Human Rights

Interim Human Rights Statement

We outline below our approach to human rights and modern slavery with regard to our own operations, our supply chain and the investments we make.

Human Rights

We are guided by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights that set a clear framework to prevent and address Human Rights issues. M&G plc is also a participant in the UN Global Compact, and both our asset manager and owner are signatories to the Principles for Responsible Investment, which provide clear principles and guidance to manage human rights.

Employees

Our values of care and integrity underpin our culture. We believe that everyone should be treated with respect and seek to empower our employees to do the right thing. Our policies, including our Code of Conduct, set clear expectations for respectful behaviour, non-discrimination, health and safety and freedom of association within our workplaces.

In the UK, we have a voluntary recognition agreement with the trade union, UNITE, which covers all eligible employees, as defined in the agreement. The trade union negotiates with management on a number of areas including annual salary pots, principles around their fair distribution and other terms and conditions of employment. We hold a number of D&I accreditations, including the National Equality Standard, LGBT Gold standard and Social Mobility Employer Index Top 100 Employer. Read more on our dedicated Diversity and Inclusion page. M&G is also an accredited Living Wage employer.

Supply chain

Supply chains have inherent human rights risks. We assess suppliers with potential exposure to modern slavery based on whether they fall into a high-risk procurement category such as office furniture and accessories, desktop computers and facilities management. For suppliers identified as high-risk, we then endeavour to understand their approach to managing modern slavery risks through a due diligence supplier questionnaire. This looks at whether suppliers have appropriate systems in place, for example policies, training and other relevant controls. We continue to develop our approach to engaging with suppliers based on the output from the supplier assessment.

Investments

As an investor, our influence extends beyond our direct operations or those of our supply chains. We seek to integrate ESG across all investments where appropriate, possible and financially material. See both our asset owner ESG Investment Policy and asset manager ESG Integration and Sustainable Investing policy for more information.

We undertake company-level sustainability research and analysis, which incorporates human rights issues where this is considered applicable. Where we identify high-risk companies in relation to human rights, using internal and external expertise and data, such as the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, we may engage companies or put them forward for consideration by our Global Norms Committee. The committee, consists of representatives from across our business, including our asset manager and asset owner and discusses cases to determine if exclusion, engagement or monitoring is the most suitable course of action. For funds and mandates applying an exclusion based on global norms (e.g. UN Global Compact Principles, which includes human rights), the committee decides whether we consider companies to be responsible for breaches of norms (as identified by data providers and/or internal research).

Reporting

We publish a range of disclosures that outline how we identify, prevent, mitigate and, where relevant, remediate human rights risks across our operations and value chain. Our annual Modern Slavery Statement sets out the steps we take to address risks of human trafficking and modern slavery within our sphere of influence. All statements are available here. Our Annual Report provides a summary of our human rights approach. In addition, Stewardship reports are published annually by both our Asset Owner and Asset Manager detailing how we use our influence as an investor, including how we engage with investee companies on human rights and modern slavery.

Reframing retirement

Human Rights

Interim Human Rights Statement

Human Rights

Employees

Supply chain

Investments

Reporting

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