Purpose

International Workplace Group plc (‘IWG’) is committed to supporting employees and stakeholders during the transition to a low-carbon, nature positive economy. Our just transition commitment aims to contribute to minimising inequality, vulnerability and promoting opportunities throughout the global shift from fossil-fuels and towards decarbonisation.

As climate change accelerates and transition strategies are becoming more critical, it is important to provide support to our employees, contractors, supply chain partners and communities. As a responsible business, we are committed to ensuring rights are protected, and none of our stakeholders are left behind in the transition.

Scope

Our commitment applies globally across all IWG operations and seeks alignment among employees, contractors, customers, landlords, supply chain partners, and our local communities, where feasible, through engagement, collaboration, and proportionate due diligence measures.

Definitions

Equity: recognising and addressing imbalances or barriers with an aim to ensure equal opportunities and fair treatment, access, and advancement for all people.

Just Transition: an inclusive approach to sustainability that aims to ensure the shift to a low-carbon, nature-positive economy happens in a fair and equitable way.

Net Zero: Net Zero means reducing the greenhouse gases we produce as much as possible and removing any remaining unavoidable emissions through carbon removal technologies. At IWG, we’re committed to reaching net zero by 2040. To meet this target, we are switching from fossil fuels to renewables and working with our suppliers and partners to lower their impact too.

Policy Statement

Just Transition as part of our decarbonisation strategy

Equitable Distribution of Responsibility

IWG recognises the importance of equity throughout the transition to net zero. To support a just and fair transition to Net Zero, IWG will apply principles of equity and fairness to guide the distribution of emissions ensuring responsibility for reduction is just and fair. This distributes the burden in an equitable manner.

Mitigation of Impacts on Humans

Any mitigation actions taken to reduce our emissions will take a human centric approach, respecting the rights and minimising adverse impacts on vulnerable people and communities. IWG will conduct ongoing human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, and mitigate potential adverse impacts.

Promoting Just Transition for our employees and contractors

IWG recognises the importance of promoting respect, protection and opportunities for our employees and contractors during the transition to a low-carbon and nature positive economy.

Rights at Work and Social Protection

IWG continues to maintain that our employees and contractors have their rights at work protected, respected, promoted and realised in alignment with our Fair Treatment Policy. This includes:

• Zero tolerance to any form of slavery, human rights abuses including modern slavery or human trafficking in any part of its business as set out in the IWG Modern Slavery Act
• The consideration of any possible indirectly discriminatory effect of its standards working practices, including number of hours to be worked, the times at which these are to be worked and place at which work is done.

Our commitment is to maintain a healthy and safe working environment for all of our employees and contractors throughout our global network as outlined in our internal Health and Safety Policy.

IWG recognises and respects the rights of employees to freely associate, organise, and engage in collective bargaining.

Inclusive and Equitable Practices

We will continue to promote inclusive and equitable practices within our business operations. We provide an equitable recruitment process as outlined in the Fair Treatment Policy. Our recruitment policy encourages applications from people of all backgrounds, with a commitment to equal opportunities and strives to comply with local legislation and international standards.

IWG is committed to ensuring a work environment free of harassment and bullying and that treats everyone with dignity and respect. We believe that our employees and contractors are entitled to the same rights to be free from discrimination, harassment and abuse wherever they may be located.

Further information is outlined in our Fair Treatment Policy.

Training and Upskilling

As part of our commitment to just transition, IWG will focus on upskilling and training our employees with a focus on human capital development. We seek to provide training and awareness opportunities and fair treatment for all individuals with an aim to ensure that our employees are informed about relevant sustainability-related issues and best practices.

Just Transition alignment of our supply chain partners

IWG expects our supply chain partners to align on our principles of minimising environmental and human-centric impacts throughout operations.

Rights at Work

For our supply chain partners, we aim to ensure alignment with our Supplier Code of Conduct, Fair Treatment Policy, and Modern Slavery Act, on a safe and healthy workplace for everyone.

All work is conducted on a voluntary basis, and under no circumstances should a supplier use forced labour.

All employees are paid fair wages which meet or exceed legal minimum standards or appropriate prevailing industry standards.

Working hours for all employees are reasonable.

IWG expects all suppliers to provide their employees with a healthy and safe workplace, as per local health and safety laws and regulations.

Under no circumstance should a supplier employ individuals under the local legal minimum age for work.

Inclusive and Equitable Practices

IWG expects our supply chain partners to adhere to our Supplier Code of Conduct to ensure they align to our values on workplace respect and inclusive work environment requirements. This includes establishing a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace for all their employees.

Supply Chain Due Diligence

To mitigate impacts in the supply chain, IWG will continue to assess and improve our supply chain due diligence process to minimise impacts from our partners on the environment or communities. We seek to align our due diligence process with the recommendation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises to support the effective identification of ethical, environmental and social risks. Please refer to our Supplier Code of Conduct for further information.

Our commitment to local communities and indigenous peoples

IWG is committed to assessing our direct and indirect business operations to prevent any adverse impacts that could affect communities, vulnerable peoples and indigenous peoples. We encourage our supply chain partners to align with our values and create positive social and economic relationships with local communities, and mitigate any potential negative impacts on communities, vulnerable peoples and indigenous peoples. Please refer to our Supplier Code of Conduct for further information.

Land Rights

IWG is committed to respecting the land rights of indigenous peoples and will seek to avoid business activities that may negatively impact those rights. IWG will continue to consider land rights consideration for indigenous peoples and local communities and their rights and title to property and land when making informed business decisions.

Roles and Responsibilities

IWG has an independent and diverse Board of Directors. The Board regularly reviews and assesses environmental performance and seeks to ensure alignment with its corporate strategy. The Board sets environmental targets and frameworks to comply with for the business, based on the business department and jurisdiction.

Compliance

Compliance with the just transition commitment will be monitored by IWG’s Sustainability team with progress on this reported annually through IWG’s Impact Report. Non-compliance may be escalated in accordance with IWG’s internal risk management and supplier governance process.

References

This commitment was created with consideration and input from the following:  

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
• ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
• OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
• UN Children’s Rights and Business Principles
• ILO Convention 169, concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples
• ILO Just Transition Guidelines
• UNGC Just Transition Guidelines
• ISO Net Zero Guidelines

Policies:

• Fair Treatment Policy
• Supplier Code of Conduct
• Modern Slavery Act