Compliance

Unica maintains the highest integrity standards in all its activities. The ethical standards and basic principles are described in the publication ‘We are Unica’ (Wij zijn Unica), issued to all new employees during their onboarding process. This information pack includes the rules of conduct that apply within Unica and which are uniformly issued to every employee. A series of specific protocols, brought together under the overarching ‘Speak out!’ (Spreek je Uit!) programme have been established for reporting abuse, dealing with employment disputes and reporting undesirable behaviour, all of which are explained on the company intranet. Employees also have access to external confidential counsellors who since 2021 are employed on a regional basis, thereby reducing the distance to the company’s employees.

The fraud and compliance risk policy was further extended in 2021. The policy focuses considerable attention on the periodic training of management in ethical behaviour and compliant working practice. All directors of the various Unica companies submit an annual compliance statement in which they affirm compliance with the applicable legislation and regulations. Ethics and compliance are also openly introduced to new employees in the form of an information session during the introduction days. To ensure that all employees take this information on board, the policy will be extended in 2022, to include a compulsory e-learning course.

Throughout the country, the Legal Affairs department provides workshops to employees to maintain focus on the importance of compliance in day-to-day practice. This was extended in 2021 to include an accessible online legal workshop programme, for which every Unica employee is free to register. Among the subjects covered in 2021 are general terms and conditions, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), liability, Contractor’s Liability Insurance 2012, building delays and stagnation damage.