OUR COMMITMENT TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Top Glove is committed to be the best company that we can become, ensuring high quality welfare, health, working conditions, and living accommodation for our workforce while we supply our customers from around the world with superior quality gloves and personal protective equipment.

We have identified five (5) key areas throughout our businesses which we seek to continuously improve. Following the review and sharing of the findings on these areas, Top Glove has taken significant steps to improve our practices and to implement detailed plans on these areas to ensure we are a beacon of best practice in our industry. 

Top Glove will continue to assess the benefits and related costs of implementation of the recommendations; ensuring best practices beyond the industry standard that create values for all our stakeholders, particularly our employees, who are the backbone of the Group's achievements.

​​​​​​​
The five areas are:
​​​​​​​
1. Fair Recruitment Practices of Foreign Workers
2. Continuous Improvement of Workers’ Accommodation
3. Fair Working and Wages of Workers
4. Continued Safety and Health of Our Workforce
5. More Stringent Safety Measures to Safeguard Our Workforce Post COVID 19

​​​​​​

1. FAIR RECRUITMENT PRACTICES OF FOREIGN WORKERS

TOP GLOVE’S COMMITMENT

Top Glove acknowledges that we should have been quicker to adopt a comprehensive due diligence process for managing fair recruitment practices of our foreign workers. We have learned from this, and we have already taken robust action to make us an exemplary employer in this area.

We want to make it clear that debt bondage and other related issues have no place in our business operations.

Top Glove will continue to work with the relevant Ministry and Government agencies, which are looking into strengthening existing regulation and related standing operating procedures, for the manufacturing and construction sectors, to continuously enhance the workplace and living conditions of workers in Malaysia.

We have also appointed Impactt, an independent and highly respected ethical trade consultancy, to review our policies and procedures because we are committed to ensuring all our workers receive the right support and are properly treated by recruitment agencies.

OUR EFFORTS:

Completed and Ongoing Efforts

1. Top Glove has operated a Zero Cost Recruitment Policy since January 2019. Under this policy, we bear all recruitment related fees for our workers. We ensure that all our workers sign a Letter of Undertaking committing that they will not pay recruitment fees during the recruitment process with us.

2. We are remediating workers who have previously paid recruitment fees to agents at their source country and included all those who have joined on or after January 1, 2019, even those who have left our employment.

3. We have adopted a robust due diligence procedure (encompassing checks on business background, practices, and processes) to ensure potential agencies fully comply with the Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) and/or the Business Social Compliance Initiative’s (BSCI) code of conduct, as well as applicable local laws and regulations.

4. Any recruitment agency that does not meet the best practices set by Impactt or in any way mistreats workers will be blacklisted by Top Glove. Towards this, Top Glove has reviewed the ethical practices of the recruitment agencies operating in our sector and we have now blacklisted six of them which we believe engaged in unethical practices. We are currently engaging with seven principled recruitment agencies from Malaysia and abroad.

5. Since January 2019, we have completed more than 100 international external audits at Top Glove’s factories.

6.We are committed to work with ethical recruitment agents to safeguard our workers benefits. We practice transparent and fair open tender process. Please view our Tender Notice for Recruitment of Foreign Worker Services here.

7. Top Glove is proudly the first private company in Malaysia to receive the ISO 37001: 2006 Anti-Bribery Management System (ABMS). 

8. We have reimbursed a total of over MYR 150 million to our workers in relation to recruitment agency fees started on 10 August 2021 and had made the final lump sum payment of this on April 2021. This covers more than 13,000 foreign workers.

9. We have established grievance helplines in worker's native languages, which are managed by independent third party consultant for workers to raise grievance and concerns on all workers related issues which include recruitment fee.

10. In FY2023, we conducted external and internal social compliance audits on SMETA, BSCI and Customer Code of Conduct to demonstrate our unchanging commitment to safeguard human rights of our employees. 

