Echo Global connects Australian businesses with dedicated, Philippines-based teams, and we take our responsibility to the people in that relationship seriously. This policy sets out our commitment to identifying, preventing and addressing modern slavery risk across our own operations and our supply chain, and to acting ethically and with integrity in every business relationship we hold.
Modern slavery has no place at Echo Global, in either our Sydney or Manila operations, and we expect the same standard from every supplier, contractor and partner we work with.
This statement explains what modern slavery means, how it applies to our business model, and the practical steps we take to prevent it. It applies to all Echo Global employees and contractors across our Sydney and Manila offices, to the team members we place with our Australian clients, and to the suppliers and contractors who support our operations.
Modern slavery describes situations where coercion, threats or deception are used to exploit a person and strip them of their freedom, whether that pressure is explicit or implied.
Australia's Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) identifies eight forms of serious exploitation that fall under this definition: trafficking in persons, slavery, servitude, forced labour, forced marriage, debt bondage, the worst forms of child labour, and deceptive recruiting for labour or services.
The worst forms of child labour refers to the most severe and exploitative forms of child labour, such as enslavement or exposure to dangerous work; it does not describe all forms of child work.
Where any part of this statement is inconsistent with the Act, the Act takes precedence.
Echo Global is an Australian-owned offshore staffing and business process outsourcing company, headquartered in Sydney with delivery operations in Manila. We recruit, employ and support Philippines-based team members on behalf of Australian client businesses across accounting, NDIS and aged care, construction and other sectors, through three service models: Dedicated Full-Time Staff, Scalable Contact and Support Centres, and FlexForce project-based engagements.
Because our people are our product, the risk areas we monitor most closely are our own recruitment and employment practices in the Philippines, and the small number of suppliers and contractors who support our facilities and technology.
Our supplier, contractor and service agreements include specific prohibitions on the use of forced, compulsory or trafficked labour, and on engaging anyone held in slavery or servitude. Breach of these terms is treated as a serious matter and may result in termination of the relationship.
Before engaging a new supplier or contractor, we consider the nature of the relationship and the labour practices it depends on, and we prioritise partners who can demonstrate lawful, ethical employment practices of their own.
We expect every organisation we work with to share our commitment to acting lawfully and ethically, and to take reasonable steps to ensure modern slavery is not taking place within their own business or supply chain. We reserve the right to review this commitment as part of our ongoing supplier relationships.
Any employee, team member, supplier or member of the public who suspects modern slavery may be occurring in connection with Echo Global's business or supply chain is encouraged to raise it directly with their manager or with Echo Global's leadership team. Concerns will be treated confidentially and taken seriously, and no one will be disadvantaged for raising one in good faith.
This statement is reviewed annually, and earlier where our operations, supply chain or the law change in a way that affects it. It was approved by Echo Global leadership and reflects our ongoing commitment to fair, ethical treatment of the people who work with and for us.
Approved by:
Richard Treminio
Echo Global