Engaging Front Line Workers is Key to Understanding Risks + Improving Workplaces Enhanced Engagement: Worker surveys are essential for engaging the workforce by giving them a voice in the organization's operations and decision-making processes. This can lead to improved job satisfaction and morale as workers feel valued and heard. Risk Identification: Proactively identifying and addressing issues within the workplace through surveys can prevent minor concerns from escalating into serious problems, ensuring a harmonious and productive work environment. Continuous Improvement: Surveys provide critical insights into processes, policies, and practices, allowing organizations to make informed decisions that drive continuous improvement and operational efficiency. Compliance and Due Diligence: In the face of stringent global regulations regarding labor practices, worker surveys help organizations maintain compliance by monitoring and documenting conditions that affect human rights within their operations and supply chains. Worker Well-being: Direct feedback from workers helps organizations to better understand and subsequently enhance worker well-being, leading to reduced turnover and a more motivated workforce. Data-Driven Decisions: The data collected from worker surveys offers a clear, actionable insight into the workforce's needs and expectations, guiding strategic decisions and resource allocation. Work with Labor Solutions to Conduct Worker Surveys Throughout your Value Chain. Accessibility and Inclusivity: WOVO’s mobile and web-based platforms are accessible in multiple languages, ensuring that surveys are easy to complete for a diverse, global workforce, which enhances participation rates and data quality. Real-Time Analytics: WOVO provides real-time feedback capabilities, allowing organizations to quickly identify and address emerging issues before they escalate, ensuring timely and effective responses. Confidentiality + Security: The platform ensures that all survey responses are confidential, which encourages honesty and transparency from workers fearing retribution, thereby enhancing the reliability of the data collected. Educational Integration: WOVO eLearning tools can be used to inform workers about their rights and company policies before taking the survey, which can lead to more informed responses and engagement in the survey process. Comprehensive Compliance Support: WOVO helps organizations adhere to HRDD and other compliance requirements with its robust data management and reporting features, making it easier to document efforts and outcomes in various regulatory environments. Scalability and Customization: The platform can be easily scaled and customized to fit the specific needs of different parts of an organization, from small teams to large global operations, making it a versatile tool for gathering actionable feedback across varied contexts. Using WOVO to conduct worker surveys not only streamlines the process of engaging with and understanding your workforce but also ensures that the efforts align with broader compliance and strategic goals, ultimately fostering a more inclusive and responsive organizational culture.

Download our eBook on Strategies for Effective HRDD in Your Supply Chain to learn more about this topic. While there are many human rights-related laws and regulations you may have to comply with, most HRDD laws are based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, and the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy. As a result, there are several common requirements and principles that your business can put into place to ensure compliance across regimes and to help protect your businesses when practices are questioned. Here are the first steps you can take to implement HRDD in Your Supply Chain; The scope is vast, and the scale is huge - you can’t do this alone Conducting due diligence alone at scale is impossible. Companies must engage suppliers. To meet regulations global companies will need to leverage their relationships with suppliers to ensure on-going active identification and prevention throughout the value chain. Successfully identifying risks from afar will be challenging, if not impossible, and could leave organizations exposed. Incentivizing and supporting suppliers to conduct their own due diligence and human rights management will allow for scalability and efficacy. Suppliers must be charged with conducting identification efforts, operating their own grievance management system, implementing prevention methods, and remediating complaints. A buyer’s responsibility is not to conduct these efforts themselves, but to ensure these activities take place—the objective is not micromanagement but building trust and that suppliers get support when needed. Successful implementation will allow buyers to have oversight and pinpoint suppliers who need additional support. To ensure suppliers ask for help when they need it, take care not to incentivize suppliers to hide issues or set up a dual reporting system. By aligning incentives and ensuring that suppliers will not be penalized for human rights issues that occur at their facilities, you can build trust with your value chain partners that ensure business changes for the better. Get key stakeholders engaged Prior to these new regulations, corporate human rights teams often struggled to get the right stakeholders engaged to create systemic, long-term change. The goal of HRDD is to integrate the changes into business practices long term and to level the playing field so that responsible businesses do not incur significantly higher costs. With these new regulations, subject matter experts and internal human rights champions should now have the tools necessary to get the attention, buy-in, engagement and resources from top leadership, supply chain managers and others needed to ensure success. To maintain buy-in and support, new policies, active stakeholder engagement