Background:
The recent COVID-19 Delta Variant outbreak has hit Vietnam hard, particularly manufacturers and workers. Ninety percent of the footwear factories in Vietnam had suspended productions at some point during the outbreak, with many reducing production capacity, mainly due to the operational challenges and financial burdens to implement the "3 on-site" model, a government mandated protocol that involves workers eating, sleeping, and working onsite without leaving the factory compound.
Eager to bring workers back from their hometown and restore production, many factories have focused on helping vaccinate worker to ease the stay-at-work burdens. As sourcing countries wait for vaccines, brands and factories are looking for ways to better support workers and secure their supply chains. Many are turning to WOVO to instantly connect with workers throughout their supply chain or in a specific location to better understand worker needs.
Solution:
With many workers no longer onsite, the brand and their suppliers needed a way to directly connect to get feedback and understand challenges facing workers return. The brand immediately thought of WOVO, a platform used to deploy surveys and communicate with workers. With many workers off-site and dispersed the brand and their suppliers need technology to reach as many workers as possible, WOVO was the clear solution.
Within less than 24 hours of deciding to send the survey the brand was able to send a worker survey to over 150,000 workers in Vietnam to count both the number of vaccinated workers, and the number of workers who need support to get vaccinated. Within minutes of pressing send, workers throughout the brand’s supply chain in Vietnam received a message and survey directly to their phones.
Results:
Within 24 hours the survey received more than 10,000 responses and within 48 hours nearly 30,000 responses had been gathered.
The survey provided valuable data for the brand to better understand the vaccination situations across their suppliers. They were also able to view the insights of demographic groups to make better decisions to support the needs of specific groups. The brand has used this data to purchase vaccines for workers in the hope of reopening facilities faster.
Since workers can only return to work once they are fully vaccinated, knowing who is vaccinated and when workers will be fully vaccinated is key to predicting production. Suppliers are using the data to better understand how many workers will return and when they can return.
Suppliers are also using the data to better understand what support workers need to return to work from providing a stipend for travel to supporting child care, factories are going above and beyond to ensure worker engagement and safety.
WOVO continues to be critical for brands and suppliers to ensure continuity and safety. Read about what other factories and brands are doing to support workers.