Brands and suppliers are increasingly focused on worker well-being and its impact on engagement, productivity, and sustainability. However, many companies struggle to get started, measure success, and implement worker well-being programs throughout their supply chains.
Case Study: The Children’s Place
Since 2018, Labor Solutions has supported The Children's Place (TCP), a children's apparel brand, in deploying worker well-being and engagement programs throughout its supply chain as part of TCP’s ESG strategy. The Children's Place relied on in-person training to execute their worker wellbeing program, but recognized they were unsalable and expensive. In search of something more scalable, sustainable, and systematic - TCP landed on WOVO.
WOVO's holistic functionalities, met the needs of TCP's worker wellbeing program, supporting the entire cycle from identifying needs and delivering clear data points to facilitating systematic changes and measuring long-term impacts.
Listening to Workers’ Voices and Understanding Their Needs
The Children's Place started its engagement with Labor Solutions by conducting a baseline survey to understand the needs of its workers. With WOVO, TCP deployed a baseline survey directly to workers from 14 suppliers in 3 countries and was able to quickly gather results to pinpoint workers’ well-being needs.
WOVO's worker survey tool is designed for complex supply chains. The tool allows companies to collect feedback from workers in multiple languages, and it provides data that can be used to drive change. The survey found:
Workers want to communicate more with management but were concerned about anonymity
Workers were interested and willing to use technology to take training.
Workers are keen to learn more about worker well-being topics
Worker surveys are a great start for companies to collect feedback from their workforce and access where the changes could be made. WOVO also provides data that can be used to identify areas for improvements and track progress over time.
Improving Worker Wellbeing through WOVO Platform
Based on the survey results, TCP implemented WOVO Connect and WOVO Educate.
WOVO Connect is a tool that helps companies to engage with their workers and create positive changes in the workplace. The tool includes a grievance and dialogue system and a third-party whistleblowing line that supports anonymous worker communications. By implementing this tool, TCP supports workers to have a voice in their workplace and to be heard.
WOVO Educate is a modular eLearning lesson provider for workers. It can be used to train workers on a variety of topics, including workplace safety, rights + responsibilities, and also well-being topics. These lessons are delivered through the same WOVO platform, helping companies to train their workers in a cost-effective and efficient way.
George Hou of TCP said these lessons “provide an interactive learning process and real-life examples for workers to absorb and apply the knowledge learned while minimizing the risk of in-person training during the COVID period. It is also very cost-effective for our suppliers,”
The dashboard that is part of the platform helped TCP establish and collect actionable data points to drive change through its dashboards, including the number of workers trained, the types of questions workers are asking, and the workers' perceptions of workplace communications and their wellbeings.
Throughout the process, Labor Solutions provided structured implementation and advisory services to help suppliers thoroughly understand not only the technology aspects of the WOVO platform but also how it is integrated with factories’ day-to-day operations and the soft skills required for management.
Starting a Successful Worker Wellbeing Program
You cannot do this alone to kick off a successful program like this. It is important to get management buy-in from day one, as well as work with suppliers deeply to ensure they are aligned with you on the goals. TCP's Regional Responsible Sourcing Manager, Mr. George Hou discussed with us what he found useful in going through this journey > read more here.
Labor Solutions provide companies with customized WOVO package to meet their specific needs and to roll out the platform to their workers. We provide a variety of support services to help companies implement their programs and ensure successful programs.