We are committed to respecting human rights in the way we do business. For our own operations, this means focusing on the rights, safety and wellbeing of our team members, while also considering the people who interact with or are affected by our business, including customers, contractors, suppliers, workers engaged through services used in our operations and the communities we serve.
As outlined in our Human Rights Strategy, our vision is to foster a safe, inclusive and respectful workplace, where our team members have appropriate work, fair pay and conditions and feel safe to come to work and be themselves.
We embed respect for human rights through our policies, governance, workplace programs, risk management, processes and grievance channels. This includes our approach to:
- team member working conditions
- pay, entitlements and working hours
- freedom of association and collective bargaining
- child employment controls
- privacy and data protection
- health, safety and wellbeing
- diversity, inclusion and respectful behaviour
- access to channels to raise concerns
Other actions that support human rights in our operations are described in our Diversity and Inclusion strategy and Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), which outline our commitments in areas including gender equity, inclusion, accessibility, Indigenous engagement and respect for First Nations people.
Where human rights and ethical sourcing risks relate to in-scope services used in our operations, such as logistics, transport, cleaning, trolley collection and store infrastructure installation services, we monitor these through our Ethical Sourcing Program. Further information on how we manage supplier and service provider risks is included in our supply chain section.
Team member working conditions
We care for our team members and are committed to treating them fairly. One of our priorities in our Human Rights Strategy is supporting appropriate work and conditions for our team members.
In Australia, working conditions are governed by the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Fair Work Act). As a large retailer, many of our team members work in operational roles across our stores, distribution centres, customer service, warehousing and logistics activities.
Working conditions for many of these team members are predominately regulated through long standing industrial instruments that have been negotiated with the relevant unions. In FY25, just over 85% of our team members were covered by an enterprise agreement and we estimate that over 28% of our team members are union members. We respect our team members’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining and continue to work closely with relevant unions and team members’ representatives.
We have processes in place to regularly review, set, monitor and address wage-related matters to ensure our team members are paid their correct entitlements, including in full and on time. Our enterprise agreements and employment contracts provide for wage rates that are higher than the national minimum wage or applicable Award minimum rates.
Team members’ working hours are set out in their employment contracts or enterprise agreements. Team members are not required to work more than 40 contracted hours on average per week. Reasonable additional hours can be worked in accordance with the Fair Work Act, and team members can refuse to work additional hours if the request is unreasonable. Operational team members covered by an enterprise agreement or modern award are remunerated for additional hours, including overtime where applicable.
We also have procedures to support compliance with legal minimum age requirements for employment in Australia. This includes processes to verify during recruitment that team members are at least 15 years old or meet the applicable local minimum working age or mandatory schooling age requirement, whichever is higher.
Privacy and data protection
We believe privacy is a fundamental human right. We aim to be transparent and respectful in the way we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information about customers, team members, suppliers and partners.
The
Coles Privacy PolicyOpens in new window
applies to Coles Group Limited and its subsidiaries except as noted in the Privacy Policy. It explains how we handle personal information relating to customers, members of the public, visitors to our websites, and users of Coles apps, social media, and other digital services.
The Privacy Policy is supported by our privacy framework, which includes policies, training, compliance resources, and privacy impact assessments. This framework helps us comply with our privacy obligations and is supported by governance arrangements including the Data Governance Council, which includes senior leaders across the functional areas of Technology, Risk & Compliance, Cyber Security, Data, and Intelligence, Digital, Customer and Legal. We also have a Privacy Officer, and a Privacy team led by a Group Privacy Manager, with access to external advice where required.
