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Protections for Human Rights and Gender Equality
Protections for Human Rights and Gender Equality
Policy and Commitment to Human Rights
First Financial Holding is committed to abide by the International Bill of Human Rights and other conventions such as the "United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights", "United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights", "The Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact","International Labour Organization Core Labour Standards","ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility", "Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women", "The International Covenant on Economic, and the "Modern Slavery Act", and has included them into the Human Rights Policy of the Group.
At all group subsidiaries, there is no discrimination employees during recruitment, selection,hiring, assignment, career development, remuneration and benefits, promotions, education & training, and retirement plans on the basis of race, class, language, thought, religious,political affiliation, ancestry, place of birth, gender, sexual preference, age, marital status, appearance, facial features, physical and mental handicap, or union membership. Article 18 of the Guidance on Sustainable Development for FFHC stipulates that subsidiary companies shall abide by the internationally recognized human rights of labor, including the freedom of association,the right of collective bargaining, caring for vulnerable groups, prohibiting the use of child labor, eliminating all forms of forced labor, eliminating recruitment and employment discrimination to create an equal opportunity workplace. There were no human rights violations, infringement of indigenous rights, or incidents of discrimination. The hiring of those under the age of 16 as regular or atypical employees (including temporary workers and security staff) is explicitly banned in our HR regulations. We also adhere to the Labor Standards Act to prevent forced labor through violence, threats, imprisonment or other illegal methods.
Due Diligence and Risk Management of Human Rights
The Company's Sustainable Development committee reviews relevant humanrights issues each quarter and uses actual investigations, data monitoring, and questionnaire surveys to evaluates potential human rights risks and establish a risk matrix for human rights issues.
In 2024, precautionary and mitigating measures were implemented for human rights issues, such as "workplace safety", "labor dispute" and "freedom of association" identified as medium occurrence rate or operational impact. For example: The "ISO 45001 Occupational health and safety management systems" have been introduced to the Headquarters Building to enhance various management measures, unearth safety concerns and improvement opportunities, and maintain a safe and healthy working environment. We also hold labor-management meetings and Occupational Safety and Health Committee meetings regularly to promote communications on various benefit systems, the working environment and labor-management cooperation. To safeguard group employees' right to freedom of association, the subsidiary bank, securities company and AMC company have all signed collective bargaining agreements. The labor union membership rate among our employees reached 89.32% in 2024.
◎ Human Rights Risk Assessment and Management
◎ Human Rights Risk Assessment Ratio in Past Years
*1:The numbers of people who completed risk assessment from 2021 to 2024 were 9,969, 10,095, 10,305 and 10,317, respectively.
*2:Risk value (risk identification rate) = number of people taking risk identification/number of group employees (10,317 people)
*3:Impact value (impact occurrence rate) = number of people impacted/umber of group employees
FFHC adheres to and ensures that employees enjoy internationally accepted labor rights, and related information is openly available internally. All business sites follow local laws and regulations on human rights. There is no discrimination on the rights enjoyed by employees on the basis of race, gender, employment type, promotion or other situations. All have the right to equal pay for equal work, freedom from sexual harassment, and job security for female employee during pregnancy. The Group's directors, supervisors, managers, and employees must follow the code of conduct and may not make sexual advances or commit actions that violate human rights such as implicit sexual suggestions, sexual discrimination, or violation of human dignity and personal freedom. In addition to regularly organizing sexual harassment prevention education and training, we provide a full description of the human rights system on work rules, HR management rules, employee compensation and benefits during new employee training courses. Union personnel are also invited to speak about employee rights relating to the Occupational Safety and Health Act. In 2024, no violations of indigenous peoples' rights and discrimination occurred. The companies have not made any mergers or acquisitions or signed major investment agreements.
In 2024, a total of 19,390 employees at domestic and international operating locations participated in human rights protection training courses, with a total of 20,383 training hours, achieving a 100% participation rate. Additionally, the Company's human rights policies were communicated to partner security companies, ensuring that security personnel understood these policies through pre-service and in-service training. In 2024, 12 human rights education training sessions for security personnel were conducted, each averaging 0.5 hours, with a 100% completion rate.
In 2024, a total of 19,390 employees at domestic and international operating locations participated in human rights protection training courses, with a total of 20,383 training hours, achieving a 100% participation rate. Additionally, the Company's human rights policies were communicated to partner security companies, ensuring that security personnel understood these policies through pre-service and in-service training. In 2024, 12 human rights education training sessions for security personnel were conducted, each averaging 0.5 hours, with a 100% completion rate.
◎ Human rights protection training in past years
Gender Equality
First Financial Holding Co., Ltd. (FFHC) implements the Gender Equality Policy in spirit of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and in compliance with the Act of Gender Equality in Employment. We promote gender equality by focusing on "corporate culture," "organizational structure," "salary and benefits," "education and training," "work-life balance," "child birth measures," and "workplace safety" to create a friendly, gender-equal environment for employees, thereby realizing our vision of becoming a happy enterprise.
The Company's internal regulations clearly stipulate adherence to gender equality and anti-discrimination principles. Additionally, no acts of sexual harassment or gender discrimination are permitted while performing duties. The Company has set up an Employee Care Group under the "Sustainable Development Committee," which is affiliated with the Board of Directors. The Group is composed of members from human resource-related departments of each company. Group members are responsible for promoting gender equality measures, gender equality education, gender discrimination prevention and handling, and workplace bullying, among other incidents.
FFHC has also adopted the awareness of gender equality into its core operations. Aside from working with government and professional institutions to organize lectures on senior trust and asset planning as well as disseminating the concept of gender equality in inheritance, we also rolled out the "Phoenix loan for micro entrepreneurship" to help women start their own business. The Mellie Titanium Card and the Wonderful Card, designed with women's needs in mind, have also been launched to boost women's economic empowerment. In 2024, we won the Taipei City Government's "Parenting Friendly Enterprise Award - Benchmark Enterprise Group", and were named by the New Taipei City Government as an outstanding enterprise for "family friendly & workplace equality measures".
For more information on gender equality measures for maternal employees, please refer to 4-4 Friendly, Healthy and Happy Workplace.
Compensation Structure with Equal Pay for Equal Work
All starting salaries of the Group are higher than the minimum wage stipulated in the Labor Standards Act. The ratio of starting salaries for males and females is 1:1, with equal pay being offered for equal work. The Company abides by the principles of fairness and reasonableness to ensure that employee salaries do not differ based on gender or other factors. In 2024, when comparing the overall compensations for male and female employees with men's salary (100%) as baseline, the average salary of female senior executives is 108% while average compensation is 107%; 105% and 106% for female management personnel; and 98% and 101% for female non-management personnel.
◎ Comparison Table of Remuneration Over the Years
*1:The salary and remuneration of the President are proposed by the Remuneration Committee and submitted to the Board of Directors for review. There is no gender-based variation.
*2:Definitions of salary: Salary refers to the monthly base salary, position allowances, various other allowances, compensation for overtime work, etc.
*3:Definitions of compensation: Compensation refers to the salary + other incentives (e.g., Employee compensations, bonuses, retirement benefits, severance pay, and incentives of material value).
*4:Definitions of executives: Refers to the ones stated in "managerial officers" specified in Tai-Cai-Zheng-3 No. 920001301 letter dated March 27, 2003, which includes overseas branch managers.
*5:Definitions of management personnel: Refers to senior managers and management personnel other than senior managers.
FFHC implements gender equality. Female directors account for 47% of the Board of Directors. Women also make up 60% of our independent directors, and the convener of the Audit Committee is also a woman. Women currently serve as Chairpersons of First Financial Holding, as well as the subsidiary bank and AMC company. A female professional manager also serves as President of our subsidiary securities company. Female employees account for a larger share of the Group's total workforce than their male counterparts do. As of the end of 2024, the number of senior executives within the Group totaled 323 people. Among them, females accounted for 48.3%. Women also accounted for 49.3% of our junior executives, which stood at 1,426 people in total. Furthermore, women also accounted for 47.5% of those in managerial positions with income growth potential. The number of female employees working in positions requiring competencies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) totaled 507 people, which accounted for 43.4% of STEM-related job positions.
◎ Proportion of Female Executives and Employees in Past Years
*1:Number of junior female managers/Total number of junior managers
*2:Number of female managers in positions with potential for salary increase/Total number of managers in positions with potential for salary increase (excluding support departments such as human resources, information, and legal affairs)
*3:STEM refers to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We recruit STEM-related employees based on their professional skills and do not set gender-based thresholds for recruitment.