​​​​​​​Short and Medium Term Plans ​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​1. We continue to practice transparent and fair open tender process to work with ethical recruitment agents

​​​​​​​

2. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT OF WORKERS’ ACCOMMODATION

TOP GLOVE’S COMMITMENT:

Top Glove remains committed to the continuous improvement of our workers’ accommodation as we understand that this is key to ensuring their welfare, wellbeing, and happiness.

Recognising that while meeting the legal requirements of the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446) is important, we also want to do better and move faster in ensuring that our workers can live in a decent standard of accommodation.

Towards this, we have set out current and midterm plans to continuously improve the standard of the various types of accommodation we provide to our workers. To view improvements in our workers' accommodation, click here.


OUR EFFORTS:

Completed and Ongoing Efforts
1. Top Glove will continue to meet the requirements of the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446).

2. To date, we have successfully met the requirements of the Act 446 by moving our workers to more suitable accommodation, ensuring full compliance to social distancing within the accommodations, and the availability of all required amenities and facilities at our workers’ accommodations.

3. By the end of December 2020, we successfully relocated 2,000 of our workers to better facilities at Westlite-PKNS accommodation in Kelana Jaya.

4. We have already invested RM70m (over USD17m) in more than 100 double-storey houses and hostels with full facilities.

5. Some of our hostels now provide various amenities including barber shops, prayer halls, mini market, ATMs, laundromat, recreational areas, etc.

6. Top Glove has invested around RM55m (almost USD14m) towards improving the local community well-being and infrastructure in Klang, Selangor where many of our factories are located.

7. We will continue to engage with the relevant embassies of our workers; ensuring that embassy representatives have direct access to our workers through events held by Top Glove at our vicinity for these embassies. We believe that the open and free communication between our workers and their respective embassy representatives will enable our workers to openly communicate their concerns about us to their respective embassy representatives in a fair and transparent manner.

8. We have established a Hostel Management Committee in December 2020, which consists of all the Head of Factories, Joint Manufacturing Committee, Social Compliance team and Hostel Management team. Their role is to manage workers’ accommodation issues including hostel inspection, hostel maintenance, hostel set up in compliance with Act 446.​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​9. We have established workers’ welfare committee, which is represented by workers’ representatives, to facilitate discussions that address topics related to their welfare, safety, health, and labour standards, in collaboration with the hostel and factory management. This inclusive approach underscores our commitment to the well-being and rights of all employees.

Short and Medium Term Plans 

1. Top Glove has embarked on a substantial investment programme to significantly improve the living quarters of our workers nationwide in short and medium term.

2. We have also made an investment of RM20m (more than USD12m) since the end of November 2020 on purchasing more than 101 units of apartments for our workers and renting additional houses and apartments.

3. We have also reserved approximately RM100m (almost USD25m) for more facilities and accommodation, which includes mega hostels in Klang and Banting in Selangor for 7,300 people expected to be ready later this year.

4. We are also building and acquiring additional houses, apartments, and hostels in other states, amounting to approximately RM30m (USD7.5m).
​​​​​​​
5. Top Glove has purchased the Kenangan Meru apartment block in Klang, Selangor with a capacity to house 2,700 workers. The apartment block, was completed and be built at a cost of around RM95m (USD24m).



​​​​​​​3. FAIR WORKING HOURS AND WAGES OF WORKERS

TOP GLOVE’S COMMITMENT:

At Top Glove, we understand that the happiness and wellbeing of our employees and workers are directly influenced by their pay, working, and living conditions.

We wish to assure our stakeholders that we appreciate the hard work of our employees who continue to contribute so much to us, ensuring the success of our business especially during the exceptional circumstances of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Accordingly, we are committed to ensuring that the total incomes of our employees and workers are at competitive advantage within our sector and industry; we are steadfast in promoting more proactive management to mandate strict time off; and towards enforcing maximum overtime.


OUR EFFORTS:
​​​​​​​
Completed and Ongoing Efforts

1. Top Glove has made an award to all our deserving workers of an additional outstanding performance payment totalling RM3.6m  (USD900,000) to reflect their exceptional contribution throughout 2020 and in the first quarter of 2021.

