building worker first supply chains: stand back for...
TRANSCRIPT
BUILDING WORKER FIRST SUPPLY CHAINS: STAND BACK FOR
LIFT-OFF
WHY?
Scaling up initiatives to promote decent work is vital to improving labour rights and lifting millions of
workers out of poverty. So far, the pace of change has been incremental and out of step with the
social, environmental and technological mega-trends sweeping our world. Technology offers an
opportunity to reach workers across global supply chains and make a real and lasting difference – at
scale.
WHAT WE DISCUSSED
We explored how we can harness technological innovation to reach more workers in an impactful
way, and considered the barriers we had faced to date. In particular, we critiqued three potential
tools with the potential to help scale up efforts to amplify workers’ voices. These included a web-
based supplier rating system developed by EcoVadis, worker engagement software from Ulula and a
cloud-based platform from Knowlabel connecting brands and retailers with real-time insights from
the workers making their products.
Speakers
Sylvain Guyoton, Senior Vice-President for Research, EcoVadis
Marianne Hughes, Founder and CEO, Knowlabel
Antoine Heuty, Founder and CEO, Ulula
Worker ambassador
Xia Yinzhi
Factory ambassador
Mohammad Matin, Assistant General Manager, Natural Denim
Moderator: Rosey Hurst, Founder and Director, Impactt
TOP TAKEAWAYS
1. While technology has clear potential to achieve exponential growth in reaching the millions
of workers in global supply chains, we must remember that technology itself is neither good,
nor bad, but neither is it neutral. In particular, technology can be used to exercise control
over workers, or to harvest information without delivering benefits to workers. Keeping
workers at the centre of the agenda is central to achieving success.
Antoine Heuty: “Workers will stop answering if they see nothing is being done to address their concerns.”
2. The EcoVadis platform has been very effective in achieving scale - providing 150 lead firms
with social and environmental performance data on 25,000 suppliers employing 20 million
workers, , but workers are not directly engaged in the model.
Sylvain Guyoton: “We’re like a medical testing company – we’ve developed a measurement
tool that gives you a sample to make informed decisions and talk to patients to see if there is
a problem and address it.”
“If we rely only on audits, there’s a big risk that they could be wrong. They shouldn’t be the
only mechanism used, but one among many.”
3. Ulula is experimenting with reaching ‘the last mile’ (i.e. workers) through partnerships with
trade unions and NGOs. This approach is in its infancy, but has the potential to reach
millions of workers, so that their views can become more central to decision-making.
Antoine Heuty: “The number one thing that could go wrong is a breach of privacy that could put workers in harm. If that happens it could set back the whole industry.”
“There’s a risk we could replace supplier audit fatigue with worker survey fatigue.”
“The reality is, [our solution] is often paid for by brands rather than unions. It will be more impactful when it’s used by multiple stakeholders.”
4. Knowlabel has a strong business case at site level, and stands to unlock significant
productivity gains through wearable technology. Importantly, it could deliver key information
to workers on topics such as pay, contracts and health and safety. However, the balance
between the benefits to business and workers needs to be carefully managed to ensure that
gains are shared.
Marianne Hughes: “Transparency doesn’t mean what the consumer can see, but equality – what can the worker see as well?”
“Norms don’t solve problems for workers – workers care about human impact.”
How business can take action
1. Stay up to date with the latest technological solutions designed to connect global supply
chains and empower workers to raise their concerns.
2. Collaborate with key stakeholders – suppliers, unions and labour rights NGOs – to
understand how #workerfirst technology can be used to best effect in your supply chain.
3. Share your feedback on the #workerfirst technologies you use with the providers,
considering how well their solutions meet your and workers’ needs, in order to encourage
continuous improvement and increase the benefits for workers.
4. Exchange best practice across your industry and beyond.
HOW IMPACTT CAN HELP
We can help you determine which #workerfirst technologies might best suit your particular
challenges, connect you with relevant technology providers and advise you on how to leverage their
solution to best effect among your suppliers and their workers.
Importantly, we can analyse the workers’ responses and advise on practical strategies that you and
your supplier can adopt to address their concerns and raise labour standards.
For more information, visit www.impacttlimited.com, contact us by email at
[email protected] or call us on 0207 242 6777.
Private&Confiden/alSeptember19:MaRSInvestorPresenta/on
ScalingUpResponsibleSupplyChainManagementthroughWorkerEngagementTechnology
ImpacF2017|[email protected]|ulula.com
Private&Confiden/alSeptember19:MaRSInvestorPresenta/on
Worker Engagement
Technology 101
Establish program scope (# facilities, content, channels) with all stakeholders
numbers 262-272 383-383 747-484
Toll free 1800-787
Workers receive or initiate a call or message to participate anonymously and free of charge
Employers and/or partners provide workers’ phone numbers
Awareness & worker recruitment campaign (posters, leaflets…).
Optional: workers receive a reward (ex. mobile credit) for their participation.
Organizations receive real time intelligence and close the loop with workers to foster change
Real/meintelligence&feedbackdrivesimpact
CRM(Salesforce,Enablon)
Continuous Worker & Community Engagement
Innova/vePartnershipModels(tradeunions,NGOs,governments)
2-wayWorkerEngagementSystem(SMS,voice,messenger,web)
BusinessProcess&SystemIntegra/on(e.g.API)
ScalingupResponsibleSupplyChainManagement
Businessintelligenceand
otherdata
Blockchaindata
WorkerEngagementSystemIntegra/on
• 2-way engagement (health & safety, wellbeing) • Engage workers and communities beyond workplace • Automation & integration with Azure
5
SPOTONINDIA:Tex/leandgarmentinNewDelhi&TamilNadu
• PartnerwithlocalNGOsinlocalsupplychainhotspots• NGOsoutreachanduseofdataforadvocacy• AccesstoworkerengagementplaZorm• Next:palmoil,rubber,gold
EngageWorkers’Representa/ves&Unions
• Supportmembersday-to-day• StrengthenAccountabilitybetweenworkersandrepresenta/ves
• Ac/onabledataforcollec/vebargaining
WorkerEngagementThroughTechnologyPrinciples
Visit: www.westprinciples.org
So\ware+Analy/csforRESPONSIBLESUPPLYCHAINS
ImpacF2017|[email protected]|ulula.com
Document classification: EcoVadis® Public
Impactt’s 20th Anniversary Conference Building Worker First Supply Chains Conference
Document classification: EcoVadis® Public
About EcoVadis
Document classification: EcoVadis® Public
CSR Issues Under Review
Document classification: EcoVadis® Public
EcoVadis CSR Rating Model
Document classification: EcoVadis® Public 5
Platform: Supply chain CSR dashboard & tools
Collaborative corrective action tools
360 Watch
Portfolio statistics and comparison
Supplier onboarding progress
Document classification: EcoVadis® Public
Big Data…
Workers Voice through
Mobiles
NGO 2.0
Open Gov
US EPA US OSHA ChemTrac
Blockchain Drones Robotic
Telepresence Disruptive
Technologies
Document classification: EcoVadis® Public
Still a lot of room for improvement
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Document classification: EcoVadis® Public
THANK YOU Merci
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