GRI Content Index
with key indicators for our business
| Disclosure Number | Disclosure Title | Response |
|---|---|---|
| GRI 102: General Disclosures | ||
| Organizational Profile | ||
| 102-1 | Name of the organization | Whirlpool Corporation |
| 102-2 | Activities, brands, products and services | See Corporate Overview |
| 102-3 | Location of headquarters | 2000 North M-63, Benton Harbor, Michigan |
| 102-4 | Location of operations | Operations data in this report is from majority-owned subsidiaries, but excluding the manufacturing operations of Embraco, which was sold by Whirlpool Corporation in July 2019. Countries where Whirlpool Corporation operates and that are relevant to the topics covered in this report are: Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovakia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America. |
| 102-5 | Ownership and legal form | Whirlpool Corporation is a publicly traded company, listed on the Chicago Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange |
| 102-6 | Markets served | See Corporate Overview |
| 102-7 | Scale of the organization | See Corporate Overview |
| 102-8 | Information on employees and other workers | See Social Scorecard The vast majority of our workforce are Whirlpool Corporation employees, with the exception of China where the majority of the workers are in-store promoters who perform selling services on our behalf. Our contract employee workforce is less than 4% of our total workforce; therefore it is an insignificant portion of our population. The data for this disclosure was compiled based on a combination of leveraging our internal HRIS and consulting with various Centers of Excellence within our HR function. There are no significant variations in the numbers reported in 102-8A, B, or C. |
| 102-10 | Significant changes to the organization and its supply chain | In July 2019, we completed the divestiture of our Embraco compressor business. For more information, please see our 2019 Annual Report. |
| 102-11 | Precautionary Principle or approach | Whirlpool Corporation’s Global Policy on Environment, Health, and Safety points to maintaining high environmental standards by identifying aspects, threats, and opportunities, and the conservation of natural resources, waste minimization, and prevention of pollution. We manage our operations and develop products according to our capabilities, with a commitment to avoid negative impacts on the environment. We apply the precautionary principle where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage to the environment, acting according to our capabilities to prevent risks. |
| 102-12 | External initiatives | See Our Commitments |
| 102-13 | Membership of associations | Whirlpool Corporation’s main memberships of industry associations are held with APPLiA, AHAM and ELETROS. |
| 102-14 | Statement from senior decision-maker | See CEO Message |
| 102-15 | Key impacts, risks and opportunities | See Refreshed Materiality Assessment |
| 102-16 | Values, principles, standards and norms of behavior | See Corporate Overview See Our Purpose |
| 102-17 | Mechanisms for advice and concerns about ethics | See Global Ethics & Compliance Program |
| 102-18 | Governance structure | See A Revised ESG Framework Proxy Statement |
| 102-19 | Delegating authority | See A Revised ESG Framework |
| 102-20 | Executive-level responsibility for economic, environmental and social topics | See A Revised ESG Framework. The ESG Task Force members report directly to the highest governance body. |
| 102-21 | Consulting stakeholders on economic, environmental and social topics | See Refreshed Materiality Assessment |
| 102-22 | Composition of the highest governance body and its committees |
Proxy Statement |
| 102-23 | Chair of the highest governance body | See Board of Directors Proxy Statement |
| 102-24 | Nominating and selecting the highest governance body |
Proxy Statement |
| 102-25 | Conflicts of Interest | Proxy Statement Integrity Manual Corporate Governance Guidelines and Policies |
| 102-26 | Role of highest governance body in setting purpose, values and strategy | See Board Oversight of Our ESG Strategy |
| 102-28 | Evaluating the highest governance body’s performance |
See Board Oversight of Our ESG Strategy |
| 102-29 | Identifying and managing economic, environmental and social impacts | See Board Oversight of Our ESG Strategy |
| 102-32 | Highest governance body’s role in sustainability reporting |
See Board Oversight of Our ESG Strategy |
| 102-35 | Remuneration policies | See Compensation Policies Additional details on our Board of Directors compensation, and our executive compensation policies and programs can be found in our Proxy Statement as filed with the SEC. |
| 102-36 | Process for determining remuneration | See Proxy Statement, page 35 |
| 102-40 | List of stakeholder groups | See Refreshed Materiality Assessment |
| 102-41 | Collective bargaining agreements | 50.38% |
| 102-42 | Identifying and selecting stakeholders | See Refreshed Materiality Assessment |
| 102-43 | Approach to stakeholder engagement | See Refreshed Materiality Assessment |
| 102-44 | Key topics and concerns raised | See Refreshed Materiality Assessment |
| 102-45 | Entities included in the consolidated financial statements | Majority-owned entities are included. Form 10-K, Exhibit 21 |
| 102-46 | Defining report content and topic boundaries | See Refreshed Materiality Assessment |
| 102-47 | List of material topics | See Refreshed Materiality Assessment |
| 102-48 | Restatements of information | The base year for emissions is now 2016 based on the SBTi methodology. |
| 102-49 | Changes in reporting | The Materiality Assessment was redone in 2019, so the material topics and Materiality Matrix has changed from last year. This is done to reflect changing stakeholder priorities and impacts to the business. |
| 102-50 | Reporting period | 2019 (complete year) |