2. The ex gratia payment for workers in June 2020 was the first time such ever made by Top Glove, in addition to the workers’ yearly bonus (which are a performance incentive). The ex gratia payment is based on the worker’s performance and their years of service, ranging from 0.15 to 0.7 months.

3. We have also tightened our monitoring processes to ensure one full rest day each week and nobody works more than four hours overtime per day (104 hours per month). These processes are being verified by external audits and by the Malaysian government authorities. 

4. Top Glove has been awarded an 'A’ rating following a June 2020 social audit of our Factory 9 by Amfori.

5. By the end of FY2021, Top Glove aims to eliminate the need for workers to commute by bus and/or coaches following the completion of living accommodations in the immediate vicinity of our operations.

Short and Medium Term Plans 

1. Impactt will evaluate the benchmark of salary levels across our industry and Top Glove will ensure that our employees are competitively compensated.



4. CONTINUED SAFETY AND HEALTH OR OUR WORKFORCE

TOP GLOVE’S COMMITMENT:

There is nothing more important to Top Glove than the safety and health care of our workforce. We have taken many steps over the years and we now realise that we could have moved faster to extend comprehensive health services to all employees.

We are committed to undertaking regular comprehensive audits of our facilities and practices by independent experts. We have commissioned ethical trade consultancy Impactt to monitor our performance in this area to ensure we always meet best practices.
​​​​​​​

OUR EFFORTS:
​​​​​​​
Completed and Ongoing Efforts

1. Top Glove is one of very few manufacturing companies in Malaysia with a Zero Harm and Safety Health Emergency Preparedness Programme and a Workers’ Health Protection Programme.

2. Top Glove has automated some tasks identified as higher risk to ensure our workers’ safety.

3. To better safeguard the safety of our workers, our first aid care has been extended from 9am to 1pm Mondays to Saturdays.

4. Top Glove is the only private company in Malaysia to have auxiliary police (or Polis Bantuan) posted at all premises in Malaysia.   Officers provide additional safety for workers and community.

5. Our employees are entitled to 14 days medical leave and 16 days hospitalisation leave.

6. Impactt audited us from the period of August to October 2020 and as at end January 2021:
i. Found that the following Forced labour Indicators were no longer present among the Group’s direct employees: abuse of                 vulnerability, restriction of movement, excessive overtime and withholding of wages.
​​​​​​​ii. Found that further progress had been made with regard to the following Forced labour Indicators among the Group’s direct. employees: retention of identity documents, abusive working and living conditions, deception, debt bondage, physical and sexual violence and intimidation.

iii. In Impactt’s opinion, as at January 2021, and considering the Group’s ongoing actions, these findings do not amount to systemic forced labour. Impactt’s opinion, however, does not extend to a part of the Top Glove’s operations where foreign workers are indirectly employed by outside contractors, which as at January 2021 comprised six workers employed via third party agencies providing canteen services on the Group’s premises. Twenty seven such workers were in scope during the initial investigation in August 2020 and are included within the remediation payment schedule.

7. All our workers are entitled to a fully subsidised blood screening, basic vision, and hearing assessments.

8. Top Glove continues to provide free healthcare to all our staff in addition to free healthy, fully vegetarian meals.

9. Top Glove provides medical coverage and benefits to all our employees, within the stipulated requirements, at the Top Glove Global Doctors (TGGD) Medical and Dental Clinic, TGGD First Aid Care, and the Company’s panel clinics.

10. All our factories have a designated First Aid Room equipped with cardiac emergency, immobilisation, and stabiliser and mobiliser equipment, which are facilities that go beyond the requirements set out by the Malaysia’s Department of Occupational Safety & Health (DOSH), under the Ministry of Human Resources.

11. The factories’ First Responders and Safety Health Officers also work in tandem with a 24-hour emergency response team. Top Glove too has invested in two 24-hour emergency ambulances with trained paramedics; stationed at the TGGD Medical and Dental Clinic, which is at our 23-storey Corporate Office and just a 10-minute drive to Top Glove’s Klang factories.

