Louder Modern Slavery Statement

In accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2018, this statement outlines the steps that Louder has taken, and is continuing to take, to assess and reduce risks of modern slavery within our business and our supply chain, and our plans for review and improvement.

Introduction

The term “modern slavery” is used to describe situations where coercion, threats or deception are used to seriously exploit individual and undermine or deprive them of their freedom.

Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person’s liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain.

Louder’s greatest asset is its people, since its foundation in 2014, Louder has conducted its business on an ethical foundation, encouraging and enabling its employees and suppliers to operate within the same principle framework.

Louder voluntarily completed our Modern Slavery Statement to recognises that it has a responsibility under the Modern Slavery Act to take a strong approach to reject any forms of modern slavery and human trafficking. Louder have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and we are committed to promoting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our own business or in any of our supply chains.

Louder is also committed to limit the risk of modern slavery occurring in our business, ensure there is transparency in our business and in our approach to tackle modern slavery throughout our supply chain. We expect our employees and our suppliers to share our commitment to help ensure modern slavery does not exist in our business and our supply chain.

Who we are

Louder is an independent digital media and marketing technology business based in Sydney, Australia

We proudly deliver our clients objective, independent, specialist consultancy, where traditionally it has been difficult for marketers to get a neutral view of the world due to many stakeholders in the landscape having severe conflicts of interest.

We provide strategic consultancy, delivery and implementation, training and recruitment to businesses on the topics of measurement, data, experience and automation.

We assist brands, publishers and agencies to create scalable commercial models to maximise their return from digital media investment and the technology that underpins the enablement of these solutions.

Our supply chain

We have a relatively simple supply chain. Our supply chains support both the delivery of our service to a diverse portfolio of clients and the running of our day-to-day operations. In these activities we uphold our own ethical principle and meet the standards of our clients.

As a service organisation, Louder’s operation involve the direct employment for the provision of services to our clients. Additionally, Louder works with suppliers of products and services including for the leasing and use of real estate, the procurement of office equipments and technology, and for service to manage our office facilities.

Our long-term strategic relationships with key suppliers, provides a stability in our supply chain and procurement process. We recognise that our suppliers have their own suppliers and this makes for complex supply chains that affect our business and our clients’ business.

Identifying risks of Modern slavery

Our operations

We consider there is no risk of modern slavery in our directly employed workforce, as the labour market in Australia is highly regulated, and the presence of unions who represent employees by negotiating employment conditions. There is no risk in our use of skilled labour in the provision of service to its client given that the individuals who work in the IT and consulting arena are skilled, with greater control over their professional careers.

Our supply chain

Our major suppliers are global technology company with annual risk assessment of modern slavery conducted by independent party.

Additionally, Louder sources products and services from suppliers for the running of our day to day operations, whose operations are based in Australia. We believe these suppliers have a lower risk of modern slavery occurring in their supply chains, as their operations are Australian based, they are required to comply with the Modern Slavery Act within their own supply chains. However, our purchasing activities do include purchasing goods and services from suppliers who provide potentially risk products, such as, catering and food related products, uniforms, stationery .

To establish an initial baseline understanding, for our first year of modern slavery reporting, we mapped out our key suppliers and service providers and checked with the suppliers have published Modern Slavery Statements. This enabled us to undertake a risk assessment of any modern slavery risks, or potential risks, within our supplier’s operations and supply chains.

Our governance framework

We undertook a review of our standard procurement agreements and procurement processes to ensure that we have sound governance processes in place to meet our modern slavery compliance. In summary our review included the following activities:

  • Publication of our Modern Slavery Statement;

  • Implement supply chain diligence, ensure we identify modern slavery risks early with new suppliers during the procurement process;

Future developments

In our upcoming review, we aim to continue to revise and develop our approach to modern slavery compliance to build capacity within our business to monitor and act on modern slavery risks.

Awareness raising program

Louder aims to raise awareness and strengthen our understanding of the risk of modern slavery within our organisation and our supply chain by:

  • Employees: provide an annual education/ training to provide employees information on and their role in eliminating modern slavery in our workplace and our supply chain.

  • Suppliers:

    • Review of our procurement policy and procedures to ensure inclusion of modern slavery clauses; and

    • Update of our standard procurement agreements to include contractual obligations to address modern slavery compliance so that all new suppliers commit to adherence to the new modern slavery requirements

Corporate governance

Louder will continue to review our policies and procedures to ensure that we have sound governance processes in place to meet the modern slavery compliance requirements. Louder will conduct reviews of policies, such as, our Code of Conduct and employment agreement, to ensure inclusion of modern slavery clauses to increase employee awareness of the risks of modern slavery in our business and our supply chain.

Resources

Modern Slavery Act 2018