| 102-51 | Date of most recent report | 2018 |
| 102-52 | Reporting cycle | Annual |
| 102-53 | Contact point for questions regarding the report | See About This Report |
| 102-54 | Claims of reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards |
See About This Report |
| 102-56 | External assurance | This report has not been externally assured. We have internal control systems in place for managing and reporting information and we work with a third-party consultant company in the process for defining the report content, including the application of the Materiality principle and the stakeholder engagement process. We are considering implementing an external assurance process in the future. |
| 103-1 | Explanation of the material topic and its boundary | See Refreshed Materiality Assessment |
| 103-2 | The management approach and its components | See Refreshed Materiality Assessment |
| 103-3 | Evaluation of the management approach | See Refreshed Materiality Assessment The effectiveness of our management approach to material topics is evaluated through the monitoring process of our goals, external benchmarkings and frameworks, and strategy guidance from external consultancy companies, which analyze our programs and initiatives. |
| 201-2 | Financial implications and other risks and opportunities due to climate change | Form 10-K, page 18 |
| 202-1 | Ratios of standard entry level wage by gender compared to local minimum wage | The ratio of the standard entry-level hourly wage to local minimum wage varies from location to location around the world. This variation is necessary to comply with local market conditions and with wage minimums in countries or municipalities that set the minimums. Whirlpool Corporation complies with local minimum wage laws in each jurisdiction in which we operate. Whirlpool Corporation does not vary entry-level compensation by gender. |
| 205-1 | Operations assessed for risks related to corruption |
See We Do Not Tolerate Corruption |
| 205-2 | Communication and training about anti-corruption policies and procedures |
See Our Integrity Manual |
| 205-3 | Confirmed incidents of corruption and actions taken |
We had zero confirmed incidents of corruption in 2019. |
| 206-1 | Legal actions for anti-competitive behavior, anti-trust and monopoly practices |
Form 10-K, pages 69 and 70 |
| 301-1 | Materials used by weight or volume |
1The recycled content in our cardboard packaging varies from 25% to 100%, depending on the region. Note: these data are estimated based on engineering and sourcing estimates. |
| 302-1 | Energy consumption within the organization | See Environmental Scorecard The disclosure includes renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy. |
| 302-3 | Energy intensity | See Environmental Scorecard The disclosure considers energy consumption within the organization and the denominator is the total number of products manufactured in 2019. |
| 302-4 | Reduction of energy consumption | See Environmental Scorecard See Energy Management |
| 302-5 | Reductions in energy requirements of products and services | See Environmental Scorecard See Energy Management |
| 303-1 | Interactions with water as a shared resource | We use the WRI Aqueduct tool suggested by CDP Water to analyze our water impacts and sites with the highest water risk.This information informs future priorities for action and water-related projects. The Aqueduct tool is a model based on the location of company locations rather than current water use or water trends. We have taken steps to include the current state and trends at our sites in our analysis to focus our efforts on the sites where we can have the largest impact. |
| 303-2 | Management of water discharge-related impacts | See Environmental Scorecard |
| 303-3 | Water withdrawal | See Environmental Scorecard See Water Efficiency |
| 303-4 | Water discharge | See Environmental Scorecard See Water Efficiency |
| 305-1 | Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions | See Environmental Scorecard See Reducing GHG Emissions in our Plants No gases were excluded from the calculation. The baseline year is 2016 based on the SBTi methodology. Emissions Factors are from IPCC. |
| 305-2 | Energy indirect (Scope 2) GHG emissions | See Environmental Scorecard The baseline year is 2016 based on the SBTi methodology. Emissions Factors are from IEA. |
| 305-3 | Other indirect (Scope 3) GHG emissions | See Environmental Scorecard See New Targets to Reduce GHG Emissions in our Products The baseline year is 2016 based on the SBTi methodology. Emissions Factors are from IEA. |
| 305-4 | GHG emissions intensity | See Environmental Scorecard See Reducing GHG Emissions in our Plants Denominator is production. No gases were excluded from the calculation. The baseline year is 2016 based on the SBTi methodology. |
| 305-5 | Reduction of GHG emissions | See Environmental Scorecard See Reducing GHG Emissions in Our Plants No gases were excluded from the calculation. The baseline year is 2016 based on the SBTi methodology. |
| 306-1 | Water discharge by quality and destination | See Environmental Scorecard See Water Efficiency |
| 306-2 | Waste by type and disposal method | See Environmental Scorecard See Achieving Zero Waste to Landfill |
| 308-1 | New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria | See We Expect Our Suppliers to Conduct Business Ethically |
| 308-2 | Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken | See We Expect Our Suppliers to Conduct Business Ethically |
| 401-1 | New employee hires and employee turnover | See Social Scorecard |
