30 April 2014

To our stakeholders:

I am pleased to confirm that H&L High-Tech Sdn. Bhd. reaffirms its support of the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption.

In this annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We also commit to share this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.

Sincerely yours,

Tan Lye Huat
Managing Director

H & L High-Tech Sdn. Bhd. supports the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with emphasis on Article 2 which is especially relevant to the international community and in multi-cultural Malaysia. To this end, we are committed to ensuring that everyone in the company is treated fairly and with respect.

The Code of Ethics is included in our Employee’s Handbook made available to everyone in the company.

During recruitments, we look for a good mix of skills and experience that can complement our existing workforce and do not discriminate based on gender, race nor religion.

During training and company events, we reiterate the principles behind our Code of Ethics and remind everyone to treat colleagues and business associates alike with respect and dignity. With this, we hope to continue cultivating an environment of multiculturalism and mutual respect, not only amongst ourselves, but with anyone we deal with and the greater community as a whole.

All H & L High-Tech Sdn. Bhd. employees are covered by our Group Hospital & Surgical Insurance, Group Personal Accident Insurance and Group Term Life Insurance, in addition to the statutory contribution to social security - Malaysia's SOCSO (Social Security Organization, a.k.a. PERKESO) which covers work-related injuries - for comprehensive insurance coverage 24 hours a day.

The grievance procedure is clearly spelt out in our Employee's Handbook. It explains the entire procedure and where the employee can next pursue/escalate the grievance at every step if it is not addressed to his/her satisfaction.

All employees have direct access to our Executive Directors via speed-dials programmed into every company phone set.

3rd-party Internal Auditors check to ensure that our Human Resource policies are in compliance throughout the company. The results of every audit are openly discussed with the Board of Directors.

We are proud to report zero records of any violation in Human Rights.

Our Employee’s Handbook lists information on terms and conditions of service, remuneration, employee’s entitlement and allowance, benefits, company rules, disciplinary procedures, insurance benefits and grievance procedure.

It also includes Maternity Leave & Allowances for our female colleagues, and safety & health instructions specific to our running operations to maintain a proper working environment.

There is no forced, compulsory or child labour in H & L High-Tech Sdn. Bhd. and we strongly disapprove of such practices.

Our Safety & Health Committee, with representatives from both employer and employee, meets quarterly to discuss potential hazards and dangers in the workplace. Before each meeting, its members will do a routine check of the entire workplace to ensure a safe working environment and highlight any oversights that require attention.

This year, we had First Aid Training with certification for employees from all departments. The Human Resource department had also taken the initiative to keep a stock of surgical masks for distribution to all of our employees during the intermittent periods of unhealthy air quality and Southeast Asian Haze phenomenon in Malaysia.

At our Annual Dinner & Employee Appreciation Night, every employee is invited and feasted. Long-serving employees were recognized and lucky draw prizes were distributed.

All H & L High-Tech Sdn. Bhd. employees are covered by our Group Hospital & Surgical Insurance, Group Personal Accident Insurance and Group Term Life Insurance, in addition to the statutory contribution to social security - Malaysia's SOCSO (Social Security Organization, a.k.a. PERKESO) which covers work-related injuries - for comprehensive insurance coverage 24 hours a day.

The grievance procedure is clearly spelt out in our Employee's Handbook and easily accessible to everyone in the company. It explains the entire procedure and where the employee can next pursue/escalate the grievance at every step if it is not addressed to his/her satisfaction.

Our Human Resource department practices an open door policy – any employees can walk-in without an appointment. All employees have direct access to our Executive Directors via speed-dials programmed into every company phone set.

Malaysia’s DOSH (Department of Occupational Safety and Health, a.k.a. JKKP) regularly carries out surprise inspections of our premises to ensure a safe and proper work environment.

We have regular 3rd-party and in-house internal audits reviewed by our Risk Management Committee.

Our workforce comprises of all three major ethnicities in Peninsular Malaysia. We continue to offer equal career opportunities in all areas of employment and we are happy to report a total workforce female to male ratio of 1:2, especially considering the nature of our manufacturing industry. Of this, our female to male ratio for supervisors is 5:7, senior executives and managers is 1:1, and Board of Directors is 2:3.

The main objectives of our GEM (Green EnvironMent) policy are to:
1. Maintain total wastage at less than 3% per annum,
2. Responsible waste disposal,
3. Encourage the 3Rs of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle at every stage of our operations,
4. Adhere to the RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directive by the European Union.
The GEM policy is regularly reviewed internally and externally (by our customers).

We are UL (Underwriters Laboratories) Recognized for fabricated plastic parts (QMMY2) and ISO9001:2008 certified.

Our processes are constantly being fine-tuned (through training and experimentation) for efficiency in order to reduce wastage of energy and resources. We take pride in the skills and experience of our employees who work hard to keep mistakes to the minimum.

A vast portion of the warehouse and factory roof was re-designed to allow for additional illumination by natural lighting - resulting in significant energy savings. We also introduced energy-efficient lighting systems in the workplace.

We regularly invest in new machinery and technology, resulting in a scheduled phasing out of older and inefficient hydraulic machines. They are being replaced by newer hybrid and electrical machines that consume less power and produce fewer pollutants. The better dependability and higher accuracy reduces wastage during our processes.

Suppliers must provide RoHS certification. We will not accept raw materials that are not RoHS compliant.

To conserve on paper usage, all employees are allocated a printing quota (via individual login and password) to track and discourage excessive printing. We encourage the use of double-sided printing, and have trays next to our printers to collect papers printed on one-side for re-use.

Our communications and even our ISO9001 documentation is kept paperless as much as possible.

Our premises are regularly inspected by DOE (Department of Environment, a.k.a. JAS), UL auditors, external auditors and major customers.

Working in collaboration with some of our customers, we are recognized as “Green Partners” – acknowledging our management in controlling environment-hazardous substances in our operations.

Our Employee's Handbook clearly states that corruption and bribery is viewed as a grievous misconduct with severe disciplinary actions. Our Code of Ethics is clearly against corruption and bribery.

Following the Code of Ethics, our management policies are against corruption and bribery. This is enforced by strict internal control procedures and regular internal audits.

We have a Whistle-Blowing Policy and all employees have direct access to our Executive Directors via speed-dials programmed into every company phone set.

External auditors regularly audit our company to ensure all records are good and proper. The results are discussed with our Independent Directors to ensure all findings are transparent. Audited results are available on our company website.

Our company was recognized by the Ministry of Finance in Malaysia for our honest and ethical practices. We were awarded the Asia Pacific International / Malaysia Honesty Enterprise Keris Award 2003.