Ethical Business Practices

Modern Slavery

Shift Left will not tolerate any aspect of Modern Slavery in our business dealings and we will call out any suspicions immediately with the associated stakeholders.

​Modern Slavery is a term that encompasses both offences in the Modern Slavery Act: slavery, servitude, and forced or compulsory labour; and human trafficking. It takes on many forms today and some of the key examples are as follows:

• Human Trafficking – described by the United Nations as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose, including forced labour or sexual exploitation;
• Bonded Labour – also known as debt bondage and peonage, where a person is forced to work to pay off a debt;
• Child Slavery – any work deemed to be harmful to the health, safety or morals of a child (under 18) is considered to be child labour;
• Forced Marriage – where individuals don’t have the option to refuse or are promised and married to another by their parents, guardians, relatives or other people and groups;
• Domestic Servitude – often a form of Bonded Labour, it covers the exploitation and control of someone providing live-in help (maids, servants, housekeepers, child-carers and those caring for the elderly are examples); and
• Forced Labour – where victims are made to work through violence and intimidation.
  

Anti-Corruption and Bribery

​It is the policy of Shift Left to conduct business in an honest and ethical manner. As part of that, Shift Left takes a zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption and is committed to acting positively, pro-actively, professionally, fairly and ethically in all its business dealings and relationships, wherever it operates, and implementing and enforcing effective systems to counter bribery.

Our full Anti-Corruption and Bribery policy is made available to all our employees, suppliers and customers.

Prompt Payment Code
Paying suppliers or partners promptly and within the agreed payment terms is not only an ethical responsibility but economically beneficial for all parties and the wider economy. Speed and certainty of payment and stable cashflow are essential for all businesses to flourish and grow.

Shift Left has demonstrated our commitment to prompt payment and become a signatory to the code.

Living Wage

The real Living Wage is based on the cost of living and is voluntarily paid by nearly 9,000 UK employers believe we all need a wage that meets our everyday needs.

Shift Left has joined the Living Wage Foundation (https://www.livingwage.org.uk/) and encourages all members of our supply chain to make similar commitments in their own countries. Our commitment means that we will not pay anyone working for Shift Left in the UK less than the values specified by the Living Wage Foundation. 

Providing Opportunity

We recognise the need to provide more opportunity for people regardless of their background. To this end, we provide both trainee and graduate entry routes into our consultancy and use our long term managed services to ensure that they get real world exposure to life improving skills and the formal training required to build their capabilities to meet our clients' needs.

Supporting Volunteering

We offer all of employees one paid day of volunteering per year and have had great success with these days being used to improve the environment and local communities. We also support our Head of Service Delivery with his volunteering as a Blood Biker. 

Health and Wellbeing

We have a global health and wellbeing initiative that is based on providing a monthly newsletter that focuses on different topics associated with physical and mental health. This is backed up by trained mental first aiders throughout the business.