Living by our principles

The Shell General Business Principles detail our responsibilities and set the standards for the way we conduct business. We aim to do business fairly, ethically and in accordance with all applicable laws.

All Shell employees and contract staff must follow our Code of Conduct, which guides employees on how to apply the Shell General Business Principles in line with our core values. Employees and contract staff are also required to complete Code of Conduct training and to confirm they understand their personal responsibilities under the Code of Conduct. Contractors and consultants are also required to act consistently with the Code of Conduct when acting on our behalf.

Shell employees, contract staff and any third party can report any potential breaches of the Code of Conduct confidentially and anonymously through a variety of channels, including the Global Helpline, which is operated by an independent provider.

Investigating Code breaches

Shell has specialists who investigate concerns or allegations about a breach of our Code of Conduct. If a violation is confirmed, we take appropriate action up to and including contract termination or dismissal. We maintain a stringent no retaliation policy to protect any person making a good faith allegation.

Internal investigations confirmed 261 substantiated Code of Conduct violations in 2017 compared with 341 in 2016. We dismissed or terminated the contracts of 73 employees, contract staff or contractor employees, compared with 114 in 2016.

Shell global helpline statistics in 2017

Screening for integrity and compliance

Various national and international laws prohibit business involvement with certain individuals, entities and organisations. Our anti-bribery and corruption and anti-money laundering and trade compliance programmes set out the requirements for screening business partners. These checks provide an overview of the key risks and allow us to manage these risks appropriately. Using a risk-based approach, we screen potential business partners before and during the contractual relationship. In 2017, we carried out 7,243 enhanced pre-screenings for higher risk contracts. Additionally, Group counterparties (around 10 million) are screened on a continuous basis against a range of trade compliance, anti-bribery and corruption and anti-money laundering watch-lists.

Managing ethical risk

In 2017, we launched a training programme for our 500 most senior leaders covering a range of ethical risks faced by the energy industry. The programme simulates realistic situations and requires leaders to make real-time decisions on which they receive instant feedback. Leaders are faced with risks covering bribery and corruption, money laundering, antitrust, data privacy and trade compliance.