| 401-2 | Benefits provided to full-time employees | Whirlpool Corporation’s compensation and benefits philosophy supports the business strategy by attracting, motivating, and retaining top talent by being market competitive, aligning rewards to both individual and company performance, and remaining flexible to support changing business needs. In every country we provide life insurance, disability coverage, and parental leave. In coordination with each country’s health care system, and in addition to any required local health care participation, we may provide additional benefits based on the market competitiveness in that country. We meet all local regulations related to benefits. |
| 402-1 | Minimum notice periods regarding operational changes |
In any jurisdiction where there is a legally mandated notice, we comply with all local laws and requirements. Whirlpool Corporation also provides severance where applicable based on local law and or company policy. |
| 403-1 | Occupational health and safety management system | See Occupational Health & Safety |
| 403-2 | Hazard identification, risk assessment and incident investigation | See Occupational Health & Safety |
| 403-5 | Worker training on occupational health and safety | See Workforce Development & Engagement |
| 403-7 | Prevention and mitigation of occupational health and safety impacts directly linked by business relationships |
See Occupational Health & Safety |
| 403-8 | Workers covered by an occupational health and safety management system | See Occupational Health & Safety All our workers are covered by the occupational health and safety management system |
| 403-9 | Work-related injuries | See Occupational Health & Safety Whirlpool Corporation does not draw a distinction between regular employee hours worked and temporary employee hours worked. Temporary employees or “contract” employees are employees who are employed by another employer but supervised on a day-to-day basis by a Whirlpool Corporation employee. Therefore, the total number of employee hours worked (140,371,368) is comprised of both Whirlpool Corporation employees and non-employees supervised by a Whirlpool Corporation employee. The only workers who are not included in this disclosure are contractors and contract workers who work (temporarily) at a Whirlpool Corporation operation and are not supervised by a Whirlpool Corporation employee, but instead by a member of his/her own organization. |
| 403-10 | Work-related ill health | See Occupational Health & Safety Only workers who are not supervised by a Whirlpool employee are not included in Whirlpool Injury and Illness records. This would include contractors executing a temporary project at a Whirlpool location that are supervised by their employer. |
| 404-1 | Average hours of training per year per employee | See Workforce Development & Engagement Training is offered at Whirlpool Corporation to all employees based on development needs and company requirements regardless of race, gender, and ethnicity. |
| 404-2 | Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs | See Workforce Development & Engagement Severance and job placement services and transition assistance are available on an ad hoc basis in the U.S. |
| 404-3 | Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews | See Everyday Performance Excellence |
| 405-1 | Diversity of governance bodies and employees | See Board of Directors See Social Scorecard |
| 405-2 | Ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men | See Whirlpool Corporation At-A-Glance |
| 406-1 | Incidents of discrimination and corrective actions taken | We had 67 internal incidents of which 28 were substantiated and we took corrective actions. We also had 21 external cases opened, of which nine closed. 100% of incidents are reviewed by Whirlpool Corporation's legal and employee relations teams as a part of our standard process. No findings of wrongdoing have been determined for the remaining incidents. |
| 407-1 | Operations and suppliers in which the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining may be at risk | Whirlpool Corporation respects the rights of its employees to associate with whom they choose. When employees properly elect a trade union, we bargain in good faith with that union. We do not believe that violations or significant risks exist either at any operation, regardless of country or geographic region. The Company employs experts who understand compliance with laws related to association and collective bargaining. Those experts work within the business to ensure compliance, including providing periodic training. |
| 408-1 and 409-1 | Operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of child labor, forced or compulsory labour | See We Believe in Global Human Rights See Global Ethics & Compliance |
| 412-1 | Operations that have been subject to human rights reviews or impact assessments | See We Believe in Global Human Rights |
| 412-2 | Employee training on human rights policies or procedures |
See Our Integrity Manual Whirlpool Corporation expects all employees to respect human rights across the globe and offers appropriate training tailored to specific locations and local laws and regulations. |
| 413-1 | Operations with local community engagement, impact assessments and development programs | See Local Communities |
| 414-1 | New suppliers that were screened using social criteria |
See We Expect Our Suppliers to Conduct Business Ethically |
| 414-2 | Negative social impacts in the supply chain and actions taken | See We Expect Our Suppliers to Conduct Business Ethically |
| 415-1 | Political contributions | In 2019, $154,000 in political contributions were made. No in-kind political contributions were made in 2019. https://www.whirlpoolcorp.com/us-political-contributions/ |
| 416-1 | Assessment of the health and safety impacts of product and service categories | See We Design and Manufacture Safe and High-Quality Products |
| 416-2 | Incidents of non-compliance concerning the health and safety impacts of products and services | We have not identified any non-compliances based on internal search conducted. |
| 419-1 | Non-compliance with laws and regulations in the social and economic area | Form 10-K, pages 69 and 70 |