Managing
Our Board of Directors recognizes the importance of aligning our goals, including those related to sustainability, with the interests of our key stakeholders. The Board's oversight responsibility for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters is reflected in our Governance Guidelines and includes reviewing progress toward our long-term safety and sustainability metrics and other sustainability initiatives. Safety and sustainability goals are also incorporated into the annual performance goals of the CEO and other executives.
Our robust enterprise risk management (ERM) program includes aspects of sustainability and ESG. Our ERM process assesses critical risks and the Board provides oversight as management addresses these risks. An internal corporate risk committee, composed of members of our business units and various functional leaders is led by our Vice President of Enterprise Risk Management. ESG, human capital and cybersecurity are among the issues currently considered high-priority.
Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee
Oversees corporate governance matters, monitoring new issues, regulatory changes and trends in corporate governance, environmental and social responsibility matters.
Audit Committee
Oversees our ethics and compliance programs and cybersecurity and reviews our ERM policies and processes.
Compensation & Executive Development Committee
Oversees the implementation and effectiveness of the company's human capital policies and practices, and reviews initiatives and strategies related to employee recruitment, promotion, retention and attrition, employee engagement and workplace culture.
Cross-functional governance structure
Lincoln Electric leverages its cross-functional governance structure to ensure sustainability topics are considered through a variety of impact, financial and social lenses. The Board's oversight responsibility for Sustainability matters is reflected in our Governance Guidelines. Our Executive Vice President, General Counsel (GC) oversees corporate Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability (EHS&S) initiatives and global reporting, as well as an Executive Sustainability Committee. The GC also works closely with our Vice President of EHS&S, business unit leadership and local facilities to implement, monitor and measure our EHS&S results.
EHS&S oversees an internal Product Sustainability Committee that was established in 2020 with a primary focus on enhancing product stewardship and developing sustainable product solutions. EHS&S also oversees a multi-disciplinary Sustainability Disclosure Committee. Lincoln Electric's governance structure is designed to incorporate both leadership and subject matter experts across business functions to ensure our sustainability strategies are credible, consistent, relevant and meaningful. In addition, interconnections are considered during our annual ERM review and in our review of Scenario Analysis results reported in accordance with TCFD (Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosure).
Corporate Policies
(see Data & Documents Tab for full list of policies)
Code of Conduct
When John and James Lincoln started Lincoln Electric over 125 years ago, they envisioned a company that operated by the "Golden Rule" — treating others with respect and dignity, the way every individual wants to be treated. The Golden Rule is our guiding principle and is foundational to our cultural, values and our Code of Conduct.
It is our policy to be a good corporate citizen. Our Code of Conduct contains our guidelines for conducting business ethically across all of our global operations. It applies to our Board and employees at every level within the organization, wherever located. Compliance is mandatory. Compliance is mandatory. We also expect our representatives, agents, suppliers and consultants to uphold the standards in our Code of Conduct. Our Code of Conduct covers environmental, social and community matters, in addition to other topics, and is available in 13 languages.
Supplier Code of Conduct
We encourage our suppliers to maintain rigorous ethics and compliance programs to adhere to applicable laws and regulations. We expect our suppliers to act responsibly and ensure that no illegal conditions exist in their supply chains. We outline these expectations in the Supplier Code of Conduct, which covers the following areas: Human Rights and Labor Standards, Environmental, Health, Safety & Quality and Ethics
Human Rights Policy
We are determined to safeguard human rights throughout our global operations. The UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights serves as the foundation for our Human Rights Policy. We expect all employees to comply with this policy as part of our commitment to ethical operations.
California Transparency in Supply Chains Act & UK Modern Slavery Act
We comply with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (SB 657) and the UK Modern Slavery Act of 2015 and do not knowingly use suppliers who employ slave labor or support human trafficking.