1. TAN THANH GROUP’S CODE OF CONDUCT
Tan Thanh Group’s Code of Conduct is a set of instructions for daily proper communication and action, in accordance with the company’s core values.
This Code of Conduct is applied to all those who work for Tan Thanh Group, including all units regardless of rank or position. No matter who you are in your family or society, once you become a member of Tan Thanh Group, you are required to follow this Code of Conduct.
The most important thing when following this rule is that each member must demonstrate the integrity and leadership by complying with the terms of the Code of Conduct as well as company’s regulations and policies.
By simply applying moral principles and the core values of Tan Thanh Group in any business relationship and behavior, we have demonstrated a commitment to create a unique cultural image of Tan Thanh Group mainly around Colleagues - Clients - Partners - Community.
2. OUR INTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS
We respect Tan Thanh Group employees as a valuable asset
The commitment of Tan Thanh about human concern is reflected in the working environment, training programs to enhance and reward individual or collective achievements.
We are encouraged to furtherly improve ourselves and contribute to the success of the company. Eventually, all the efforts of talented and honorable individuals have contributed to the final success of our business.
Here are our specific employing policies:
• Recruitment, working arrangements and payment are equally determined based on the capacity to do the assigned work and must not be discriminatory.
• Opportunities of training, education and promotion are provided to all Tan Thanh staffs in order to facilitate individual development and career progression.
• Employee’s performance assessment is carried out to give straightforward and precise feedback. Two-way feedbacks, discussions and reviews from higher-ups are encouraged
• Pay based on labor efficiency, recognize and reward individuals or work units that exceed their daily tasks.
• Personal privacy is respected.
• Potential danger at workplace should be eliminated to ensure Tan Thanh staff’s safety and healthy working environment. All employees are expected to follow all laws or standards about occupational safety and health.
• It’s completely forbidden to thread false information, cause internal dissidence & conflict, gossip, talk behind any colleague’s back.
As a member, each of us would try our best to adhere to the policies of Tan Thanh Group to improve the business performance of the whole company. In all circumstances, we should act truthfully and honestly in order to protect the trust and credibility placed on us.
We avoid compromising conflicts which may harm the company
A mind of anticipation is one of our most precious assets. We should avoid any conflicting action that cause (or likely to cause) compromises the company.
The conflict can occur in many situations. It is difficult to list them all here, and it’s not always easy to distinguish properly whether one is correct or not. When in doubt, ask the managers, controllers or the HR department of our unit for advice before taking action.
Here are instructions guidance for the common situations of conflict:
Investment
Do not invest in businesses that can affect your decisions in your career. Company policy prohibits employees of Tan Thanh from possessing stocks or private interests in a rival or partner company of Tan Thanh.
Side jobs
Employees are not allowed to work for a competitor while working for Tan Thanh, as well as work or assist any third party if the job can negatively affect their working performance or judgment. Do not exploit time, company’s equipments or resources to do unrelated external work without permission from their department chief at Tan Thanh.
3. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE COMPANY
Personal
Although the right of Tan Thanh employees is respected, as to freely connect with people they have encountered through working, they are expected to use the good judgment to ensure that the job performance, ability to supervise others or work environment are not negatively affected by those connections.
The workplace behaviors deriving from romantic or friendly relationships among staff will be considered inappropriate should they create an uncomfortable work environment for others. Any biases or decisions based on emotions, loyalty or friendship rather than the benefits of the company are strictly prohibited. Those who have personal relationships should behave reasonably and sensitively.
Protecting company’s exclusive information
All business confidential information of Tan Thanh or other exclusive information and most of internal data from Tan Thanh are valuable assets. To protect these assets, including confidentiality, plays a vital role in the continual development and competitiveness of the Tan Thanh. All those information and data are extremely hard to data or gather, so we must keep them secret. Even other exclusive information or working knowledge should be protected as well.
Business confidential and other exclusive information of Tan Thanh may include any formula, design, device or useful information to gain advantage over competitors.
They do not only belong to the technical field, but also vary from business research, new product planning, strategic objectives, any yet-tobe-announced financial or pricing information, database of employees, customers and suppliers, information about requirements, tastes, habits, schedules from customer ... In spite of being incomplete, these are still not enough, this list shows that there are a lot of information that needs to be secured. Although these infos weren’t copyrighted, they are not meant to be for public eyes.
Your mandatory responsibilities for Tan Thanh’s business secrets and exclusive information are:
• Not disclose any information even to the staff of Tan Thanh unless the information is deemed "needs knowing" or "needs using".
• Not disclose any information to people outside of Tan Thanh.
• Not use any information for personal benefit or the benefit of people outside Tan Thanh.
