As a forward-leaning company, we have a responsibility to take a longer-term perspective of what it means to champion and enable positive change. We continue to consider the broader impact of our actions to ensure we are upholding our commitment to our team, our supplier ecosystem, our customers, and, most importantly, our society.

We are committed to minimising our environmental impact. From the energy powering our facilities to our waste management processes, we are constantly looking for ways to reduce our footprint. We have invested in sustainable infrastructure including free EV chargers for staff and visitors, offer a variety of incentives and facilities for low carbon travel, and operate a carbon offsetting initiative with Ecologi.

Environment

As a business specialising in solving complex problems we actively encourage different ways of thinking. We believe that an inclusive workplace that draws upon diverse skills, experiences, and perspectives is better placed to support our clients' infinitely varied needs. Our inclusive policies, facilities, and outreach programmes help us draw talent from the widest possible pool, and we are signatories of the Tech Talent Charter and Armed Forces Covenant, championing inclusion of underrepresented groups.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We believe the health and wellbeing of staff is foundational in creating a positive and productive workplace. We have introduced a range of initiatives to support our teams, such as private healthcare, which is available to all employees at all grades and includes mental health support. Our trained Mental Health First Aiders are also on hand if needed, and for those looking to work up a sweat we even offer an on-site gym.

Health and Wellbeing

Rowden is committed to taking steps to combat modern slavery and human trafficking and comply with our obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (“the Act”). We take a zero-tolerance approach to non-ethical practices and are committed to acting professionally, fairly, and with integrity in all our business dealings and supply chain relationships, wherever we operate, implementing and enforcing effective systems to uphold ethical standards and to combat modern slavery and human trafficking.

Modern slavery is an international crime affecting over 40 million people around the world. This growing global issue transcends age, gender, and ethnicities. It includes victims trafficked from overseas and vulnerable people in the UK who are forced illegally to work against their will across many different sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, construction, retail, and manufacturing.

The Act seeks to address the role of businesses in preventing modern slavery occurring in their supply chains and organisations. As Rowden is an SME trading below the turnover threshold indicated by law, it is not required to make a formal statement, however, we recognise that our customers will be seeking reassurance from us about our commitment to this problem.

This statement sets out the steps that we have and will continue to take as part of our ongoing commitment to keep slavery and human trafficking out of our business and our supply chains.

Rowden is a UK-headquartered engineering business. We build and integrate advanced systems that sense, connect, and protect data in demanding environments where decisions must be made quickly. Our solutions use intelligent automation for speed and efficiency and are designed to be straightforward and reliable for those operating in critical or remote settings. 

Supply chain activities at Rowden include the procurement of goods (e.g. equipment, components), labour (e.g. contracted workers) and services (e.g. facilities contracts) required for our business. We have a global supply chain, primarily UK-based, which also includes a smaller number of suppliers from North America and Europe. Our supply chain includes larger hardware and technology providers as well as third-party associates and consultants, SMEs, and local businesses that have the requisite technical skills and qualifications to help us deliver our services.

We have assessed the risks linked to modern slavery (i.e. high-risk sectors, lack of regulation in source countries, complex employment arrangements, presence of vulnerable workers, absence of worker representation and rights) and we believe that the nature of our business means that the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking is low. For example, we have limited use of labour suppliers, we do not have complex global supply chains, and we do not operate in a context of high flexibility and low profit margins. We do not rely on cheap labour, vulnerable workers, or seasonal workers. Nevertheless, we are committed to taking steps to uncover any potential risks within its supply chain.

We have several procedures in place that contribute to ensuring modern slavery does not occur in our business or supply chains. We will regularly review our internal practices and our supply chain to ensure that our zero-tolerance policy in respect of human trafficking and modern slavery is being upheld.




- Employment policies that protect our people from unfair treatment and promote a fair and inclusive workplace. These include our Whistleblowing Policy and Anti-bribery and Corruption Policy.
- Robust recruitment processes in line with UK employment laws, including: ‘right to work’ document checks; contracts of employment; and checks to ensure everyone employed is 16 and above.
- Market-related pay and benefits reviewed annually.
- Wellbeing initiatives to support our people’s physical and mental wellbeing and lifestyle choices.
- Internal training to educate our employees to recognise the risks of modern slavery in our business and supply chains.

- We conduct due diligence on our suppliers and are currently working to introduce formal ongoing review of supplier performance and compliance, with risk-based assessments.
- Where possible we build long standing relationships with trusted suppliers and make clear our expectations of business behaviour. This includes the requirements set out in our Supplier Code of Conduct, which we ask all our suppliers to comply with. This includes requirements to comply with modern slavery legislation.
- We avoid making demands of suppliers or subcontractors that might lead them to violate human rights. These types of demands include insufficient or late payments, and late orders or high-pressure deadlines resulting from poor demand forecasting.
- We include provisions in our supplier contracts that require them to comply with the law, including applicable anti-slavery and related laws including the Act.
- We have in place systems to encourage the reporting of concerns.
- We track our compliance with modern slavery obligations as part of our internal sustainability programme and currently consider that the steps we have implemented ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in our business or supply chain.

We recognise that tackling modern slavery requires a continuing, year-on-year commitment and will continue to undertake due diligence in our supply chain and review and improve procedures to help identify and prevent the risks of modern slavery or human trafficking.

During the next financial year, we aim to identify, assess, and manage risks on an ongoing basis by gathering additional information from suppliers during the procurement and audit processes regarding their awareness of, and compliance with, the Act, and endeavour to ensure that appropriate contractual provisions are incorporated into supplier contracts.

A business that sees further than products and profits.

Environment

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Health and Wellbeing

Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement