM) and then analyzed locally and at Group level. (For more information about the Community Grievance Mechanism, see Community Impacts and Grievances).

We offer our employees various channels for bringing forward issues, concerns, and grievances. This includes the PetrOmbudsman at OMV Petrom, where employees and management can have confidential, off-the-record, informal discussions and address issues related to the workplace. Moreover, employees can bring forward their concerns in direct dialogue with human rights managers, human resources business partners, and works council members. At Borealis, such concerns can also be raised with Group Ethics and Compliance and with ethics ambassadors. In case of legal or other changes (e.g., restructuring, pension issues), we offer interactive communication sessions with employees regarding working conditions.

2021 Actions

Our journey in 2021 focused on more consistently performing human rights assessments in existing high-risk assets and new projects.

• In 2021, we planned a Human Rights Self-Assessment for OMV Libya. This was kicked off by organizing an internal awareness event with the local management of OMV Libya. The awareness session with the relevant stakeholders including local operating companies and the National Oil Company (NOC) was postponed to early 2022 due to COVID‑19 restrictions.
• OMV Petrom did a human rights self-assessment exercise in its businesses in Romania with a focus on security and concluded with the following recommendations:
• Revision of the contractual clauses regarding human rights for better communication of the principles assumed by the company
• Inclusion in the annual program of training of contractors the training on human rights
• Continuing the dialogue with the local authorities and bringing up the issue of security services, where they exist
• Inclusion of human rights issues in security audits that are performed at contractors
• Another human rights self-assessment exercise was conducted by Borealis for the business in Brazil. The assessment revealed that Borealis Brazil employees have a demonstrated awareness of human rights risks in Brazil and related Borealis Group policies to mitigate risk. Overall, the biggest human rights risk Borealis Brazil faces is corruption. Borealis Brazil will continue monitoring any human rights risk associated with its operations and business partners. Close cooperation between the management and the Borealis Group Ethics & Compliance team has been recommended in order to further improve employee awareness of human rights issues and to continue monitoring the supply chain for any human-rights-related issue such as potential signs of corruption.
• In Malaysia, SapuraOMV has drafted its social responsibility regulation, which includes human rights management. The signing was initiated and is set to be completed in 2022.
• In Malaysia, SapuraOMV has signed and published its Community Feedback Mechanism for external stakeholders.

Outlook

We will take the following actions in the coming years to continue to improve our human rights approach:

• In 2022, we will continue our efforts, including ongoing training and an awareness-raising campaign for employees. We will be updating our human rights e-learning training tool in line with expansion of the scope of our training target to cover all our employees. All HSSE country managers are accountable for completing this target in their respective business units. The KPI target is now part of the 2022 HSSE country plans. SapuraOMV is also preparing a human rights training course for its employees.
• We aim to carry out assessments of high-risk non-operating assets to identify and address the human rights impacts of our business practices. In the coming years, we will continue working on integrating Borealis into our labor rights management process, including but not limited to the risk assessment process.
• We will further focus on the recent developments in the work environment, mainly regarding digitalization and increasing flexibility.
• We will integrate climate change and Just Transition into the OMV Human Rights Management System.