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 We clearly communicate to all staff our expectations on how employees conduct themselves as representatives of the Corporation. However, as the scope of business ethics has expanded to encompass doing business in developing economies such as mainland China and combined with a growing set of stakeholders, new initiatives are underway to establish a comprehensive corporate social responsibility policy that sets appropriate and comprehensive guidelines for business ethics.
Code of Conduct
The Code of Conduct, which dictates our current practices in business ethics and behaviour, was recently updated to align with the latest developments in corporate governance standards, including those standards under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. All employees are given a guidebook on the Code in addition to briefings and seminars that exemplify application of conduct to the workplace. The Code covers issues such as bribery, sexual orientation, disability discrimination, family status and other ethical behaviour.
The Code of Conduct is made available to all our contractors both in Hong Kong and other markets. We encourage them to work within our guidelines in ways that best suit their business practices.
Ethics and developing economies
With our growing participation in mainland China's development, we are at a crossroad with CSR practices. Issues with supply chain management, sub-and sub-subcontractors, and the up and downstream impacts on our businesses are complex, legally opaque and at best weak in process monitoring and most notably, in enforcement. As such, we have yet fully to absorb and assess the risks and consequences these issues represent. Our immediate agenda is to formulate CSR procedures beyond the current Code of Conduct standards, and to gather and observe CSR best practice of multinational organisations already established in China. Plans are in progress to conduct a series of information exchange forums and meetings with these multinational corporations to define best-practice strategies and examine their procedures with a view to adopt and employ those applicable to our operations.
Ethics in contracts
When assessing tenders for outsourced contracts for railway projects, we take into account several factors, one of which is the reasonableness of the quoted price and whether that price is adequate to attract anticipated labour and skills resources. All tenderers are required to submit as part of their bid a price breakdown which includes labour costs. This is to ensure that the contractors provide wages comparable to the prevailing market. Those whose rates remain below the minimum are excluded from further tender consideration as this represents unacceptable risks to both their and our own performance. For cleaning and security contracts in the property management division the numbers of workers, working hours and wages are stipulated in the contract documents. Contracts are monitored and discussed with contractors and suppliers on a regular basis as well as often implemented under a milestone payment structure to ensure that terms and conditions are met.
Employment practices
Hong Kong is a well-developed service industry economy and as such works within a strict regulatory environment and under common law principles, where human rights, child-labour laws and worker-protection law violations are rare. Further to this, where we have controlling interest with contractors in projects and supply, we include contractual obligations for workers' safety and fair employment with strict compliance procedures.
In respect of our contractual obligations, we pay according to terms negotiated and hold on-site inspections and meetings to anticipate any contract deviation. In 2004, all direct contracts were paid according to terms agreed, and no sub-contractor employed on our sites was fined for breach of employment practices.
We are an equal opportunity employer operating under an employment policy that formalises non-discrimination against race, sex, creeds and economic status. Employees and prospective employees are assessed on their ability and suitability for meeting the specified job requirements. Our policy is monitored regularly to maintain compliance with local legislation and international conventions with regard to equal opportunity, child labour and other human rights issues.
Ethics and Government
The MTR Corporation has on its Board of Directors senior representatives of relevant regulatory departments of the Hong Kong SAR Government. They act in the capacity to oversee compliance to regulations as well as the appropriate stewardship to safeguard the viability of this public asset. As such , we do not lobby Government; however, we do present and support our standpoints at regular meetings. As well, the Corporation does not contribute to any political parties, government bodies or their representatives outside of formalised business contracts in Hong Kong, mainland China and in any other international jurisdiction where we operate.
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