Protecting Tan Thanh’s assets
Property, facilities and services of the Company must be used for right purposes with permission. Equipments, systems, facilities,... of Tan Thanh should only be used for Tan Thanh activities or for purposes that are granted by the Board of Directors. Employees have the responsibility not only to protect rhe granted assets, but also the generall ones. Employees should beware of any situation or incident that may lead to the loss, improper use or theft of company’s properties and must report all such situations to higher-upsupon knowing.
4. RELATIONSHIP WITH PARTNERS
Each employee should be aware of how suppliers and customers see him/her as the company. It is essential to maintain the reputation of our company and to treat all partners honestly and equally.
Ethical Transactions
The goal of our purchasing is to ensure the source of continuous and trustworthy supply. Treating customers and suppliers with honesty is an indispensable element in building sustainable and long term relationships. Therefore, we must treat suppliers as partners and understand that they also need to gain a reasonable profit when doing business with us. We must consider all suppliers equally and consistently. The purchasing decisions must be based on objective criteria such as price, quality as well as the ability and integrity of each supplier. Giving or receiving kickbacks, bribes or similar payments are prohibited.
No inappropriate gifts
It is completely unacceptable if you give or accept gifts, money or other benefits that influence business decisions. Since it will damage the company’s reputation and image, Tan Thanh Group prohibits all of the actions mentioned above.
Follow this rule:
"Never accept gifts or services that may ruin your reputation".
5. RELATIONSHIP WITH CLIENTS
Our prestige has been built on the quality and safety of the products we make. Our commitment to quality and safety is essential for our Company to keep on being successful and growing. Clients here include distributing angencies and farmers.
High product standards
Clients can trust Tan Thanh’s products for the reliability, quality and superior performance. Along with giving clients the best service possible, we must also strive to produce products in the most effective way possible to get the affordable price for a major of customers.
We should provide timely support to clients who had misunderstanding or initially failed to perform the recommended instructions.
Serving farmers
Since our company specializes in agricultural products, our success depends on the satisfaction, trust and faith of farmers. The best way to achieve the objectives and meet their requirements is to attentively listen and use our creativity to satisfy their changing needs.
When a customer expresses dissatisfaction, we must solve the problem timely, politely, duly and reasonably to maintain or regain his/her trust so that they would continue to buy products from Tan Thanh.
Accurate advertisements
One of the most important aspects of our company is advertising. Ads must be innovative and competitive, but they must also reflect the honest and accurate facts without giving misleading information or failing to comply with relevant laws. Our advertisement must not only create good product images but also build up our reputation on durability, reliability and credibility.
Respect customer’s privacy
Customers’ privacy policy must be reserved and respected. Tan Thanh’s Policy states that we could gather, process, use and store personal information from clients only when we got their agreement.
While contacting Tan Thanh, customers can provide us some personal information such as name, home address and email address. When we ask for those details, me must state the reasons and only use them for the exact reasons, unless customers allow us to use them for further purposes. However, we may use that information for archiving purpose by default.
Our policy is also against sharing customer’s personal information with another third party except when we are required to do so in accordance with the relevant law and regulations.
6. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GOVERNMENT AND LAW
Archiving legal records
We must comply with laws and regulations relating to the retention of legal records (including paper documents and electronic data). It is compulsory for everyone to follow the precise procedures of archiving & preserving legal records.
We must act as required by the government with the intention of cooperating so that the company’s business operations won’t be affected.
7. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SOCIETY
Employees are encouraged to participate in philanthrophical and/or volunteering programs
The company also motivates employees to spend some time outside working hours on their preferred charitable activities.
Cmmitment to respect Human Rights
Tan Thanh commits to respect human rights according to following criteria:
• Creating equal opportunities for all employees, notwithstanding their skin color, race, gender, family status…
• Creating a safe and healthy working environment;
• Paying for employees to cover at least the basic needs, and giving them the opportunity to improve their skills and abilities;
• Respecting employee’s right to gather willingly and legally
• Letting employees work under governments or communities in which they can improve the business culture, economy and social activities of those communities.
Cmmitment to hold sustainable business
Not only is getting a cleaner, healthier environment the right thing to do, but it is also good for business. With the intention to make a worthy contribution to the protection of Vietnamese agriculture, Tan Thanh Group has been focusing on how to operate in an eco-friendly way so as to protect paddy fields for future generations.
At Tan Thanh, sustainability is a must for long term business and the decisive factor for the collective success. In addition, Tan Thanh commits to achieve the sustainable business target in order to develop duly and beneficially to the concerning people, including employees, customers and others related to the Company.
8. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ENVIRONMENT
Environment protection
Tan Thanh commits to protect the environment through practical programs. Therefore, each employee must be in compliance with environment-relating regulations and government policy.
There is no such individual or manager in the company may neglect or act against this policy. Certainly they cannot permit, approve or support anyone else to defy that very policy.
We will promote open communication and seek positive and efficient cooperation from the locals we are forming business activities. We will continue to share information about our environmental policies and programs with customers.
