Worker Dignity, Workplace Relations and Employee Development

Business Case

Brand reputation

Discovery of abusive management practices, harassment or violence in a supply chain causes severe reputational damage and costly crisis management.

Innovation and adaptability

Investing in supplier worker training and development improves the skills of the workforce producing your goods and services, resulting in a workforce that can take on greater responsibility, solve problems and drive continuous improvement in the products and services you procure.

Operational continuity

Respectful management practices and fair disciplinary procedures maintain trust between workers and management, preventing the buildup of unresolved grievances that lead to disputes, work stoppages and productivity losses. Safe and confidential channels for workers to report concerns enable early identification and resolution of workplace problems before they escalate into serious incidents, legal action or public scrutiny.

Productivity and quality

Suppliers with respectful employment relations, fair management practices and investment in worker development consistently deliver higher quality products, maintain more stable operations and demonstrate stronger continuous improvement.

Stable sourcing communities and sustainable livelihoods

Improved skills and income stability for workers in sourcing communities reduces workforce turnover, strengthens local economies and creates more stable operating environments for your suppliers.

Strategy & Planning

Assessment

Initial Action

Identify procurement categories and sourcing regions with risk of abusive management practices and poor employment relations, based on:

  • sectors with high power imbalances between management and workers
  • regions with weak labour inspection or limited legal recourse for workers
Intermediate Progress

Conduct an annual risk review with risk segmentation of suppliers based on the following criteria, updating category and supplier risk ratings and reflecting changes in data, industry trends and regulatory expectations:

  • sector or region history of workplace harassment, abuse or misconduct findings
  • management structures with limited oversight of supervisory conduct or absence of HR function
Advanced Practice

Identify gaps in employment relations monitoring across high-risk supplier portfolio and develop action plans to address unmonitored categories, regions or supplier groups, with multi‑year forecasting to anticipate emerging risks.

Policy

Initial Action

Establish commitment to respectful and dignified employment relations in supply chains, requiring suppliers to comply with applicable labour laws and maintain workplaces free from abuse, covering:

  • zero tolerance for physical violence, sexual harassment and sexual coercion in the workplace
  • prohibition of verbal abuse, threats, intimidation and humiliation by management or supervisors
  • fair and documented disciplinary procedures that respect worker dignity
  • protection from retaliation for workers who report misconduct or raise concerns about management behaviour
  • safe and confidential channels for workers to report abusive treatment
  • commitment to providing workers with access to training and development opportunities
Intermediate Progress

Integrate employment relations risk criteria into sourcing decisions for high-risk categories, requiring enhanced due diligence on management conduct and workplace culture as a condition of supplier approval or contract renewal.

While focusing on remediation before termination decisions are made, establish a workplace relations escalation protocol with:

  • trigger criteria (repeated verified misconduct, failure to investigate complaints, retaliation against complaints)
  • defined consequences for escalated cases
Advanced Practice

Require strategic suppliers to implement their own employment relations due diligence processes based on required due diligence quality controls and to cascade respectful workplace requirements to their suppliers.

Targets

Initial Action

Set targets for percentage of suppliers with stated policies on respectful treatment and anti-harassment.

Intermediate Progress

Set targets for percentage of high-risk suppliers assessed on employment relations practices.

Advanced Practice

Set targets for percentage of high-risk suppliers with verified anti-harassment and respectful workplace procedures in place, including topics such as misconduct‑complaint resolution rates, supervisor‑training coverage and worker trust in reporting mechanisms.

