At Burberry, we are committed to ensuring that we engage with employees, customers and suppliers, not only in accordance with legislation, but ethically and with integrity.
Our Code of Conduct serves as a daily guide for how our colleagues and partners must behave and interact with one another at all times. It outlines the key policies, processes and behaviours that must be adhered to while following all local laws and regulations, and enables our people to make informed, ethical and sustainable decisions. By adhering to our Code, we ensure that we are acting in accordance with our values and are doing well by doing right by our stakeholders.
As an open and caring company, we believe in fostering a culture where everyone feels comfortable speaking up, whether proposing an idea, raising concerns or asking for help.
For concerns of a more serious nature, in countries where we are present and where it is legally permitted, both colleagues and external parties have access to our Burberry Confidential, a global confidential helpline for colleagues, contractors, vendors and external parties to raise their concerns.
As a global business, we have a duty to operate responsibly. Ensuring adherence to local laws and regulations is fundamental to continuing to build trust with our community, and to maintaining our business reputation as a responsible employer and brand. Burberry’s Company Secretary supervises our corporate governance processes with the support of our Legal team to ensure our policies on operating responsibly are enforced.
As a global luxury retailer, wholesaler and manufacturer operating in over 400 retail locations worldwide, we take our corporate, social and environmental responsibilities very seriously. Our tax strategy enables the Group to fulfil those responsibilities with respect to all applicable business taxes and applies to Burberry Group plc, its worldwide subsidiaries and all officers, employees and third parties.
Our tax strategy covers our approach to governance, risk management and compliance; tax planning; dealings with Tax Authorities; and the level of tax risk we are prepared to accept.
We are committed to ensuring our marketing activities and communications are truthful, responsible and transparent in nature, and adhere to all advertising guidelines and applicable regulations in the countries in which we operate.
At Burberry, we believe that it is important to be a socially responsible business, promoting fair and sustainable employment practices internally and by supporting diversity and equal opportunities in the workplace both within our own operations and across our supply chain.
Our Ethical Trading Code of Conduct sets out standards for our employees and for our supply chain partners to uphold in relation to their employees. In terms of our supply chain, we require agreement to the Ethical Trading Code of Conduct from all those involved in our extended supply chain, including all Business Associates.
At Burberry, we believe that fostering diversity of thought and an inclusive culture enables us to be more creative in everything we do, and we are committed to ensuring that our colleague population is representative of the communities we serve.
Our Gender & Ethnicity Pay Gap Report outlines our pay and bonus gaps in the UK as of 5 April 2023. For the third consecutive year, we have also voluntarily disclosed ethnicity pay gap data, reflecting our commitment to transparency and to creating lasting change by continually monitoring our progress.
We recognise the importance of a commitment to promoting a sense of belonging, valuing diversity and creating an equitable and inclusive culture for all. Our Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy provides a global standard for how we can foster an inclusive environment that encourages diverse capabilities, skillsets and mindful allies.
We are committed to ensuring appropriate measures are in place to provide a safe and healthy environment for our colleagues and all visitors attending Burberry’s premises worldwide.
We manage our business in a way that is designed to ensure that we maintain the highest standards of health and safety that are reasonably achievable throughout our global operations. We monitor health and safety performance through an independent audit programme and undertake unannounced audits at key locations on an annual basis and all other sites at least every three years. We follow all applicable guidelines and procedures relevant to our industry as well as following local laws.
A safe, healthy and well-planned business environment is important to the long-term sustainable growth of our business, and we acknowledge the collective and individual roles played by each employee in providing health and safety leadership in their areas of responsibility.
Our Global Parental Leave policy offers all employees 18 weeks of parental leave at full pay and the opportunity to work a 30-hour week at full pay for a further four weeks on their return. The policy builds on our existing maternity, paternity, adoption and partner leave commitments and creates a consistent approach for all employees globally who have worked at the Company for at least 12 months.
We respect and uphold human rights wherever we operate and are committed to taking action and making lasting improvements to both employment practices and workplace conditions. Our Human Rights Policy sets out key procedures across our own operations and extended supply chain. To ensure compliance, which is mandatory, we assess human rights impacts and monitor labour conditions across our own operations and our extended supply chain on a regular basis.
Our Migrant Worker Policy is intended to protect workers who may be vulnerable during domestic and/or international migration. The policy sets out the standards we maintain for our own colleagues and for our supply chain partners to uphold for their workers, irrespective of the reasons for such migration, and promotes workers’ rights with respect to recruitment, remuneration, identification documents, repatriation and living conditions.
Burberry’s Migrant Worker Policy is intended to protect workers who may be vulnerable to exploitation during domestic and / or international migration. Our policy sets standards we uphold in relation to our own employees and for our supply chain partners to uphold in relation to all their workers, not just those who have migrated for work. The policy promotes workers’ rights in relation to recruitment, remuneration, identification documents, repatriation and living terms.
The wellbeing of models who feature in our presentations, content and campaigns is of the utmost importance to us and we prohibit any conduct that negatively impacts their wellbeing while working with Burberry. We have a comprehensive Model Wellbeing Policy that sets out our requirements and is reviewed and updated to ensure alignment to Burberry standards. Central to this is that all models are treated with respect and that all necessary steps are taken to protect their health, safety and wellbeing at all times.
We strive to work with our business associates to ensure compliance with the Responsible Business Principles and, where applicable, any Letter of Undertaking. Our Partner Non-Compliance Policy is designed to give our business associates a reasonable amount of time to rectify any critical issues to minimise any potential and/or detrimental impact on the workers’ livelihoods, subject always to, and without prejudice to, any rights which we may have in contract or otherwise.
We are committed to respecting and upholding human rights wherever we operate, and we do not tolerate any form of modern-day slavery in our business or supply chain.
Our Modern Slavery Statement sets out the steps we have taken during the financial year 2023/24 to prevent slavery and human trafficking from taking place in our supply chain or in any part of our business. This statement is made pursuant to Section 54 of The Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 (SB657).
Our Global Environmental Policy sets out the environmental standards we uphold across our operations and within our extended supply chain. This policy covers the natural resources we use and how we use them, including carbon and air emissions, water, waste and chemicals Management. Our Global Environmental Policy forms part of our Responsible Business Principles and compliance with it is mandatory.
We are committed to responsible and sustainable business practices across our global supply chain. Our Responsible Raw Materials Sourcing Policy sets out the high standards we uphold and how we manage the environmental and social impact of the raw materials we source. We do not use real fur or exotic skins in our products or test our products on animals. The policy is also designed to ensure that we respect biodiversity in the wider environment where we and our supply chain partners could have a negative impact. The policy also forms part of our Responsible Business Principles and compliance with it is mandatory.
The Burberry Foundation is an independent charity (UK registered charity number 1154468) with a commitment to improving the lives of young people across the globe.
Introduced in 2022, The Burberry Foundation works with international youth associations to provide safe spaces for young people to gain confidence, develop valuable skills, and harness the power of creativity to drive positive change in both their lives and communities.
