Human Rights

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

The OMV Group holds itself responsible for protecting the human rights of our employees, as well as those of people directly impacted by or involved with our business, for example our suppliers, communities, indigenous peoples, and the society in which we live and operate our business. Our responsibilities in the area of human rights include, and 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 consent (FPIC). 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 Group Human Rights Policy Statement, which are both approved by the Executive Board, set out our understanding of and responsibility for respecting and realizing human rights in our business environment. In 2022, we revised our existing Human Rights Policy Statement to include detailed descriptions of our specific human rights commitments, e.g., related to worker’s rights, vulnerable groups, and security, as well as our commitment to contributing to a Just Transition.¹ “Just Transition” refers to addressing the social and economic effects of the transition to an environmentally sustainable economy as stated in the Guidelines of the International Labour Organization (ILO) for a just transition. This process involved consulting with internal stakeholders of the OMV Group and external consultants and was concluded by the formal approval of the OMV Executive Board. Based on this Group statement, Borealis and OMV Petrom will develop their Human Rights Policy Statements to be approved by the respective Executive Boards.

The OMV Group 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, OMV Petrom, and Borealis have signed the UN Global Compact and are 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, such as 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 on 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 out our human rights responsibilities in a comprehensive Human Rights Matrix, which is designed to serve as the foundation for our activities in this area. The OMV Group Human Rights Matrix covers responsibilities in the areas detailed 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 within 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 training. Read more about our approach to this topic in Corporate Security.

Health and Safety

This includes the OMV Group’s 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 support the “five fundamental principles and rights at work” outlined in the ILO Declaration. We are committed to respecting workers’ rights, in line with ILO’s fundamental Conventions on rights at work, and we expect our contractors, suppliers, and the joint ventures we participate in to do the same. Where local labor rights standards fall short of the OMV Group’s standards, based on international human rights law, the OMV Group is guided by its higher standards unless this is forbidden by law.

The OMV Group strives to be a fair and responsible employer. Upholding and promoting labor rights is essential to achieving legal compliance in a local and international environment. It is also essential to ensuring that our global workforce can develop professionally and fulfill their personal aspirations in line with our business needs.

Working Hours and Flexibility

We are committed to comply with applicable local working time and overtime payment provisions, which is essential for a professional working environment. Part-time work is offered. In general, our part-time employees are entitled to the same benefits as full-time employees, except where benefits are linked to the amount of time worked (e.g., 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 legal provisions, we offer further flexible work options like special part-time work for certain age groups and have recently introduced new work-from-home options that provide greater time flexibility for our staff. We offer various forms of long- and short-term breaks from work such as sabbaticals and parental and other care leave.

Operational Changes and Minimum Notice Periods

Our personnel policy is based on long-term employment. Both staff and the organization should 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, and 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. Almost all of our employees are covered by mandatory notice periods under employment law or collective bargaining agreements in the event of restructuring. In situations where, despite training, transfer, or development programs, staff release becomes unavoidable, we make every effort to consider the economic and social consequences of those affected. We are committed to complying with local legislation regarding minimum notice periods in each country where we operate.

Wages 

We are committed to locally applicable minimum wage standards, for example as stated in the collective bargaining agreements. For almost all of our employees, minimum wages or salaries are fixed by law or agreed by way of collective bargaining.

Right to Education

This includes employee training and support for basic education in the surrounding communities. Read more about our approach to this topic 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 avoiding involuntary resettlement, or at least keeping it to a minimum. Where resettlement is unavoidable, all people affected should be compensated fully and fairly. In 2022, the countries in which we did business did not report any community relocation/resettlement due to our business activities. We are committed to 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 with all relevant stakeholders ahead of time 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 (FPIC) in accordance with IFC Performance Standard 7 and ILO Convention 169. We are aware of indigenous communities in the proximity of our operations in Māui, Pohokura, and Maari in New Zealand, as well as in the Arma district in Yemen. Yuzhno-Russkoye, of which OMV owns a 24.99% share, is located in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Read more about our approach to engaging with our communities in Community Impacts and Grievances.

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. The OMV Group 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. Therefore, we apply the principles of necessity and proportionality regarding our employees’ living and working conditions.

