Hartalega Holdings Berhad (Hartalega or the Group) is the world's leading nitrile glove manufacturer with over 37 years of experience in producing high-quality gloves to protect healthcare practitioners and glove users globally. As Hartalega continues to grow by leaps and bounds, we are committed to touching lives and creating positive impacts through innovative healthcare products.
Guided by our SHIELD core values, we uphold the belief of doing the right thing at all times. Our strong business ethics and values are reflected in how we conduct ourselves daily in all aspects of our business, ensuring that the rights and welfare of all employees are supported and protected at all times.
We strictly abide by both local and global standards for human rights and social compliance. This includes Malaysian labour laws and the International Labour Organization (ILO)'s 11 Indicators of Forced Labour. This is reflected through our social compliance policies which are aligned with local and international benchmarks against child labour and young workers, workplace discrimination, modern slavery, human trafficking and forced labour.
In all that we do, we go above and beyond to ensure that regardless of nationality, race, religion, gender or age, all our employees are treated with fairness and respect.
As a responsible and ethical corporate citizen, Hartalega firmly believes in accountability in how we operate. In our pursuit for purpose-driven growth, we intend to create a positive and enduring impact for the community, environment, marketplace, and workplace.
We advocate integrating sustainability practices across all aspects of our operations in keeping with economic, environmental, social and governance considerations, focusing on four key pillars:
Pillar 1: Uphold the highest standards in our business practices and product quality
Pillar 2: Care for the Environment
Pillar 3: Care for Our Employees
Pillar 4: Contribute to the Wellbeing of Local Communities
Aligned with our Sustainability Policy and Framework, our sustainability approach is premised on identifying economic, environmental, social and governance topics that matter most to both Hartalega and our stakeholders. In FY2025, we carried out a high-level review of our materiality assessment to ensure that our material matters remained relevant and significant to our stakeholders and the Group. Following the review, the material matters of Human Rights which were encapsulated in third pillar - Caring for our Employees of our Sustainability Framework, continues to remain as one of the key considerations in our business.
Our commitment to making a meaningful difference in our impact sees us actively supporting the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by aligning our efforts with global initiatives to address prevailing challenges for people and the planet and forge a path towards a brighter future for generations to come. Through supporting and upholding social compliance, we align ourselves with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Operating from our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Sepang, Selangor, Hartalega has the capacity to produce billions of gloves every year. Driven by the demand for our innovative and quality products, we export to over 70 countries in different regions across the globe such as North America, Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. Apart from our original equipment manufacturer (OEM) business, we continued to reinforce our market presence via MUN Global, the global distribution arm for Hartalega to focus on emerging and developing countries.
To ensure the resiliency and the sustainability of our supply chain, we procure materials from both local and international suppliers. We understand that responsible supply chain management is instrumental in promoting transparency, ethical practices and protecting workers' rights. Hence, our relationships with suppliers are premised on ethical conduct and deeply ingrained in our corporate ethos. We continue to maintain this by enhancing our focus on suppliers' compliance with economic, environmental, social and governance practices in keeping up with Hartalega's efforts.
Our governing policies towards human rights are spearheaded by our Human Resource - Social Compliance Department. Working closely with other departments, the Human Resource - Social Compliance Department is responsible for the implementation of effective social compliance practices, in addition to the management of internal and external social compliance audits. This enables us to maintain our rigorous standards, continuously enhance our strategies, and undertake corrective action when necessary.
Our commitment to advancing our social compliance journey is part of our robust risk management framework and best corporate governance practices. In addition to enforcing strict codes of conduct for both employees and suppliers, we actively evaluate our operations and supply chain and undertake the necessary due diligence to identify potential risks, close gaps, and implement continuous improvements to strengthen our human rights performance.
This is supported by regular risk-based assessments and audits that prescribe to international standards of Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA), amfori Business Social Compliance Initiative (amfori BSCI) and Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) certification, as well as corresponding with the requirements of our clientele. We also put in place due diligence efforts towards responsible recruitment and other areas in our operations.
In alignment with the core elements of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (EUCSDDD), we have initiated our Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) process. As part of the ongoing initiative, activities in FY2025 have included conducting worker interview sessions with employees and onsite service providers.
Cultivating a culture of open dialogue helps us create a supportive working environment for all Hartanians. To ensure migrant workers have an equal voice, worker representatives from each dormitory are elected by their fellow workers', with diverse nationalities represented. The workers' representatives attend monthly meetings, where they can directly interface with the Senior Management to express the needs, concerns, and feedback of all workers.
All employees have the freedom to create, join or associate with trade unions through legal means, and to bargain collectively. We uphold this in our supply chain via our Supplier Code of Conduct, requiring our suppliers, sub-contractors and service providers to enable the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining for their workers.
We have implemented a robust grievance mechanism that facilitates safe reporting of non-compliance or unethical behaviour for employees. This mechanism provides multiple channels for employees to voice their grievances in a confidential manner, such as via QR code, email, telephone, worker representatives, department managers, Social Compliance department, Human Resource Business Partners (HRBPs) and HR Industrial Relations in the HR Department and/or security supervisors.
