Sustainability report 2024

Governance

We are committed to ensuring the principles of stewardship, accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement, as they pertain to risk, compliance, performance, and fairness.

Due diligence and oversight 

Our governance, led by our CEO and board of directors, is guided by our Manifesto. It embraces the uniqueness of our employee ownership structure to align and achieve our collective sustainability goals. Our employees participate in our Manifesto-driven Leadership training, which universally amplifies our personal environmental, social, and governance commitments.

We have governance frameworks that articulate our organizational context and strategic business direction while demonstrating commitment to our core values and reinforcing our accountability and responsibility to implement policies in every region and on every engagement.

Our Code of Conduct establishes the policies and standards for how we build and maintain our professional relationships. This includes our policy of prohibiting acts of corruption, fraud, bribery, or improper influencing of decision makers.

Our policy is simple: we will not engage in illegal or unethical activities.

PHILADELPHIA LALA
Chief Legal Officer and Group Corporate Secretary

Passionate about our corporate purpose and values

“For me, Hatch is like a family unit,” she shares. “We build enduring relationships and, as our Manifesto states, we work with great people who really do make a difference in the world and in each other's lives, and it is one of the main reasons that I have been here for 13 years.”

“Our employee ownership and independence allow us to bring our best thinking to our clients, stakeholders, and the communities. Because our employees are owners of the business, they are passionate about our corporate purpose and values. This enhances both our long-term relationships with our partners and our steadfast commitment to our clients’ lasting success. Our clients’ success is our success.”

Hatch is like a family unit, we build enduring relationships.

As chief legal officer, Philadelphia ensures that Hatch and its employees adhere to all relevant laws and regulations, while promoting ethical practices and accountability within the organization. She emphasized the importance of these principles, stating, “We are guided by our code of conduct and Manifesto. Our governance structure is based on our business strategy, business model, and the regulatory requirements in the jurisdictions in which we operate.”

“Our Board has the overall responsibility for governance; associates and senior leaders in the regions are responsible for operationalizing it and for assessing and managing sustainability risks."
When not supporting Hatch, its partners, and clients, Philadelphia dedicates her time to raising awareness about the prevalent issues of gender-based violence in her native South Africa. In 2019, she was the recipient of South Africa’s first-ever internal Positive Change Award.

Governance frameworks

We operationalize our compliance and risk management strategies through our governance frameworks:

Corporate governance—Executive management focusing on strategic company-level matters.

Operational governance—Business management focusing on day-to-day business and resource management.

Engagement governance—Focuses on oversight, stewardship, accountability, and transparency of engagements by outlining the interfaces and governance points between pursuing and delivering projects.

Integrated management systems—Provides supporting documented information for the implementation of our organizational and engagement governance model, with risk-based continual improvement at the core.

Project life cycle process—Ensures that each phase of a project, from concept to completion, incorporates planning and procedures that support our goals of zero harm, quality excellence, and reduction of risk.

These oversight functions enhance monitoring and decision making to facilitate proper implementation of our business objectives.

Managing sustainability and governance risks

Effective governance involves integrating risks into the overall risk management framework to ensure long-term sustainability.

Human and labor rights

Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights, all of which have in common the deprivation of one person’s liberty by another to exploit them for personal or commercial gain.

We believe that to achieve no harm in relation to modern slavery, we must continuously work with organizations in our supply chain to identify and eliminate risks. We assess potential suppliers and partners in accordance with our commitment to eliminating modern slavery. We embrace our obligations under the Canadian Modern Slavery Act, and our respective and continuing accountability to modern slavery legislation with our operations in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Our commitments mean we invest in knowing who our people, our clients, and our partners are, and ensure that their values align with ours. Learn more about our ethics and integrity.

Environmental risks

By effectively managing environmental risks, we enhance our sustainability efforts, comply with regulations, build trust, and ensure long-term resilience. As shown in the previous sections of our Sustainability Report, we identify, assess, and manage environmental risks such as climate change, biodiversity, natural disasters, resource use, and more.

We have processes in place for our people to raise concerns on sustainability topics.

Ethics, fraud, and anti-corruption

We use documented and standardized core systems, tools, and procedures that establish a consistent standard for the governance of our corporate responsibilities. Our tools and procedures are continuously updated and embedded into business processes that can be monitored and measured.

ELENA MARTINELLA
Chief People Officer

Dedicated to practices that foster a culture of ethical behavior

Elena leads our global Human Resources function with a focus on creating a highly engaging, productive, enjoyable, and fulfilling workplace for all employees. Among the Manifesto values, she is most passionate about engaging great people who make a difference.

“Talent management is a top priority for me,” she shared. “Ensuring that employees are constantly learning and growing. I strive to earn the respect of employees, clients, and the communities in which we operate.”

In addition to encouraging employees to reach their potential and maximize their careers, Elena promotes, and is dedicated to, practices that foster a culture of ethical behavior in and outside of our organization.

“One of our core values is the commitment to doing no harm,” she said. “We hold our supply chains and business partners to the same principles, expecting a high standard of care for people regardless of where they work or who they work for. When it comes to the Modern Slavery Act, for example, our contracting processes include specific prohibitions against any type of forced labor, aligning with the values outlined in our Manifesto.”

“Our policy on the Modern Slavery Act is closely tied to our code of conduct. The prevention, detection, and reporting of any actions that do not align with our Manifesto or code of conduct are the responsibility of everyone working with or for the company. We take any violation of the code of conduct very seriously, with a global process, including a hotline, in place to investigate all matters. Investigations can lead to disciplinary actions or, in some cases, dismissal for misconduct or gross misconduct.”

That circles back to two other Manifesto values: being unconditionally honest and living our commitments with integrity.

Elena does both. Her dedication to fostering an ethical culture and ensuring the well-being of all employees truly embodies the spirit of our Manifesto, making her a role model for others within our organization.

Strategic alliances: Bringing assurance to continued long-term partnerships

The legacy of combined client and Hatch successes, spanning over decades, brings assurance to continued long-term partnerships. We have done this with Sasol, Equinor, and Ma’aden, as well as many others. Where we have common, aligned values, principles, and objectives honed over many years.

Alignment on disciplined delivery is the reason why, together, we’ve had excellent project results from a governance, safety, cost, and schedule point of view. We continue to bring the same approach of optimizing our clients’ best-in-class technologies, with disciplined and efficient project delivery, through collaborative and integrated teamwork.

Everyone at Hatch is a safety and governance champion, and we will continue to manage our clients’ assets and operations like they’re our own.