- Who we are
- Why buy from us
- Careers at Novatech
- History & Growth
- Novatech Customer Reviews
- Novatech & WEEE Regulations
- Quality & Environmental Policy
- Modern Slavery Statement
- COVID-19 Risk Assessment Policy
- Carbon Reduction Plan
Novatech Ltd. is a business that operates on sound morals and ethics and we are committed to playing our part in eliminating modern slavery.
Under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the Act), we put measures in place to help stop human trafficking, slavery, forced or compulsory labour and/or servitude in our business operations.
Our structure and supply chains
Novatech is based on the outskirts of Portsmouth, Hampshire and has 89 employees. We have predominantly UK-focussed customers, with approximately 80% our sales coming from B2B sales and the remainder coming from retail.
We source IT hardware and peripherals, we custom-build, design, install and manage IT infrastructures to UK B2B and B2C markets. In doing so, we work with over 350 suppliers who are largely based in the UK (over 95%), with the remainder of our supply chain from Europe, USA and the Far East. We therefore consider that there is a relatively low risk of modern slavery and/or human trafficking occurring within our supply chain, however, we fully understand that there is still a risk and strive to ensure that we have the right procedures and practises in place to be able to operate ethically.
Due diligence and effectiveness in combating slavery and human trafficking
As part of our commitment to identify and mitigate risk we have several strategies in place.
Suppliers
We strive to use suppliers who share our commitment to ethical practices. By working to secure a transparent supply chain, we do the following:
• Fully committing to our Supplier Code of Conduct.
• Have a clear application process in place for supplier approval. This incorporates specific questions on modern slavery.
• Obtaining Modern Slavery statements from suppliers, where available.
• Vet suppliers so far as is possible of their own compliance with the requirements of the legislation.
• Routinely analyse our supply chain, a task which is carried out at senior level, by the Purchasing Manager and Finance Director.
Employees
We are proud to be a fair and ethical employer, promoting equality in everything we do. We do not consider there to be a high risk of slavery or human trafficking within our workforce, however we have the following in place:
• A robust recruitment process, incorporating a recruitment policy, ?right to work? and ID document checks, contracts of employment and reference checking.
• A comprehensive Employee Handbook which has a range of policies and procedures to support the prevention of modern slavery from occurring in our workplace.
• Creating an awareness on the Modern Slavery Act and human trafficking, offering training to essential roles.
• A whistleblowing policy and procedure to honour our responsibility to protect whistle-blowers when highlighting any risk of slavery or human trafficking at Novatech.
• Company Values that set the parameters for how we expect people to interact with colleagues, partners, and customers.
• Disciplinary policy and procedures to ensure those who act unethically or do not always comply with legal requirements can be managed in a formal, consistent and fair way with consequences to unethical actions, if found to be true.
• All our employees receive Health & Safety, Equality & Diversity, Anti-Bribery and Environmental training (including refresher training).
Remote and Hybrid Working
We launched our hybrid working policy in 2022 which allows employees to have a mix of home and office working. Despite offering remote and hybrid working, we ensure that we meet every candidate we interview before making an offer and undertake all checks before we employ someone. Every new starter must work in the office for a minimum of 1 month for security and training purposes.
The Future
Whilst we have developed robust practises over the years to manage our stance to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking, we will continue to uphold the highest standards on this by:
• Keeping our modern slavery and human trafficking policy and statement up to date and relevant
• Ensuring that with our recruitment and onboarding practises, which include employment checks, we remain vigilant
• Reviewing other relevant policies of key suppliers, as part of our assessment for supply chain risks.
• Updating our terms and conditions to ensure that it is made clear that modern slavery and human trafficking is not something we do not tolerate.
Novatech takes responsibility for this Statement and its related objectives, and we will review and update it in accordance with the Act.
Please see our 2022/23 Modern Slavery Statement here