Supplier Selection

Screening

Initial Action

Add employment relations questions to pre-qualification and RFP processes:

  • policy on anti-harassment, anti-violence and respectful workplace conduct
  • disciplinary procedures and documentation practices
  • mechanism for workers to report management misconduct confidentially and policy on non-retaliation for raising complaints
  • training and development opportunities available to workers
  • history of workplace misconduct findings or related legal actions
Intermediate Progress

To apply for RFP, request evidence such as documentation on:

  • records of supervisory training on respectful management and anti-harassment
  • complaint and investigation procedures, including confidentiality and non-retaliation protections
  • participation rates for training and development programs available to workers
  • grievance data related to management conduct
Advanced Practice

Require suppliers to submit:

  • employment relations due diligence policy covering own supply chain
  • evidence of respectful workplace monitoring at sub-tier level
  • documented track record of investigating and acting on complaints of abusive management
  • independent verification of harassment‑prevention systems, including third‑party assessments, worker interviews and grievance‑validation checks
  • submission of multi‑year misconduct‑trend data

Selection

Initial Action

Select only suppliers confirming policies on respectful treatment, anti-harassment and fair disciplinary procedures.

Intermediate Progress

Allocate points in selection criteria for suppliers demonstrating:

  • documented and implemented anti-harassment policies with clear complaint procedures
  • investment in supervisory training on respectful management
  • worker access to training and development opportunities
Advanced Practice

Select suppliers demonstrating:

  • independently assessed employment relations practices
  • functioning accountability mechanisms for management misconduct
  • cascaded respectful workplace standards to sub-suppliers

Contracts

Initial Action

Include clauses on:

  • zero tolerance for physical violence, sexual harassment and verbal abuse
  • confidential reporting channels for workplace misconduct
  • non-retaliation protections
  • right to audit
Intermediate Progress

Include enforceable corrective action requirements for misconduct findings and requirement for notification in case of any serious incidents of harassment, violence or abusive management.

Advanced Practice

Require cascading of employment relations clauses to their own suppliers.

Supplier Engagement

Goal Setting

Initial Action

Work with suppliers to understand their current employment relations practices and, where issues are identified, determine appropriate goals for improvement.

Intermediate Progress

Set goals with suppliers on specific strategies to address identified employment relations issues, such as implementing supervisory training programs, strengthening complaint investigation procedures, establishing accountability mechanisms for management misconduct or developing worker training and skills development programs.

Advanced Practice

Set goals with Tier 1 suppliers on cascading respectful workplace and anti-harassment programs to their own suppliers (Tier 2+) and establish multi-year targets for verified compliance across the extended supply chain.

Capacity Building

Initial Action

Provide guidance and basic training to suppliers on anti-harassment requirements, fair disciplinary procedures, abusive management, confidential complaint mechanisms and employee development programs.

Intermediate Progress

Train suppliers on analyzing complaint and misconduct data to identify patterns and root causes and developing employment relations improvement roadmaps with measurable milestones.

Advanced Practice

Provide detailed training on conducting employment relations due diligence within their own supply chains and identifying abusive management risks at sub-supplier level.

Data

Initial Action

Support suppliers with obtaining baseline data on topics such as: existence of anti-harassment policies, complaint mechanism functionality, disciplinary procedures, supervisory training and any history of serious workplace misconduct incidents.

Intermediate Progress

Support suppliers in developing structured systems to track workplace misconduct complaints, investigation outcomes and disciplinary action, as well as a tracking of root‑cause analysis for each misconduct type.

Advanced Practice

Work with suppliers to develop integrated reporting systems that capture employment relations data across their own supply chains, including audit findings, misconduct incident data, remediation outcomes and supervisory training coverage.

Advisory

Initial Action

Provide guidance to suppliers on recognizing abusive supervisory behaviour and establishing accountability for management conduct.

Intermediate Progress

Consult and work with suppliers on how to assess employment relations risks in their own supply chains, including screening their own suppliers.

Advanced Practice

Consult and work with suppliers in embedding employment relations due diligence and supplier engagement into their own procurement practices, including developing their own supplier codes, screening processes and engagement programs.

Financial Support

Initial Action

Fund supplier access to anti-harassment training resources, complaint mechanism design tools and supervisory development programs.

Intermediate Progress

Provide commercial incentives to suppliers for improvements in employment relations performance, such as price, volume, duration and preferred supplier status.

