It is extremely important to Nokia that labor conditions at all our production sites meet recognized international standards. Each of our sites must comply with our global employment guidelines. We assess their performance regularly and those of our suppliers.

Employment guidelines

Our global employment guidelines determine how we handle employment issues at each site. They cover:

• Compensation
• Working time and location
• Employee wellbeing
• Equal opportunities
• Confidentiality and privacy issues
• Guidance on external assignments
• Conflicts of interest
• Efficient communications
• Freedom of association, including collective bargaining rights.

Labor conditions standard

On top of this and to improve management of working conditions at factories, we developed the Nokia labor conditions standard in 2006. It is based on International Labor Organization and UN Human Rights conventions, and has been benchmarked against international labor laws and standards.

The standard provides information and guidelines on how to address the following issues in everyday working life:

• Discrimination
• Forced labor
• Child labor
• Freedom of association
• Occupational safety
• Occupational health
• Disciplinary practices
• Working hours
• Compensation
• Management systems.

This standard provides a framework to monitor and assess labor conditions in a consistent manner across the business, and improves our communication with external stakeholders on these issues. It makes it easier to follow up after assessments to ensure factory managers implement recommendations in line with the standard. We began to implement it in 2007 and will continue to roll it out at all Nokia factories in 2008.

We have developed a classroom-based interactive training package to improve awareness of the labor conditions standard among our factory employees. Training will be available online for employees at other sites.

External temporary labor in production

External temporary labor is hired through agencies on a temporary basis (for applicable maximum time, normally 12 months). The percentage of external temporary labor in our total production workforce fluctuates throughout the year to help us meet demand in peak production periods and provide cover when our permanent employees are absent.

Our global policy on direct external labor in factories determines how our sites manage externals. When selecting agencies, we ensure that our suppliers and external temporary labor providers have compliant labor practices.

Factory assessments

We monitor labor conditions in all our factories to check they comply with our employment guidelines and labor conditions standard. Sites are assessed regularly and plans are developed to address any issues identified. We check these changes have been implemented through self-assessments by the sites.

Labor condition assessments are conducted every second year at all production sites. The most recent assessments took place in 2006. Until now they have been conducted by internal auditors but from 2008 a third party will verify each site's compliance with Nokia’s labor conditions standard.

The 2006 assessments revealed a need to ensure our factories meet international overtime standards and to improve communication with factory employees. In response, we developed guidelines which have been shared with all factories to help them reduce and improve the distribution of overtime hours

External awards

In 2007, our factory in Manaus, Brazil, was awarded the Quality of Work Environment Award by Sesi Amazones, the Brazilian Social Service of Industry program. The factory was named one of the five best companies in the large company category, out of 2 700 participating organizations.

The award recognizes excellence in labor conditions and social responsibility. It is based on the Nokia’s policies and programs on labor conditions, a survey of randomly selected employees at the site and a factory inspection by the Sesi committee.

Our factory in Chennai, India, achieved certification for two important international standards in 2007 – the environmental management system standard ISO 14001 and the occupational health and safety standard OHSAS 18001. These were awarded as a result of an independent audit carried out by the Norwegian consultancy, Det Norske Veritas.

See health, safety and wellbeing for more information.

See environment for more information.