Stakeholder dialogue
Hydro’s success depends on the goodwill of the people who are connected with our business. We are working to communicate better and cooperate more closely with them.
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| Hydro places emphasis on openness and reliability in its contact with various interested parties. |
Hydro's guidelines for stakeholder dialogue are based on Hydro's own experience and principles developed by an international working group headed by the Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability.
As a minimum requirement, stakeholder dialogues are carried out in meetings and information campaigns etc., in accordance with the official regulations. We identify and initiate dialogue with relevant stakeholders affected by our activities to ensure that all views are aired and our decisions communicated. In major projects, stakeholder dialogue is a requirement of Hydro directives, local law, World Bank guidelines, the Equator principles etc. See also Integrity and human rights
Netcafé is a dialogue tool which we have used internally for many years. At regular intervals, employees are given the opportunity to put questions over the intranet to top management. It is possible to ask questions anonymously and the answers are posted on the intranet. President and CEO to be, Svein Richard Brandtzæg, has his own blog on our intranet where employees can add their comments, also anonymously.
Environmental and social impact assessment
As a part of the decision process of the Qatalum project, an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) was performed. A dialogue process was performed with a number of stakeholders, such as the authorities, educational institutions, and embassies representing the expatriate workforce, the Qatar Human Rights Commission, business partners and other industries.
A dialogue process with representatives of the plant's local neighbourhood community was included. A public hearing on the environmental and social impact assessment was held. This included public meetings in the local cities of Mesaieed and Doha. The meetings were announced in all newspapers in Qatar, and facts about the project and an abstract of the ESIA was printed and distributed in the form of an insert in all Qatari newspapers.
Employee dialogue in Qatar
The Qatari labor act does not allow migrant workers to participate in local employee organizations. The Qatalum project facilitates the employee dialogue through a variety of measures, such as informal on-site dialogue and a message-/suggestion-box system. On a fewoccasions contractor employees have demonstrated their dissatisfaction on issues such as the interpretation of work contracts. These issues have been solved through dialogue between the involved parties.
