Ethics, Human Rights and Diversities

Ambition

Driven by its humanist values, the Hermès group’s approach to ethics is aligned with the universal framework of major international principles, standards and agreements. The group has a two-fold requirement: zero tolerance for breaches of probity and a determined commitment to an ethical culture.

Specific systems, supported at the highest level of the organisation, are in place, with tools that formalise our commitments and a policy concerning training, monitoring and alert.

Organisation

The Executive Committee oversees all ethical issues. It is supported by an Ethics Committee, set up in 2018. Chaired by a member of the Executive Committee, it is composed of the group legal director, the human resources director and the legal compliance director.

The committee oversees actions in relation to ethics and has two main missions: advising and making recommendations on the group’s ethical stance and handling internal alerts.

Objectives

Hermès values and commitments are formally laid out ind :

• the group’s code of ethics since 2009; 
• the code of business conduct since 2012;
• the anti-corruption code since 2018.

These charters and codes, available in the “Find out more” section, are in line with fundamental principles, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ILO and OECD rules and the United Nations Global Compact on sustainable development.

Hermès also requires its suppliers to adhere to an ethical, social and environmental policy by signing a dedicated charter called the supplier “Handbook 2”.

Training, inspection and alert policy

The group has set up training courses on ethics and integrity. This training is provided locally, or at seminars, such as the buyers’ seminar. In addition, it has set up a group e-learning system dedicated to ethics and anti-corruption, in place since 2021 and mandatory for all persons considered to be exposed to the risk of corruption, in accordance with the group corruption risk map.

A network of compliance officers has been set up in the métiers and subsidiaries to ensure the dissemination of good practices and as a second line of control, to complement the work of the internal audit teams.

Cybersecurity and personal data protection

The Hermès Group is developing its cybersecurity and personal data protection strategy for its customers, employees and operations. The CISO chairs a set of committees allowing to follow on projects and cyber risk evolution in order to report back to the Executive Committee (specifically to the Managing Director Métiers, Information Systems and Data) and then to the audit and risk committee.

These initiatives are organized in the newest active roadmap 2023-2025, organized into 3 pillars: maintain fundamentals, adapt to new threats and strengthen resilience. Existing security and resilience mechanisms are subject to an array of tests throughout the year.

Company internal rules (règlement intérieur) and Global Information Systems Security Policy (G-ISSP) are the reference documents, based on international standards (such as NIST CyberSecurity Framework or ISO 27001) and security best practices.

IT security and procedural compliance audits are carried out periodically for all subsidiaries, in collaboration with the Audit and Risk Department and with the help of external service providers. They ensure that internal control systems remain effective and adapted to the main current and emerging threats, and that they are properly aligned with the laws and regulations applicable where the company operates.

In this capacity, Hermès is fully committed to the creation and running of the Cyber Campus, whose mission is to bring together digital security players in a totem pole location to protect society and promote French excellence in this field. CERT Hermès, which is now part of InterCERT France, operates from the Campus.

Ambition

Maintaining diversities among its people and talent is the foundation of the brand’s wealth and creativity. The group is highly committed to the principles of recognition, respect and equal opportunities. The group prohibits any situation of discrimination, as defined by French law or any other legislation depending on the country concerned. 

Governance

The diversity policy is overseen by a member of the Executive Committee in charge of organisational governance. It is based on the values and ethics of the House and on the actions overseen by the Group’s Human Resources Department. In order to initiate this approach and give visibility to the action plans defined locally, each métier and/or each country appointed a Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Officer, set objectives, a timetable for actions and monitoring indicators. The Group labour relations department will provide input to this network of 28 D&I Officers, covering 100% of the Group’s workforce, several times a year.

Objectives

Diversity of talent is a source of wealth, creativity and innovation. The “Hermès, Responsible Employer” policy aims to facilitate the integration of all employees by developing concrete actions to promote:

• ethics: respect for difference is presented to employees in the ethics charter, created in 2009 and updated in 2023, which guarantees objectivity, equal opportunities and the promotion of diversities and the absence of discrimination in recruitment, career development and daily management;
• management of diversities: through the “Alterego” training programme, which demonstrates the benefits of difference for the company and thus reinforces fair and impartial management in access to employment and career management;
• social diversity: to promote diversities, Hermès focuses its recruitment methods on greater inclusion, in particular by encouraging the hiring of long-term jobseekers and senior citizens and by using aptitude tests rather than CVs whenever possible;
• gender equality: equality between men and women is one of the fundamental principles supported by the group. Particular attention is given to the provision of equal pay for equal work and equal opportunities at all levels of employment;
• people with disabilities: Hermès has long been concerned with the integration of people with disabilities into its different métiers. Through the signature of a group agreement, the company has set itself the ambitious target of increasing its use of the socially supported organisations in France by 20% a year between 2021 and 2023. The house also aims to maintain the rate of workers with disabilities in France above the legal minimum employment rate (6%).

Hermès has chosen to implement a policy to integrate and retain workers with disabilities across its different métiers. In 2020, this became a long-term commitment with the signing of the second group disability agreement by all the union coordinators to address the following issues:

• Promoting the employment and integration of people with disabilities ;
• Creating a job retention policy ;
• Reinforcing indirect employment through collaboration with organisations helping people with disabilities into work and self-employed disabled workers ;
• Reinforcing the fight against decision-making biases induced by stereotypes or prejudices in relation to disability and changing attitudes within the company through information and communication.

Discover how ethics and diversity take part in our strategy "All artisans of our sustainable development".

Download our documents: 

• "Code of ethics"
• "Code of business conduct"
• "The anti-corruption code"
• "Our social commitments"
• "Ethics"
• "Supplier code of conduct"
• "Gender equality index " 
• "Vigilance plan"