Environment and Climate Change

The OMV Group recognizes the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right that is intrinsically linked to a wide range of other human rights. With our OMV Strategy 2030, we are fully committed to supporting and accelerating the energy transition, acting on responsible resources management, and minimizing the environmental impacts of our operations.

Cognizant of the social impacts that the energy transition entails, the OMV Group is committed to contributing to a Just Transition for our employees and communities, and to addressing the social and economic effects of the transition to an environmentally sustainable economy.

Governance

In 2022, we took major steps to entrench accountability for human rights in our Company leadership. Our CEO is now the key owner of the topic of human rights. He is personally briefed about our main achievements and challenges related to our human rights impact at least twice a year (and whenever critical concerns arise), was the first partic­ipant to complete the revised human rights e-learning, and requested that all employees live up to our human rights commitment in a personal video message. The OMV Group has renewed its commitment to human rights with the formal approval of our revised OMV Group Human Rights Policy Statement by the OMV Executive Board.

Below Board level, accountability for our compliance with human rights lies with the respective countries’ business heads. Locally based human rights focal persons conduct due diligence at the operating facilities with the support of six 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 People & Culture (P&C) 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 health, safety, and security-related human rights issues, and the corporate Community Relations and Development function oversees OMV responsibilities related to the human rights impact on communities and indigenous peoples.

Management and Due Diligence Processes

The human rights due diligence process involves assessing the human rights risk associated with our current and future business activities and taking risk management actions. This ongoing process uses external resources and expertise, which includes external stakeholders, particularly those from impacted groups.

Human Rights Matrix

Since 2008, we have mapped out 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 Group Human Rights Matrix as a common standard, mapping out reality on the ground against the concrete responsibilities as defined in the matrix, and identifying any gaps we need to focus on. This approach helps us identify any potential human rights impact of our business activities, whether it relates to non-discrimination and diversity, labor-related issues (e.g., minimum wage and adequate break times), indigenous peoples’ rights, or human rights in the supply chain.

Risk Assessments

The OMV Group has developed due diligence tools and techniques to assess the risk of human rights violations² A human rights violation happens when OMV fails to respect, fulfill, and support the realization of human rights in relation to our business activities, or becomes complicit in human rights abuse as understood under current international law, and as committed to in our OMV Group Human Rights Policy Statement and mapped out 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 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 in consultation with internal and external experts. The countries are rated as low, medium, and high risk, countries with the greatest manageable risk, and “no-go” countries with unmanageable risk. Based on this rating, we develop our yearly work plan, defining further due diligence actions and human rights training. Internationally recognized third-party experts support the OMV Group in conducting due diligence on the Company’s exposure to human rights risks. In 2022, for example, a team of external human rights experts conducted five country entry checks and compliance checks for six projects. The assessment included human rights risks related to OMV’s potential business activities in these countries and proposals on concrete mitigation measures in case of positive entry.

We additionally conduct dedicated country risk assessments regarding labor rights to determine and monitor the legal situation and future development. As well as monitoring relevant labor rights risks, we work closely with employee representatives depending on the type of risk and potential impacts. With our annual initial risk rating, we also identify countries with elevated risks³ Elevated risk countries are those identified with a risk level of “high,” “greatest manageable,” or “no-go” (out of five levels: low risk, medium risk, high risk, greatest manageable risk, no-go) in our initial risk rating. of severe human rights abuse such as forced labor, child labor, or restrictions on the freedom of association. Within our country portfolio, 13 out of 49 (26.5%) countries (e.g., Yemen, Libya, and Brazil) show an elevated risk of child labor. 18 out of 49 (36.7%) countries (e.g., Yemen, Libya, and China) have an elevated risk of forced labor. The freedom of association is generally limited in 17 out of 49 (34.6%) countries (e.g., UAE, China, and Malaysia). We inform the respective General Managers and Human Rights Focal Persons about the elevated risk levels in their countries and recommend specific mitigation measures, for example human rights training for employees and the integration of the mentioned human rights issues in contractor meetings.