Once a grievance is reported, this will trigger an investigation by our Human Resource Department. This is carried out in a timely manner, engaging with whistleblowers within two weeks of a report being lodged. The results of the investigation are submitted directly to the CHRO and CEO to take necessary action. In FY2025, a total of 22 grievances were reported and resolved.
A Whistleblowing Policy and Procedure has been implemented to enable all stakeholders, including employees, suppliers, customers, shareholders, or any parties with a business relationship with the Group with an avenue to report suspected wrongdoings that may adversely impact the Group. The Group treats all reports in a confidential manner and at the same time provides protection for anyone who reports such concerns in good faith. Whistleblowing reports are lodged to an independent third-party outsourced service provider via email and/or website (“Hartalega Speak Up”), which are available in multiple languages, namely English, Bahasa Malaysia, Burmese, Bengali and Nepali.
This is aligned with the Whistleblowing Policy and Procedure that is in place to provide an avenue to employees, suppliers, customers and other applicable stakeholders to report on genuine concerns with regard to unethical behaviour, malpractice, regulatory or legal violations or similar.
In compliance with the Malaysia Employment Act, we maintain decent working hours and overtime limits that are below the statutory limits. In FY2025, we comply to a maximum of 60 hours work week inclusive of overtime, , which is well below the national legal limit of 72 weekly hours.. All overtime is closely tracked, regulated and approved, and is on a voluntary basis with fair compensation provided. Digital tools and third-party audits help us accurately monitor, manage and uphold ethical working hours.
To foster a safe and conducive working environment free from any form of harassment, a Sexual Harassment Procedure was established to provide an effective mechanism to eradicate any forms of sexual harassment and instil a zero-tolerance approach against sexual harassment at the workplace. This entails setting a clear definition of sexual harassment, the roles and responsibilities of employees, Head of Departments and superiors, and the HR Department, as well as a Sexual Harassment complaint process.
To ensure good quality of life for our migrant workers, we provide first-rate accommodation which adheres to the ILO's regulations and surpasses the Workers' Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities (Amendment) Act 2019 (Act 446) stipulated by Malaysian laws. With more than RM142 million invested to date, our multi-purpose accommodation is fully equipped with facilities and amenities on-site to cater for the comfort and convenience of employees.
Further prioritising employee well-being, we have a Health Management Programme in place to support employees in the management of non-communicable diseases. Spearheaded by our sickbay team, services offered include screening for early detection and treatment of health conditions and non-occupational disease where costs for medical screening tests are borne by the Group.
In addition, we regularly assess our adherence to social compliance standards and relevant human rights regulations through external audit programmes, both customer-appointed and self-initiated. This includes the SMETA, amfori BSCI, RBA and WRAP audit programmes, as well as external audits in line with our customers' Codes of Conduct covering NGC facilities . In FY2025, we underwent a total of 12 external audits at our NGC facility, including assessments under the amfori BSCI, WRAP and RBA frameworks. These audits reported no major or critical findings, allowing us to sustain an exemplary compliance record with an A rating in our amfori BSCI audit, "Gold" certification in our WRAP audit, and "Silver" certification in our RBA audit.
Extending our commitment to safeguarding human rights to our supply chain, we implemented Supplier Code of Conduct and conduct pre-assessment audits for all new and existing on-site suppliers and sub-contractors, allowing us to ensure suppliers adhere to our social compliance standards and to identify potential human rights risks. Existing on-site service providers are also evaluated to assess their compliance with social compliance guidelines. Following these audits, the management engages with suppliers on Corrective Action and Preventative Action (CAPA) measures, driving continuous improvement and accountability throughout the supply chain.
We take matters relating to people very seriously in Hartalega. To foster a good understanding of human rights and social compliance amongst our workforce, we provide training to our employees to ensure that all our employees understand our policy of eliminating forced labour, child labour and human trafficking.
Employees are required to complete e-learning modules on an annual basis. Our elected worker representatives also disseminate information on our human rights and social compliance practices to employees who do not have access to the e-learning platform. Employees at the management level and key personnel across departments receive additional training to be better equipped in handling human rights matters.
In FY2025, our workforce collectively logged 3,977 hours of human rights and social compliance training via our e-learning platform. During the year, apart from the dedicated e-learning modules, our HR Department also strategically embedded social compliance modules within other training programmes, further enhancing learning outcomes.
Regular engagements and industry collaborations enable us to transparently communicate on our social compliance performance with stakeholders, while providing the opportunity to contribute to driving positive change in the industry. In FY2025, we continued to engage with government authorities from key markets, customers, suppliers, NGOs, industry participants and academia. Alongside this, we participated in various industry-driven initiatives and forums aimed at strengthening human rights and labour practices within the glove sector.
As a founding member of the Responsible Glove Alliance (RGA) and member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), we continued to strive for the implementation of best practices within the glove sector and the global supply chain, in collaboration with global industry participants and stakeholders.