*4:In recent years, the number of female managers retiring has increased, leading to a relatively higher proportion compared to male managers.
Freedom of Association
The Company has set up diverse and confidential employee communication channels to build harmonious employee and employer relations and enhance both the development of the Company and employer welfare. The Employer-Employee Meeting consists of an equal number of labor and management representatives. Regular meetings are held to discuss employer-employee issues such as improvements to working conditions and benefits. In 2024, there were no penalties resulting from labor dispute complaints. The number of employer-employee meetings held and the number of proposals discussed over the past four years are summarized in the table below.
◎ Statistics on Employer-Employee Meetings Over the Years
The Group's domestic and international operating locations ensure employees' freedom of association. At the end of 2023, First Bank signed its fifth collective agreement, covering union activities, employment, transfers, dismissals, working hours, holidays, leave, compensation, benefits, safety, health, occupational injury compensation, retirement, and survivor benefits, fully protecting employee rights. The agreement includes vacation systems, retirement systems, and profit-sharing clauses that are more favorable than labor laws. It specifies that in the event of significant operational changes such as mergers, reorganizations, transfers, or splits, the process must be transparent. Major decisions must be immediately communicated to the union and employees after employer-employee meetings. Clauses related to health and safety make up 27.8% of the agreement. If employees are not retained or do not agree to be retained, they are provided with severance pay according to the law and additional preferential compensation. Currently, approximately 89% of employees are covered by the collective agreement. In 2024, six meetings were held. Additionally, both First Securities and First Financial AMC signed their collective agreements in November 2018. These agreements also include provisions that protect employee rights in the event of significant operational changes. Clauses related to health and safety account for more than 15.8% of the agreement. Currently, there are no significant unresolved disputes between employees and the employer.
◎ Statistical Table on Number of Employees who are Members of the Union Over the Years
*:Percentage of employees who are union members = number of employees who are members of the union / number of employees (excluding local
hires of overseas offices and temporary personnel)
Sexual Harassment Prevention
To create a friendly workplace, FFHC has announced and implemented the "regulations on sexual harassment prevention, complaints and investigation". A dedicated phone line, fax, and email address for reporting sexual harassment have been established, with designated personnel responsible for handling complaints. Additionally, information on sexual harassment prevention is promoted on the Company's website and through electronic bulletin boards of business units. Each company also incorporates courses on sexual harassment prevention and handling procedures, as well as gender equality and case studies on sexual harassment prevention, in the training for new employees or in regular regulatory education and training. Sexual harassment prevention and Act of Gender Equality in Employment courses are incorporated in management training classes to improve management's knowledge on the prevention and handling of sexual harassment. Persons in charge of handling sexual harassment claims are appointed to attend training programs hosted by external agencies, including professional training courses on skills for investigating sexual harassment claims and relevant seminars.
A "Sexual Harassment Complaints Committee" with 10 committee members and a majority of female members have also been established. The committee members serve for 2 years and their terms may be extended. The members of the committee must possess actual experience with handling sexual harassment, as well as a background in law, social sciences and human resources. A confidential investigation must be launched within 7 days of a complaint being received. The result of the investigation must be presented to the related party, and a report submitted to the committee for review. The case must be finalized within 2 months. Based on the committee's decision, appropriate disciplinary actions are given to the perpetrator, including reassignment from their original position and administrative penalties. The victim's wishes are respected, and appropriate job arrangements are made for them. Additionally, psychological counseling services from the Teacher Chang Foundation are provided. A lawyer will be hired to provide assistance in cases involving civil compensation. To protect the privacy and personal rights of the parties involved, all identifying information such as names or other data sufficient to identify individuals must remain confidential unless necessary for the investigation or due to public safety considerations. Relevant personnel and committee members are required to maintain confidentiality. Before each meeting of the Sexual Harassment Committee, the chairperson reads the confidentiality clauses aloud. In 2024, 3 cases of sexual harassment complaints were received by the Group, which were adequately processed and concluded.
◎ Statistical Table on Sexual Harassment Complaints Over the Years
*:The bank (2 cases), and securities (1 case) subsidiaries held meetings in accordance with the "regulations on sexual harassment prevention, complaints
and investigation" and completed investigations in a confidential manner. All cases have been handled appropriately.