Self-Assessments

The Human Rights Self-Assessment is one of the tools we use to evaluate 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 identification of gaps and further actions. In 2022, we conducted a Human Rights Self-Assessment at Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO)⁴ Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) is a joint venture between the government of Pakistan (60%) and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (40%), through its Mubadala Investment Company (MIC). OMV holds a 10% stake via MIC in PARCO. with the support of external human rights experts. A detailed report and expert recommendations on follow-up activities are expected in the beginning of 2023. We also initiated the Human Rights Self-Assessment exercise at OMV Libya, whose findings will be received in early 2023.

Training and Awareness Raising

We pay special attention to training and raising awareness to bring our human rights commitment to life. We provide training on human rights, which helps equip our employees with an understanding of our human rights management process and gives them a space to work on concrete operational issues and local challenges. Even though the key concepts of the OMV Group Human Rights Management are the same across all countries in which we operate, the training focal points and discussions vary significantly, ranging from human rights in armed conflict environments and the risk of the OMV Group’s complicity to the OMV Group’s human rights responsibilities in joint ventures, personal legal liability, and employees’ human rights and grievances. In 2022, we conducted several virtual classroom training sessions, for example for OMV Libya, OMV UAE, PARCO, OMV Tunisia, and other teams.

All employees are strongly encouraged to complete an interactive e-learning course, which is part of the training curriculum for all employees worldwide. In 2022, we developed and launched a new human rights e-learning course, which guides employees through human rights norms and situations. The content of this 35-minute training session is based on an internal needs survey conducted among subject matter experts dealing with human rights topics. It teaches a basic understanding of human rights in the business context and provides insight into our specific responsibilities, for example related to diversity and non-discrimination, labor rights of our own and contractors’ employees, human rights in security setups, and the rights of our communities, as well as severe human rights violations such as child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking. It also provides insight into our due diligence tools and what to do in the case of observed or alleged human rights abuse. 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 2022, 85% completed this training. In addition, 100% of the Borealis Executive and Supervisory Boards have received in-person ethics training covering human rights.

SapuraOMV has developed a human rights e-learning course for all employees, and additionally delivered human rights awareness training to its staff and main contractors at all sites (Kuala Lumpur, Miri in Sarawak, Labuan, and Pasir Gudang in Johor). After providing a general understanding of human rights in the business context, topics such as equal opportunities, union and labor rights, communities’ rights, and the grievance mechanism have been discussed.

We also implement internal awareness-raising campaigns throughout the Group. All of the business heads in countries where we have operations are informed and regularly updated regarding their country’s human rights risk level. We provide information about the key challenges and recommended due diligence steps and training, wherever applicable. A human rights awareness campaign was also conducted on the occasion of the international Human Rights Day in December. All employees Group-wide were informed about our commitment and invited to complete the new human rights e-learning program with a personal video message from the CEO.

Regarding specific labor rights issues, the rights and obligations of our employees are set out in employment contracts. We keep our employees up to date via our various internal channels of communication (e.g., employee intranet, emails, and news feed) in the event of legal changes or new available information. For questions and specific information, we provide local P&C contacts and employee support hotlines.

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 and is seen as being 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 the OMV Group is diverse and depends on the local legal situation and the setup 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.

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 preventive approach.

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

We offer our employees various channels for bringing issues, concerns, and grievances to our attention. They include 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 through the Borealis Ethics Hotline, anonymously and confidentially, with Group Ethics & Compliance, Ethics Ambassadors, and other reporting channels. In the event of legal or other changes (e.g., restructuring and pension issues), we offer interactive communication sessions with employees regarding working conditions. In 2022, internal grievances concerning wages and compensation related to transfer to the field were raised by two employees. At the end of 2022, the grievances had not yet been solved and P&C was still in dialogue with the complainants – in an effort to find a solution acceptable for all stakeholders involved and in line with national law and international human rights standards. The OMV Group’s strong human rights management was put to the test in 2022 when we were faced with major human rights violations related to our business activities.

The OMV Group always seeks to improve and is strongly committed to further strengthening its processes and mitigation measures to prevent any maltreatment and disrespect of workers’ human rights in the supply chain.

