Ethics and compliance

Labour audits

To prevent and mitigate the risk of labour rights violations, we ensure that frequent HR operations audits are conducted of working hours, rest periods and holidays, health assessments, workplace conditions, and other criteria, the compliance with and control of which are aimed at ensuring a dignified workplace and the wellbeing of employees. A recovery plan is defined where nonconformities are identified, closely monitored by the HR team. The subsequent audit is also brought forward, to confirm implementation of the recovery plan. In 2024, a total of 544 audits were carried out at Pingo Doce, Recheio, Jerónimo Martins Agro-alimentar (JMA), JMRS and Hussel. Given the flexibility required in the agricultural sector, we are increasingly using temporary labour and, in this regard, in addition to audits, JMA has a process in place to verify the criteria for protecting human and labour rights that it applies to its partners (in particular, the existence of workers’ compensation insurance, proof of communication to Social Security, employment contracts, medical certificates, pay slips, holiday maps and work schedules).

Ara’s teams also monitor a criticality map that allows them to control priority labour rights indicators (some examples of the aspects monitored by these indicators include working times, rest times, labour costs, full-time equivalent (FTEs), employee turnover, absenteeism and disciplinary proceedings and the assessment of these aspects culminates in a criticality score ranging from 1 to 5, assigned to stores, areas and managers, among others). As a result of this analysis, audits are triggered on stores with an identified risk, with 916 audits having been carried out in 2024.

Forced and child labour eradication

In the fight against forced labour and as part of The Consumer Goods Forum, we continued our involvement in the Human Rights Coalition (HRC), which is a space for dialogue that brings together companies and experts to promote human rights due diligence. To this end, in 2024 we took part in a voluntary assessment process to understand the level of maturity of our human rights due diligence process, which measured commitments and policies, governance structure, risk assessment, action planning, stakeholder engagement, grievance mechanisms and reporting channels in different dimensions, such as forced labour and occupational health and safety. The HRC also developed a publicly accessible tool with AIM-Progress and Proforest, two internationally recognised entities in the social and environmental fields, with a view to converging the duty of social and environmental vigilance.

Group-wide, we ensure the prevention and eradication of child labour by defining policies and implementing recruitment and selection procedures that prohibit the hiring of persons under the legally permitted employment age. In 2024, the Global Child Forum, which assesses the policies developed and implemented by organisations to address the impact on children’s rights, ranked us as a “Leader”, in first place among Portuguese companies and third worldwide in food retail, with a score of 8.5 points out of 10 possible points (4.2 points above the average of the 1,802 companies assessed).

Freedom of association and collective bargaining

A top concern in safeguarding our employees’ rights is freedom of association and collective bargaining. Under the terms of applicable law, all employees are free to form and join organisations without the need for prior authorisation and may be represented by them when negotiating agreements with their employer. Collective bargaining, for now only applicable to Portugal, covers 98.2% of employees in the country¹, where we have 13 active collective agreements.

In the context of social dialogue, we participate in several bargaining forums with employee representation structures. In Portugal, we actively participate through sectoral employers’ organisations, such as APED (Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies), and those that cut across various industries, such as CIP (Confederation of Portuguese Business). We also contribute to sectoral social dialogue at European level promoted by the European Commission, where the Group is represented through its membership of EuroCommerce. The Group has 85.9% of employees in Companies with employee representation in Portugal and 95.4% in Poland, ensuring the timely compliance, in accordance with the laws of each country, with all rules related to the right to information and/or consultation in force.

Communication and training

We ensure regular communication campaigns and training to make sure that our employees are properly informed about their rights and responsibilities in complying with the ethical standards we set. As regards communication, we ensure that employees are aware of both the Code of Conduct and the Anti-Corruption Policy during onboarding. The reinforcement campaigns held throughout the year reached 42,477 employees. In terms of training, in 2024 we launched an e-learning module on the Code of Conduct in the three main countries where we do business. This training is compulsory for all employees and in future integration processes within the Group. Training on the Anti-Corruption Policy is also available to all employees.

We also regularly hold face-to-face and e-learning sessions on labour laws, which saw 11,507 employees trained in 2024.

Resolution mechanisms

We ensure that independent whistleblowing channels are available, accessible and known to all employees. All complaints received through the existing mechanisms to report and remedy wrongdoing are duly investigated and action plans are drawn up, activated and monitored, ensuring confidentiality and the protection of whistleblowers.

The Employee Assistance Service is a dedicated service channel for employees to report, clarify and resolve labour issues. In Portugal, this channel is also used to receive and forward social requests. This channel ensures confidentiality, independence and impartiality, and safeguards employees against any retaliation, discrimination or loss of rights.

In 2024, the employee assistance service in Poland (BOP) was widely publicised through communication campaigns targeting all employees to enhance awareness of the existence and functioning of the channel, and of the role it plays in protecting employees’ human and labour rights. These campaigns reached more than 6,000 visualisations by Biedronka and Hebe employees.

The Ethics Committee is an independent body tasked with monitoring disclosure of and compliance with the standards and principles of the Code of Conduct and Anti-Corruption Policy. It has its own dedicated website that allows employees, as well as any interested party with whom our Companies work or interact, including workers who are not employees, to confidentially report any instance of non-compliance with or violation of the law, internal policies or principles, in particular related to assault, harassment, conflicts of interest, corruption, discrimination, fraud, improper business practices or the misuse of information, among other wrongdoing.

In addition to the four Ethics Offices in Portugal, in 2024 two offices were opened in Poland and one in Slovakia. These are independent reporting channels which, together with the Ethics Committee, are responsible for ensuring the receipt and follow-up of reports of any wrongdoing related to the Companies, consistent with the violation of Union law, national law and the Code of Conduct. The Ethics Committee and Ethics Offices follow the principles of independence, impartiality, integrity, confidentiality and absence of conflicts of interest, and have a platform for managing reports of wrongdoing pursuant to law.

Moreover, in Poland an Anti-Mobbing, Anti-Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Committee is formed whenever a complaint involving these matters is reported, which is responsible for following the complaints and formulating an action plan. In Colombia, the Committee for Labour Co-existence manages complaints relating to working conditions or other work-related problems.

All situations reported via any of these channels are analysed and investigated, and action plans are drawn up for the resolution thereof whenever necessary. In 2024 we received 3,580 labour-related complaints, of which 100% were analysed, 85.4% were closed and 51.9% required remedy actions.

Among the received labour complaints, in 2024 a total of 136 complaints involving discrimination, including harassment, were reported and responded to through our resolution mechanisms. No incidents of forced labour, human trafficking or child labour were identified.

More information on our communication channels with internal and external stakeholders is provided in “Stakeholder engagement and communication channels”.

¹ Only in Portugal, since there are no collective labour regulation instruments in Poland or Colombia applicable to the Group’s Companies, thus corresponding to 24.9% of the Group’s total workforce.