Hennes & Mauritz

H&M displays a commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment. In addition to being a signatory to the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), the company has established a gender strategy that goes beyond general support for diversity and inclusion to include an organisation-wide commitment to gender representation and women’s empowerment in the supply chain. Moreover, H&M has identified its global leader for diversity and inclusiveness as responsible for gender efforts. However, the company does not disclose specific, time-bound targets related to gender.

H&M conducts employee surveys and has established employee engagement mechanisms, though it is unclear to what extent these specifically address gender equality and women’s empowerment issues. The company engages with external stakeholders on gender-related issues. For example, it has partnered with the International Labour Organization’s Garment Industry Project to deliver training and capacity building programmes to workers on a range of gender topics such as sexual and reproductive health and prevention of sexual harassment. H&M has also launched a partnership with the International Organization for Migration to take a country-by-country approach to targeting and reducing risks of forced labour for migrant workers.

The company’s grievance mechanism allows concerns to be reported anonymously and ensures non-retaliation and protection of the aggrieved party. However, it does not include additional gender-responsive elements, for example ensuring user confidentiality and allowing verbal submissions of complaints via a telephone line. Though supply chain workers do not have access to H&M’s grievance mechanism, the company requires its suppliers to establish their own grievance mechanisms.

H&M has a gender-responsive human rights due diligence process whereby it identifies and assesses salient gender-related risks. These include sexual harassment, gender discrimination, unequal remuneration, human trafficking, payment of a living wage and access to healthcare and income security. Moreover, the company screens for gender-related issues among its suppliers as part of its audit processes, including sexual harassment and gender-based violence as well as discrimination against women based on their pregnancy and marital status. It also requires corrective action to be taken if these issues are identified.

There is limited information available to indicate that H&M considers the fair representation of women in the workplace. With a workforce that is 40% female, the company maintains a gender balance – between 40-60% – among its senior executives (46%) and has a woman CEO. However, there is an imbalance in its board of directors (67%). The company does not disclose the gender composition of its senior or middle managers or its workforce by occupational function. Neither were details found regarding whether it offers professional development programmes with specific support for women.

In the supply chain, however, the company supports its suppliers in offering professional development opportunities to women workers. In Bangladesh, H&M initiated the Women Worker Progression Programme by collaborating with the International Finance Corporation and Better Work on the Gender Equality and Returns initiative to enable women sewing workers to take on supervisory roles following a tailored training programme. Moreover, the company addresses the systemic discrimination that women face by requiring its suppliers to have a non-discrimination policy that explicitly protects pregnant and married women workers.

Though no details were found regarding recognition agreements with local trade unions or collective bargaining agreements currently in place, H&M expects suppliers to respect the rights of workers to establish and join organisations and requires them to prohibit intimidation, harassment, retaliation and violence against trade union representatives.

No information is disclosed concerning whether the company actively procures from women-owned businesses or takes specific actions to increase the procurement spend directed to these businesses.

While H&M reports on its gender pay gap in the United Kingdom, thereby complying with national regulation, no information was found regarding how the company specifically addresses the gender pay gap across its global operations to ensure its women employees receive fair compensation for their work.

In terms of family-friendly benefits, the company offers eight weeks of paid parental leave to its employees in the United States. While this policy exceeds the International Labour Organization’s recommended two weeks of paid paternity leave, it is below the recommended 14 weeks of paid maternity leave. There were no details available regarding the company’s carer leave policy across its global operations. Furthermore, no information was found on whether H&M offers employees childcare or promotes their return to work after leave. The company does, however, offer flexible working hours to its employees.

H&M requires suppliers to offer their workers formal written contracts in their own language. While the company does not require its suppliers to pay their workers a living wage, it encourages them to pay a salary that covers workers’ basic needs and provides discretionary income. It also discloses the wages that workers are paid across its supply chain and actively supports initiatives to improve wages in the fashion industry. For instance, the company has joined the Fair Wage Network to expand one of the main global databases on decent wages. Similarly, it is involved with the Action, Collaboration, Transformation initiative which supports the payment of living wages through collective bargaining. No information was found regarding whether suppliers are required to provide their workers with paid carer leave or other family-friendly benefits.

No information was found to suggest that H&M covers additional costs surrounding maternal health services or the mental health needs specific to its women employees. However, it covers some sexual and reproductive services such as fertility coverage to US-based employees as well as information through its healthy pregnancy/healthy babies programme.

In the supply chain, H&M requires suppliers to provide their workers with access to drinking water and personal protective equipment. However, no information was found regarding whether suppliers are required to address the specific health, safety and hygiene needs of their women workers, such as providing toilets separated by gender, adequately lit factory facilities or training in proper chemical handling procedures. H&M supports some of its suppliers in providing their workers with access to gender-responsive health information. For instance, the company partnered with the International Labour Organization’s Garment Industry Project to deliver training to workers in Myanmar on gender-related issues such as sexual and reproductive health. However, the company does not require its suppliers to have a clinic with credentialed health providers. Neither does it disclose data on the gender composition of workers’ injuries, fatalities, turnover or absenteeism rates.

H&M seeks to prevent violence and harassment through its Global Non-Discrimination and Non-Harassment Policy, which prohibits harassment and other improper conduct of any kind across the organisation. The policy applies to employees, suppliers and third parties. The company also provides support to its suppliers to prevent violence and harassment through a pilot project with the International Organization for Migration aimed at better understanding risks and opportunities related to migrant and juvenile workers in Myanmar.

No details were found regarding the company’s effective remedy for violence and harassment grievances reported by its employees or supply chain workers, such as not requiring private arbitration or silencing agreements.

While H&M has not publicly committed to avoiding harmful gender stereotypes, it has made a general public commitment to celebrate diversity across its designs, products, marketing and communications through campaigns such as My Body My Image. Moreover, its Responsible Marketing Policy seeks to ensure that models in its campaigns portray the current fashion in a positive and healthy manner.

H&M drives support for gender equality and women’s empowerment in the communities where it operates through a number of initiatives. For instance, the H&M Foundation and CARE established the Global Program for Equality, which equips women with training, tools and financial support to grow their businesses and boost their confidence. Through its partnership with Visa, the United Nations Development Programme and Habitat, the company also works to improve the financial literacy of young people and other workers in its supply chain in Turkey, helping them to manage their money more effectively through peer-led training in budget and debt management, financial services, pensions and investments. Furthermore, the company contributed to Plan International’s gender equality efforts on International Women’s Day.

H&M has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic through the H&M Foundation, which has donated $500,000 to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. The aim is to ensure all countries are prepared, especially those with the weakest health systems.