Bridgestone Colombia has a profound respect for Human Rights, as it believes that they represent a pillar to ensure harmonious relations with society and sustainable development. The company recognizes their importance, as Human Rights are a Management Fundamental of the business model, and consistently strive to find ways to design strategies that create a positive impact.
Bridgestone Colombia has four corporate policies that go deep into the guidelines to ensure the organization’s compliance with Human Rights standards, guaranteeing a work environment based on respect for all employees.
1. General Code of Conduct
This code recognizes that the employees on the Bridgestone Americas team are the company’s most valuable resource and the key to success. It believes that everyone must be treated with respect and dignity at all times and without exception. This information is included in the section addressing the promotion of respect and dignity that also clearly states that the company will not tolerate any behavior that fosters an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
2. Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation Prevention Policy
In Bridgestone Colombia there is the conviction of that diversity enriches teamwork. Therefore, we have a policy that nurtures a workplace free from harassment, discrimination, and reprisals on the basis of any characteristic such as race, ethnicity, color, mental or physical disability, age, sexual orientation, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, or related medical conditions), gender identity/ expression, marital status, citizenship status and any other characteristic protected by federal, state, and local laws.
3. Human Rights Policy
This policy focuses specifically on the issue of Human Rights, by explicitly prohibiting discrimination in any corporate activity carried out by Bridgestone Colombia based on ethnicity, nationality, sex, age, language, religion, creed, social status, disability or any other related factor.
Our policy also prohibits harassment and establishes that no Bridgestone member will speak or act in a manner that denigrates the individual dignity of another person. Under this same philosophy, we prohibit child labor in all of the countries in which the company operates.
4. Sexual Misconduct and Harassment Policy
The purpose of this policy is to encourage a workplace free of sexual harassment and misconduct by any employee, especially in their work relations within the Bridgestone Latin America North business units. The policy also recognizes the importance of Bridgestone assuming its responsibility for the implementation of effective processes to prevent and punish said behaviors, under the oversight of the Investigation or Ethics Committees.
Open Door Culture
In addition to specific policies, Bridgestone seeks to strengthen a culture of open communication and free expression in order to nurture an environment where the team respects each other. The Open Door Culture was created to encourage employees to feel comfortable sharing their suggestions and concerns. This type of work environment fosters relations that address challenges directly, by creating a problem- solving culture and facilitating productivity.
In 2017, Bridgestone Colombia reinforced its Human Rights culture among all team members by training its employees on this subject during Ethics Week. The online training courses on the values of integrity, respect, ethics, and compliance were taught to all staff.
Workplace Inclusion and Diversity
Bridgestone Colombia seeks to integrate diverse profiles in our work team. The company recognizes that labor inclusion is fundamental to human and economic development, both for the company and stakeholders alike.
In 2017, gender equality continued to be promoted in the workplace by hiring 4 more women to the Bridgestone Colombia family.
