Our human rights due diligence program considers our business activities and potential risks to rights holders consistent with the UNGPs. We recognize that the human rights risks we face today may change over time, and consider due diligence an ongoing, iterative business practice. Due diligence for HP is a systematic process to address actual and potential adverse impacts in operations, supply chain, and in our business model, in relation to customers, community members, workers, and other rights holders. It is a risk-based assessment that is commensurate with the severity and likelihood of adverse impacts.
Since 2011, we have regularly conducted internal human rights impact assessments (HRIA) to take stock of actual and potential human rights risks across our business.
Our approach is to:
• Identify and engage relevant business functions that have the potential for human rights risks, followed by a review of those functions to assess the types of rights holders that may be impacted.
• Compare potential and actual risks of rights holders served by the function against the rights described by the UDHR – enabling us to uncover new or emerging risks that have not previously been identified.
We characterize risk based on scope, likelihood, severity, and difficulty to remediate the impact. We consider risks salient based on the combination of likelihood, severity, and difficulty to remediate. As part of the assessment, we also evaluate the training and other tools used to prevent and mitigate the risks identified. If severe impacts are observed, we evaluate the process by which remedy is considered and administered.
In 2019, we completed a third-party-led human rights impact assessment. The external expert we worked with evaluated the validity of HP’s internal assessment findings and process, recommended improvements to our existing assessment approach, and conducted an independent human rights impact assessment. The approach was as follows:
1. Validating a list of salient human rights risks across HP’s value chain by providing an external expert lens to HP’s existing efforts
2. Assessing the degree to which risks are effectively managed by existing mechanisms
3. Evolving HP’s existing approach to managing risks to ensure coverage of salient human rights risks and alignment with external stakeholder expectations
As the chart below shows, HP’s level of involvement varies in relation to a potential human rights impact. We consider risks in our operations (HP offices, HP manufacturing operations, and suppliers that support these operations) where we could cause or contribute to negative human rights impacts. For example, we can cause an impact through our acts or omissions in managing our work environments; and we can contribute to impacts by supporting a situation where other parties could impact workers, such as contracting a service provider for one of our offices that exploits its workers.
We also consider risks associated with our manufacturing and non-manufacturing suppliers (operating in their own facilities) where we may be directly linked through a business relationship. In these situations, the supplier has a responsibility to manage its operations consistent with local law and HP requirements. We conduct due diligence with these suppliers, but our level of visibility to how suppliers are operating is limited to the periodic visits or audits conducted. Furthermore, the supplier facility is typically supporting many different customers, and our control is through the business influence we can apply in our contractual relationship.