12. As an additional service to our employees at our Westlite-PKNS accommodations (Westlite) in Kelana Jaya, we have set up the TGGD First Aid Care which operating hours are Monday to Saturday; 9am to 1pm. The company will continue to review or prolong the operating hours of the TGGD First Aid Care as per requests from our employees. Consultation and medication at the TGGD First Aid Care are complementary to our employees as these are covered under their medical benefits. This is the same practice at Meru, Klang.

13. Additionally, we provide 24 hours medical attention to our employees, as and when required with the availability of wardens at all our hostels including the Westlite hostel to transport our employees (needing medical attention) to a nearby clinic or to our panel clinics.

14. We also have a whistle blower system in place which is operated by an independent third party in our workers’ native languages.

Short and Medium Term Plans 

1. The Top Glove Wellness Team already comprises twenty medical, six wellness, and three fitness professionals.

2. We are looking towards expanding our team of medical, wellness and fitness professionals to provide workers with regular health services such as free health screening for all employees and frequent health talks.

3. We are also installing additional security systems into our complexes, such as CCTV.



5. MORE STRINGENT SAFETY MEASURES FOR OUR WORKFORCE POST COVID-19

TOP GLOVE’S COMMITMENT:

Top Glove has been at the very centre of the COVID 19 disruptions; demand for our products has skyrocketed, and the need for social distancing and other protection for our workers has been paramount. We deeply regret that an outbreak occurred at our facilities.

While we have had COVID 19 prevention procedures in place since the start of the pandemic, we are mindful that we need to do more to ensure that our mitigation and safety measures respond effectively and quickly to changing conditions of the pandemic and beyond.
​​​​​​​

OUR EFFORTS:
​​​​​​​
Completed and Ongoing Efforts

1. Top Glove has enforced social distancing in our factories by providing proper facilities to our workers.

2. Following a temporary closure of our factories in Meru from 17 November to 14 December 2020, all our factories underwent a rigorous disinfection and sanitisation procedure.

3. We have since reopened our facilities with reinforced health and safety measures and daily disinfection regimes of premises.

4. As part of the Company’s proactive measures, we continue to embark on mass testing of our employees. To date, close to 12,000 of our factory employees having undergone screening; amounting to 26,000 tests which include testing for Person Under Investigation (PUI).

5. All costs related to COVID 19 for employees, both foreign and local, are borne by Top Glove.

6. Our COVID 19 standard operating procedures comply with Malaysian Government regulations, and we host regular spot checks to ensure standards are high, and we will remain vigilant in our efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees and the communities we serve.

7. Top Glove is in constant and close consultation and cooperation with the Ministry and the Labour Department, in our efforts to continually improve the accommodations of our foreign workforce.

8. Top Glove will improve training and more stringent restriction enforcements on workers.

9. Top Glove has registered with Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI) for the industrial phase onsite vaccination programme for our employees.

10. Top Glove’s clinic, Top Glove Global Doctors (TGGD) registered as an authorized vaccine distribution center to expedite vaccination for the employees.

11. All employees are given complimentary leave to support and encourage vaccination.

12. Top Glove has commenced its onsite COVID 19 vaccination programme under Program Imunisasi Industri COVID 19 Kerjasama Awam Swasta (PIKAS) on 19th July 2021 in Meru, Klang, Selangor. We aim to vaccinate all our employees throughout Malaysia by August 2021, in support of the Malaysian Government’s effort to achieve a higher vaccination rate in Malaysia. Please click here for more info.

Short and Medium Term Plans 

1. Top Glove welcomes the statement by the Special Committee on COVID 19 Vaccine Supply that all Malaysians, foreign citizens, migrant workers, and other vulnerable groups living in Malaysia will be guaranteed free access to vaccines under the National Immunisation Programme.

2. We stand ready to provide our continued support to the Malaysian government in its COVID 19 response.
​​​​​​

​​​​​​​