In the ever-revolving world, Tan Thanh prioritizes responsible and sustainable business. These efforts have increased the efficiency and financial advantages of the Company. With that said, there are still a lot of works to be done. Our long-term strategy is to reduce the negative impact of pesticides on the environment; so we must not separate that strategy from the manufacturing, packaging, distribution and marketing of our products.
9. RESPONSIBILITY TO COMPLY WITH THE RULES
The existence of this written code of conduct is not enough. These standards must be conveyed to and complied with by whom it concerns.
It’s necessary to convey and ckarifiy information
While working at Tan Thanh Group, each of us has a responsibility to adhere to behavior standards, all statutes and regulations stated in the policy, procedure and other instruction documents compiling by our Company and other units or departments. Managers are responsible for conveying these standards to the people they work with to ensure that everybody understands and follows, and facilitating an atmosphere so people can freely discuss the ethical and regulation issues.
Non-retaliation policy
No punitive action will be taken against anyone who claims, reports violations, who joins or assists the investigation of Rules and Regulations violating which are still in process, unless that allegation or the provided information are deemed to be intentionally misleading. Tan Thanh will keep all complaints confidential as best as possible.
10. GUIDELiNES ON HOW TO PERFORM AND REPORT
Guidance seeking
This Code of Conduct cannot contain specific answers to all questions. Hence, employees have to rely on their minds to adhere to the Company’s high standards, including the ability to determine the appropriate time to seek guidance.
In most cases, if you have questions about the content described in this Code of Conduct, you can ask your direct manager, Human Resources Department or Board of Supervisors. And if necessary, they can forward your concerned issues to the Board of Directors for further instructions.
Suspected violations must be reported
If you know or have good reasons to suspect a violation of this Code of Conduct or other guidance from the Company, you must immediately report that information to your manager or the Board of Supervisors. The company will perform all the necessary steps to keep the reporter’s identity as well as the provided information and will only disclose it to the appropriate audience who needs to know.
You can contact via this secured email:
hotmail@tanthanhco.vn, or this regular mail address: Board of Supervisors- Tan Thanh Trading Co., Ltd. - 3165 Thanh An, Vinh Thanh, Can Tho City.
The disciplinary action may be carried out
Tan Thanh's policy bears "zero tolerance" to any violation against the Code of Conduct or the Management Regulation. In a narrower sense, the Company intends to prevent any defiling acts to the rules and regulations as soon as possible after detecting. Any Staff Member of Tan Thanh Group who violates the Code or Regulations may be subject to disciplinary action and even dismissal.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Code of Conduct
The following examples are only intended as illustrations and may not cover all situations that may occur. If you have questions about a specific situation, please do not hesitate to talk to your manager, Human Resource Department, Board of Supervisors or email to
hotmail@tanthanhco.vn
- Q: In case I reported a violation which might have occurred, would I get in any trouble if my suspection turned out to be wrong?
- A: If you witness something that is suspected as a violation, you will not be reprimanded or disciplined as long as the report comes from good will. If you know or have good reasons to suspect a breach of this Code, you are required to immediately report that information to your manager or the Board of Supervisors.
- Q: If I have some concern which are not listed in the Code of Conduct, does that mean it is not a problem at all?
- A: It's not. This Code of Conduct is intended only as illustrations but it cannot cover all situations. If you are confronted with a problem that is not in the Code of Conduct, please talk to your manager, Human Resources, Board of Supervisors for answering questions.
- Q: I suspect that my direct supervisor is having wrong behaviors that may violate the Code of Conduct. But I'm afraid that if I report this case to the higher-ups, the supervisor knows and I may get his revenge.
- A: As an employee of Tan Thanh, if you have good reasons to suspect a case of violation, you are required to report that information to your manager or the Board of Supervisors. As long as the violation in doubt is reported from your good will with the right procedures specified in the Code of Conduct, the non-retaliation policy prohibits any hostile action against you for reporting that. Any employee who intentionally retaliates against the reporter will be disciplined.
- Q: What would happen if someone reported my behaviour while I did not do anything wrong?
- A: Please be assured that the Company would not deliver the verdict upon receiving a report. Instead, the Company will appoint a person or a group of people from other department to thoroughly investigate that suspected violation. Everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty. You will also be given an opportunity to speak up for yourself in the process of investigating.
- Q: Will the investigating process be different if the suspected person is my direct supervisor?
- A: No, the process will be executed consistently regardless of which position the suspect has in the company.
- Q: Will I really get fired for violations of Tan Thanh’s Code of Conduct?
- A: The Company's policy has "zero tolerance" for any behaviour that violates the Code of Conduct and Financial Management Regulation. Any Staff Member who violates the Code or Regulations may be subject to disciplinary action and even dismissal.