How adidas Uses WOVO to Power Social Compliance and Meet CSDDD Obligations

The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) requires companies to engage individuals or groups whose rights or interests are, or could be, affected by their operations—this clearly includes workers in global supply chains.

To meet this challenge, many leading brands are partnering with Labor Solutions to implement scalable, tech-enabled worker engagement tools. These tools not only connect companies directly to workers but also generate actionable data to strengthen human rights due diligence efforts.

adidas is leading by example, using WOVO by Labor Solutions to engage workers directly, strengthen due diligence, and drive measurable improvements across its supply chain.

In adidas’ 2024 Annual Report, the company outlined their comprehensive and impactful approach to using WOVO to engage workers as part of their due diligence and improvement process.

Scalable worker engagement across the supply chain

adidas has deployed WOVO across 100% of its strategic Tier 1 supplier facilities, reaching over 400,000 workers in 105 manufacturing sites across 16 countries.

WOVO is a key component of adidas’ worker engagement strategy. The annual report explains how adidas leverages WOVO’s grievance mechanism and worker survey features to ensure “workers can voice concerns, complaints, or grievances related to material risks and impacts – as well as the full range of human rights and labor rights risks that workers in the upstream value chain may face.” WOVO also allows workers to access critical digital training on safety and wellbeing.

A trusted grievance mechanism

adidas has built a robust and reliable grievance system to ensure workers across its supply chain have accessible, trusted channels to guarantee “ access for workers in the upstream value chain to seek remedy.” Central to this system is WOVO’s operational grievance management platform, which is required at all Tier 1 supplier facilities.

According to adidas’ 2024 Annual Report, WOVO is "highly effective" and "trusted by workers" throughout the supply chain, evidenced by the “consistent, widespread”, “sustained usage" and "the high volume of cases received through the app.”   

adidas closely monitors worker engagement with performance metrics to “evaluate the efficacy of the grievance channels, see major cases in real time, and undertake timely interventions where necessary.”

“We are attentive to worker concerns and issues and continuously review and assess the feedback received through the WOVO platform...“It helps us understand the main challenges and labor rights issues... and undertake timely interventions where necessary.”— adidas 2024 Annual Report

The annual report highlights several WOVO outcomes used by adidas as key impact and engagement measures:

• 35,700 worker grievances submitted through WOVO

• 9% Utlization Rate of the Greivance System

• 99% resolution rate by year-end

• 76% satisfaction rate, up from 39% in 2019

• Response time under 12 hours, down from 49 hours in 2020

  
  

Proactively listening to workers: Worker Surveys

To complement its grievance channels, adidas conducts Worker Pulse surveys via the WOVO Engage platform—a tool that enables the company to efficiently gather insights into worker sentiment and awareness without needing to launch separate systems or standalone initiatives. These short, digital surveys are conducted twice a year across all strategic supplier factories and focus on critical workplace issues such as communication, harassment and abuse, and the effectiveness of grievance mechanisms.

The survey includes six key statements, with workers asked to rate their level of agreement. Topics include, comfort speaking up or raising complaints, confidence in talking to supervisors and willingness to recommend the factory to friends.

The results indicate a strong and growing trust in workplace systems and culture. Since 2020, favourable responses across all questions have increased steadily—from 78% in 2020 to nearly 90% in 2024.

In 2024, 46,000 workers participated in a Gender Equality Survey to help advance adidas’ understanding of workers’ experiences using a gender lens.

By using WOVO to deploy surveys, adidas is able to seemlessly launch worker surveys at a moments notices, ensuring worker voice is not only continuously captured, but easily scalable and repeatable—helping the company monitor progress, track sentiment trends, and strengthen accountability throughout its supply chain.

Real-time data for better due diligence

adidas uses WOVO not just for engagement, but for strategic decision-making. WOVO data feeds into adidas’ human rights due diligence systems and internal social compliance performance scores.

The data allows adidas to identify gaps in supplier practices, policies, and broader human rights due diligence systems. This feedback loop strengthens adidas’ ability to monitor, anticipate, and proactively respond to potential labor risks—making due diligence a living, dynamic process rather than a reactive compliance exercise.

Making worker engagement a supplier KPI: Turning engagement into accountability

adidas doesn’t stop at collecting worker data—it builds accountability into its supplier relationships. All strategic suppliers are required to implement WOVO, ensuring each has a robust and standardized worker engagement system in place.

To measure success, adidas incorporates “measures such as resolution and satisfaction rate of workers’ grievances and participation rate in workers satisfaction surveys” into its supplier key performance indicators. This makes worker engagement not just a value, but a measurable standard of supplier performance.

Worker engagement as a strategic asset + a cornerstone of due diligence

adidas’ success with WOVO offers a blueprint for brands navigating today’s complex regulatory environment. It shows how digital grievance mechanisms, when fully embedded into compliance frameworks, can:

• Meet international expectations under laws like CSDDD

• Improve real-time visibility into factory conditions

• Build a more responsive and rights-respecting supply chain

For adidas, WOVO is more than a worker engagement tool—it’s an accountability system that gives workers a voice, empowers suppliers to improve, and keeps the brand at the forefront of ethical business practices. The result is a more responsive, resilient, and rights-respecting supply chain—where worker insights directly shape better outcomes for people and business alike.

As regulatory pressure grows and expectations for responsible sourcing rise, brands like adidas show that investing in worker engagement isn’t just a legal obligation—it’s a strategic advantage.