Advanced Practice

Link commercial incentives (contract extensions, volume increases, pricing adjustments) to verified progress on eliminating abusive management practices across the supplier's own supply chain.

Audits

Initial Action

Require suppliers to complete self-assessment questionnaires on employment relations practices, covering anti-harassment policies, disciplinary procedures, complaint mechanisms, supervisory training and worker development opportunities.

Intermediate Progress

Include employment relations checks in supplier audit programs as part of human rights due diligence with worker‑voice validation (confidential interviews, surveys), including verification on topics such as:

  • verbal abuse, threats, intimidation or humiliation by supervisors or managers
  • physical violence or assault in the workplace
  • sexual harassment or sexual coercion
  • punitive or degrading disciplinary practices
  • arbitrary or retaliatory dismissal of workers who raise complaints
  • using disciplinary measures as a tool of intimidation rather than fair correction
  • withholding benefits, promotions or assignments as punishment for raising concerns
  • creating a climate of fear where workers do not feel safe reporting abusive behaviour
  • absence of safe or confidential mechanisms for reporting management misconduct
  • absence of training, mentorship or development opportunities for workers
  • grievance systems and procedures related to management conduct
Advanced Practice

Work with strategic suppliers to conduct their own supplier audits on employment relations and share audit findings.

Project Partnerships & Innovation

Initial Action

Host supplier events or conferences in partnership with labor rights organizations or worker development NGOs, bringing suppliers together to learn from established programs on respectful management practices, grievance mechanisms and worker development.

Intermediate Progress

Collaborate with international organizations, training institutions and industry peers to develop joint supplier programs on employment relations, such as shared training curricula or standards on addressing complaints.

Advanced Practice

Lead cross-sector coalitions with suppliers, labor rights organizations, training institutions and industry peers to drive systemic improvement in employment relations, such as establishing cross-company mentoring initiatives for worker career development or co-funding research on effective approaches to worker development in specific sectors or regions.

Continuous Improvement

Metrics

Initial Action

Track percentage of suppliers assessed and/or trained on employment relations practices, as well as percentage of suppliers with anti-harassment policies and complaint mechanisms.

Intermediate Progress

Track supplier progress indicators across the supplier base engaged in the programs, such as:

  • percentage of suppliers engaged in employment relations supplier engagement programs
  • complaint volumes and recurrence rates of misconduct or supervisory issues to identify systemic patterns
  • investigation completion rates
  • corrective action plan resolution outcomes, including timeliness and completeness, ensuring meaningful rather than superficial remediation
Advanced Practice

Track percentage of suppliers cascading employment relations policies and due diligence to their own supply chains.

Scorecards

Initial Action

Introduce basic employment relations criteria into yearly supplier evaluation forms, starting from onboarding:

  • self-assessment on anti-harassment and respectful workplace practices
  • checklist for existence of basic policies and systems (complaint mechanism, disciplinary procedures, supervisory conduct expectations, worker development opportunities)
Intermediate Progress

Include employment relations metrics in category business reviews and track progress on improvement plans, with differentiated consequences for repeatedly low‑performing suppliers.

Advanced Practice

Weigh employment relations performance in supplier scorecards, with top performers receiving preferential weighting in tenders and bottom performers required to submit improvement plans.

Impact Verification

Initial Action

Gather feedback from suppliers on effectiveness of engagement programs.

Intermediate Progress

Assess whether supplier engagement initiatives are improving employment relations outcomes, including verification through worker-voice mechanisms.

Advanced Practice

Measure improvement in employment relations outcomes attributable to engagement programs. For example, consider:

  • misconduct complaint rates and resolution quality before and after interventions
  • tracking of whether supervisory training leads to measurable changes in worker-reported management conduct
  • monitoring retaliation incidents and remediation over time

Sources consulted

Gender Equality Bribery, Extortion and Conflict of Interest