Ethical Management

Ethical Management

Kia is devoted to transparency, reliability, and ethical values, as well as ethical management techniques that enhance the company’s sustainable competitiveness.

Governance

Our Audit Committee, Sustainability Management Committee, Outside Director Recommendation Committee, and Compensation Committee under the Board of Directors boost on continuous improvement of ethical management.

Code of Ethics and Compliance

In Kia’s employment rules, there are disciplinary regulations for actions such as ethical violations. In particular, Kia enforces disciplinary action without exception in cases of non-compliance with legal obligations. In case of non-compliance with legal obligations, any fraudulent elements are considered during appointments. Additionally, in case of significant violations of compliance obligations, such as assault, misappropriation of public funds, embezzlement, bribery, and sexual harassment, the violator is excluded from appointment in principle.

In 2012, Kia formed an organization dedicated to supporting compliance by appointing a Compliance officer and established compliance control standards and implementation guidelines, the basis for compliance support activities. The Compliance officer operates compliance support activities to prevent corporate legal risks and regularly report the details to the Board of directors. The Compliance officer evaluates the effectiveness of the compliance control system through an external expert and reports the results to the Board of Directors once a year. Kia has ensured that the company's compliance management message is spread smoothly to all executives and employees and that employees have a sense of responsibility for compliance management by implementing the Chief Compliance Manager System that conducts compliance control activities of the affiliated department through the appointment of the company-wide team leader designated as the Compliance support officer since 2017.

Employee Performance Evaluation related to Code of Ethics

Kia conducts employee performance evaluation by including items related to workplace ethics. Core evaluation factors include respect for talent and compliance with principles. When reviewing employee promotion, the history of receiving severe penalties related to ethics/compliance is considered in the promotion process. In 2022, a total of 46 cases (2 cases of corruption and bribery, 6 cases of discrimination and harassment, 2 cases of money laundering or insider trading, and 42 other cases) occurred due to violation of the Ethics principles and there were no personal information leakage cases.

Human Rights Protection

Kia protects and promotes human rights of all stakeholders, including employees, partners, and customers. Kia established the Human Rights Charter in July 2020, which adheres with several international norms on human rights and labor. Kia produced eight primary bullet points in the charter to convey the company's commitment to human rights in all workplaces.

We’re also addressing human resource risks by urging employees to follow human rights principles and guidelines by educating them on the recently approved human rights charter.

Human Rights related Training

Kia operates mandatory legal education for all executives and employees, including sexual harassment prevention education and education to improve awareness of the disabled, so that executives and employees can always be alert to the importance of human rights.

Human Rights Impact Assessment

Based on the Human Rights Charter, Kia diagnoses the level of each workplace and identifies areas that need to be supplemented through 104 detailed inspection items in eight major areas, including prohibition of discrimination, prohibition of forced labor and child labor, and industrial safety. The 2022 Human Rights Impact Assessment did not identify significant risks, but 1) violence/bullying prevention, 2) normal levels of potential risks in terms of work-life balance were identified, and mitigation plans were established and remedial actions were completed for three overseas regions.

Kia continues to listen to the opinions of key stakeholders such as executives and customers to prevent human rights risks, and will continue to supplement the human rights risk management system and strengthen preventive activities.

Composition of Kia Human Rights Impact Assessment

Fair trade

With the active assistance of top management, Kia implements a fair trade culture. The operation of an in-house compliance council, chaired by the compliance manager, prevents law violations in advance by reporting the status of inspection and operation results to the board of directors regularly. Employees exchanged internal and external fair trade issues on transparent management through on-line and offline training, resulting in a company-wide knowledge.

We send out fair trade newsletters, distribute guidelines and checklists, and conduct frequent inspections to all departments in the Compliance Council to enhance our internal supervisory structure and encourage employees to voluntarily implement fair trade. To ensure that all business partners have equal opportunities, the principle of competitive bidding is applied to all transactions.

Fair trade principles, such as the prohibition of unfair commerce, collusion, and unfair competition, are stipulated and disclosed on the official website for competitors. In the fair trade sector, Kia will fulfill its corporate social duty by working to promote a fair competitive order and a transparent business culture.

Key Achievements