NF5 Speak Up

Employees and external parties who witness a violation of the Code of Conduct, laws or our policies can report the violation, anonymously if requested, through the global reporting tool Speak Up. They can also ask questions related to the Code of Conduct through Speak Up.

In 2020, we launched a global Speak Up training, consisting of four lessons, with the purpose of informing the employees about the whistleblowing process. The first and last lesson included a survey about employee awareness of and trust in Speak Up. According to the surveys, the training showed very good results with substantial improvements in both awareness and trust across the organization. This was confirmed in the 2020 Employee Engagement Survey, where 92 percent (83 in 2018) of respondents said they were aware of Speak Up and 78 percent (74 in 2018) said they trust that they can report without fear of retaliation.

Speak Up is available through Sandvik internet and intranet portals, as well as through telephone hotlines 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in all major countries where Sandvik operates. Speak Up reports are screened and each case is then assigned an investigator that conducts the investigation, supported by a specialist investigation function.

In 2020, 203 (142) Speak Up incidents were reported (see distribution in chart). Of all cases opened and closed in 2020, 63 percent were closed within 90 days and the substantiation rate of closed cases amounted to 45 (38) percent. 2 percent (4) of all Speak Up reports related to human rights matters. In 2020, we added division data to the reports in order to provide the business areas with more detailed statistics.