At corporate level, we analyzed the HSSE and Procurement directives for contractor management and prepared a detailed checklist for human rights compliance to be used at site level. The revised human rights e-learning refers specifically to human rights in business relations, and the new OMV Group Human Rights Policy Statement details our human rights commitment related to labor rights and business partners in line with business best practice and international standards. A review of our Code of Conduct has been initiated and will be completed in 2023. At local level, individual monitoring initiatives were implemented to ensure our business partners’ compliance with human rights. Among these were spot checks and HSSE walks, the inclusion of human rights in service quality meetings and evaluation criteria with our contractors, the confirmation of contractor employees’ employment registrations with local labor offices, detailed checks of framework contracts, and intensified promotion of our human rights training options. Furthermore, all business entities developed short- and mid-term plans to intensify human rights management in contractor relations.

OMV Petrom has set up a task force comprised of repre­sentatives from Compliance, Procurement, HSSE, Sustainability, HR, and Legal and developed a human rights violations prevention plan for OMV Petrom sites, both with the objective of intensifying human rights management in our business relationships. Some of the measures are the inclusion of human rights in quarterly meetings with contractors, awareness campaigns for our own staff and contractors, and the training of HSSE auditors on human rights.

SapuraOMV has developed a plan of short- and long-term measures to improve our human rights performance in business relations, covering the topics of contractors’ agreements and work permits, wages, working and break times, working and housing conditions, access to grievance mechanisms, and training.

2022 Actions

In addition to rolling out a new Human Rights Policy Statement and new e-learning, our journey in 2022 focused on performing human rights assessments more consistently in existing high-risk assets and new projects. A Human Rights Self-Assessment for OMV Libya was initiated in December 2022 and will be completed in the first Quarter of 2023.

OMV Petrom has prepared the groundwork and taken preliminary steps toward further enhancing the focus on human rights topics, both within its own organization and workforce and along its supply chain. Human rights have been included in the HSSE Management System Audit of a waste management supplier, with the corporate human rights expert contributing with a focus on workers’ compensation, working conditions, hours and break times, and grievance mechanisms in place. This pilot project provided the opportunity to further improve our approach to rolling out combined HSSE and human rights audits in 2023 for selected suppliers, as well as targeted spot checks in contexts where the risks are deemed to be higher.

In 2022, as part of its ongoing human rights due diligence, Borealis assessed the American operations at Borealis Compounds Inc. (BCI) locations. The assessment report, which has been reviewed by an external legal counsel, concludes that BCI staff have a basic awareness of human rights requirements in accordance with applicable law and Borealis Group policies related to human rights. Recommended actions are to continue regular dialogue with management about human rights, require all employees to complete the human rights e-learning in 2023 to strengthen human rights awareness, ensure alignment of labor practices with ILO standards, and fill the Ethics Ambassador role in Rockport in 2023.

In Malaysia, the SapuraOMV Executive Board has signed its Social Responsibility Policy, which includes human rights management. SapuraOMV has delivered human rights awareness training to all staff and main contractors at all sites (Kuala Lumpur, Miri in Sarawak, Labuan, and Pasir Gudang in Johor), with a total of 216 own employees and 36 contractors’ employees participating.

SapuraOMV has also developed an online training course and launched it in November 2022. A Human Rights Self-Assessment of SapuraOMV’s main contractor for the Jerun project in Pasir Gudang, Johor, was initiated and completed in September 2022.

Outlook

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

• We will continue our efforts in 2023, including ongoing training and an awareness-raising campaign for employees. We will further promote our new human rights e-learning training tool and offer (virtual) classroom training to specific target groups. Borealis will offer the new human rights e-learning training tool to their employees starting in 2023.
• 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 2023, we plan to review our Human Rights Management System, including adapting our due diligence process and the Human Rights Matrix to recent developments in the field of human rights in the business context.
• Over the next few years, we will continue to integrate Borealis into our labor rights management process, including but not limited to their incorporation into the risk assessment process. We will further focus on the recent developments in the work environment, mainly regarding digitalization and flexibilization.
• We will continue our work on the integration of climate change and a Just Transition into the OMV Human Rights Management System.