Human Rights

Our commitment

Dentsu is committed to upholding all internationally recognized human rights and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in every aspect of our operations.
Our industry holds the power to shape perceptions, influence behavior, and impact lives. Promoting and respecting human rights as core business strategy therefore not only aligns with our vision to be at the forefront of people-centered transformations that shape society but is also essential to our long-term success.

Our commitment to human rights (video)

Governance

The respect for human rights underpins our purpose, vision, and value creation towards the realization of the society we aspire to create. It has senior sponsorship, with our Global Chief Governance Officer overseeing our Group human rights program and our Heads of Human Rights responsible for overseeing day-to-day implementation.

Human Rights is a standing agenda item at the Executive-level Group Sustainability Committee which meets four times a year. Issues specific to Japan are covered by the Dentsu Group Human Rights Committee and Dentsu Human Rights Education Conference.

As an ethical and sustainable business, our commitment to upholding and respecting human rights extends beyond compliance and cuts across all aspects of our organization.

Our Heads of Human Rights work closely with our Global Functions teams – including Human Resources, Legal & Compliance, Procurement, Comms, and Brand Assurance – to embed human rights considerations, provide expertise, and build capacity for the day-to-day management of human rights risks. This includes various training initiatives including online content, and function/practice-specific workshops, to consultation from internal expertise.

In our international operations, human rights considerations are also represented at each functional working group – including the Legal & Compliance Sustainability Working Group, the Sustainable Procurement Working Group and the Policy Working Group.

Policies

“We honor internationally recognized principles of human rights. Abuses that contravene those rights will not be tolerated within our business or those of our business partners.” - Dentsu Group Code of Conduct.

Our Code of Conduct, Supplier Code of Conduct and standalone Human Rights Policy set out our commitment to honor all internationally recognized frameworks and principles of human rights, and the expectations on all employees and suppliers.

The Human Rights Policy was developed through cross-functional collaboration and external expert stakeholder consultation and is approved by the Group Management Board. It is reviewed periodically to reflect operational changes, and compliance is tracked.

It outlines our commitments to mitigate our most salient human rights impacts – as identified by our Human Rights Saliency Assessment. (See Impacts and Risks for further information) and is complemented by detailed standalone policies for specific human rights impacts including our Human Resources Policy, Supplier Code of Conduct, Global Data Protection Principles, and Physical Security Policy.

The Human Rights Policy is communicated internally, including through an online training video, and is publicly available here.

All employees, suppliers and external stakeholders are encouraged to raise any human rights concerns through our externally operated, free, anonymous, and confidential Speak Up portal.

Impacts and risks

We proactively identify and track global and market-level risks relating to human rights, including:

  • real time SMS alerts for societal, environmental, and security events,
  • bi-annual assessments of the risk profiles of our markets using open-sourced data, and
  • our annual employee engagement survey.

We have a dedicated resilience program that supports the physical security and wellbeing of our employees when operating in or travelling to conflict and natural disaster affected geographies.

We extend our risk screening to our Global Functions suppliers, assessing their risk profiles based on location, product category and questionnaire response.

To complement our ongoing risk screening, we appointed an external expect agency to conduct a Group-wide Human Rights Saliency Assessment, identifying and assessing our salient human rights risks. This included interviews with internal and external stakeholders and incorporated affected stakeholder engagement through employee and consumer survey results. The assessment covered all aspects of our global operations, including our supply chain.

Our most salient human rights issues are:

Salient issueCommitment
Equality and non-discrimination
  • We do not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, religion, nationality, ethnic or social origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, pregnancy, neuro-diversity, differing physical or mental abilities, or any other characteristic.
  • We uphold the principles of equality and diversity in all aspects of our operations and strive to eliminate the perpetuation of stereotypes and biases throughout our business, from supporting our own employees, advancing representation in the media, being mindful of media placement, and partnering with diverse suppliers.
Freedom of Thought, Opinion, Religion and Belief, and Freedom of Expression and Access to Information
  • We strive to ensure that our clients’ messages are not associated with content that promotes misinformation, disinformation, division or discrimination by collaborating with global and local industry organizations that focus on safety and responsibility as well as with Ad Tech partners that focus on advertiser protection.
  • We work closely with our partners and platforms to promote access to accurate and reliable information, uphold ethical standards and contribute to a safer and more inclusive online environment.
Labor rights and harassment
  • We adhere to international labor standards and local regulations for all employees, contingent workers, visitors, clients, customers, and suppliers and in some circumstances, job applicants, candidates, and ex-employees at dentsu and its associated companies.
  • We do not tolerate bullying, discrimination, harassment, and victimization (i.e., retaliation) in the workplace, and provide anonymous channels for reporting and addressing concerns.
  • We have a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of slavery and a commitment to comply with applicable employment and human rights legislation, including relevant child labor laws. We require the same from our partners.
  • We respect the right of all workers to form and join a trade union of their choice or bargain collectively without fear of intimidation or reprisal, in accordance with national law.
  • In conflict-affected areas, where additional challenges may arise, we will take extra precautions to ensure the safety and security of our employees, working closely with local authorities and stakeholders to mitigate risks and uphold human rights.
Privacy and data security
  • We implement appropriate governance and assurance measures to ensure compliance with our data protection obligations. Our approach and commitment to this is enshrined in our Data Protection Principles.
  • We see data protection as a fundamental human right, so we treat people and their personal data carefully and with respect so we can be a force for good among the organizations, partners and communities in which we work and live.
  • We are committed to being transparent in our handling and processing of personal data at all times in accordance with applicable privacy and data protection laws.
Child Rights
  • We acknowledge the special protections afforded to children under international human rights law and commit to respecting and promoting the rights of children in all aspects of our work.
  • We adhere to laws and regulations governing the protection of children’s privacy and ensuring that any data collected from or about children is handled fairly and responsibly.
Right to a healthy environment
  • We integrate environmental sustainability into our business practices, minimize our environmental footprint, and advocate for policies and initiatives that protect and preserve the environment for present and future generations.

Due Diligence

We conduct human rights due diligence throughout our operations and supply chain to identify, prevent, and mitigate risks. Our approach is aligned with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

  • Assess
  • Commit
  • Act
  • Embed
  • Track
  • Communicate

We encourage all employees and external stakeholders to raise any human rights concerns. We provide a variety of channels for employees to raise concerns and grievances including our Speak Up @dentsu portal, which is externally operated, free, anonymous and confidential, and available in all appropriate languages.

Our Supplier Code of Conduct requires suppliers to raise any actual or potential concerns or suspicions of wrongdoing related to their engagement or relationship with dentsu, including any breaches of the Supplier Code, using the Speak Up @dentsu portal.

We undertake thorough investigations into concerns raised, and where they are substantiated, we take appropriate remedial and corrective actions.

Employees and contingent workers receive annual training on our Code of Conduct, including information on Speak Up @dentsu.

Incidents

Since 2023, serious allegations of human rights abuses were recognized in the entertainment industry in Japan with which we engage. We are closely monitoring the status of the measures they are taking to rectify the issue, and are increasing our due diligence with this, in-line with our Code of Conduct, Supplier Code of Conduct, and Human Rights Policy.

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