and continuous education and improvement will be required. Now outline your risks Most companies do not know their entire value chain much less the human rights risks within their value chain, but that does not preclude the legal responsibility to act on known and inherent risks. Inherent/Core Risks: Simply sourcing from outside your company has inherent risks that must be understood, prevented, and mitigated. This includes general human resource risks, like health and safety, gender and other non-discrimination in the workplace, and fair wages. Political instability and conflict, supply chain interruption, as well as extreme weather events and natural disasters are also part of the core risks of doing business globally and particularly in sourcing from countries with lower costs and lower protections. Known Risks: Many specific geographies, commodities or industries also have widely known risks. For example, it is common knowledge there is a high risk of forced labor in Malaysia and globally in the fisheries industry (particularly in offshore work), and cacao has problems with child labor. Therefore, governments assume multinational companies sourcing from these locations or in these commodities know these risks and therefore companies are required to actively identify existing issues and prevent future issues. Unknown Risks: Risks not yet identified, understood, or accounted for. These risks are most commonly specific to a business and unknown due to an opaque or obscure supply chain. Since unknown risks are a continuing and evolving issue, conducting an ongoing assessment, and monitoring of your entire value chain must be done in tandem with other due diligence. However, the assessment process cannot be done in isolation and the incompleteness of the assessment will not be an excuse for not complying with other components of the regulations. These first steps would inform you what are the next immediate actions that you can take. You can start addressing those risks through prevention and identification efforts to improve and remediate the issues within your supply chain. It is very important to remember you can start practicing due diligence even if you don’t know how to do everything yet.

2023 was marked by significant developments in supply chain and human rights regulations, including the implementation of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (SCDDA, or LkSG) and the European Parliament's agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), as well as several countries' laws on modern slavery and forced labor (amongst other key issues). A shift in expectations on buyers for risks throughout their value chains has companies globally reexamining their supply chain relationships, human rights policies, practices, and compliance programs.    Many leading global companies with complex supply chains have turned to Labor Solutions to help design programs to meet these new regulations at scale. In 2023, Labor Solutions introduced new tools, made improvements to existing ones, and saw our tools bring about a significant impact while reaching more workers and suppliers than ever. We also launched 20 new eLearning lessons for workers, managers, and practitioners. Labor Solutions’ thought leadership continued to push forward for better worker rights and working conditions through publications and speaking engagements.    Improving the Lives of More Workers than Ever  Labor Solutions’ mission is to improve the lives of workers. In 2023, we ensured more workers than ever had access to the tools needed to protect their rights and improve their livelihoods.   We reached over 300,000 more workers last year—now WOVO is in the hands of more than 1.8 million workers globally.  Expanded tools and services to 3 new countries and added 2 new languages . We now offer support in 30 countries and 26 languages.    More Workers Know Their Rights + Responsibilities. More Managers + Leaders are Equipped with Knowledge of Worker Rights Workers who know their rights are more likely to speak up . WOVO’s Educate tool continues to be key to implementing a successful human rights due diligence program.    200,000+ lessons on rights + responsibilities were completed in 2023, helping to ensure workers are safer. 20 new lessons for both workers and practitioners launched, including Inclusive Leadership, Access to Remedy, Responsible Recruitment, Child + Forced Labor and more to help ensure safer and more respectful workplaces. Increased worker productivity, engagement, and safety are clear outcomes for companies that launch WOVO Educate for workers. See how a company leveraged WOVO Educate to gain a 23% increase in workers’ compensation satisfaction.   A Trusted, Scalable + Effective Grievance Mechanism for Workers Safe and anonymous grievance lines have been mandated by almost all the new HRDD regulations. Workers must have a way to speak up about unfair treatment and ask questions about their rights. Labor Solutions continues to manage the most effective operational grievance mechanism in the market.  730,000+ workers were given direct access to their employers to communicate and provide feedback – improving working conditions and business outcomes.  42,000+ cases were resolved by the employers with the help of WOVO – ensuring workers’ grievances were settled. When workers have direct and anonymous access to management, issues are addressed more quickly, workplaces are safer, and businesses do better.    Digitization of grievance cases with WOVO could help overcome challenges in management – a 2023 study by ILO concluded.   Engaging Workers + Suppliers Directly to Gather Transparent and Reliable Data Collecting responses from workers directly through a system embedded in their workplace, and engaging suppliers in the process to build accountability and trust provides an unique understanding of workers’ reality and perceptions of conditions in their workplace. WOVO Engage surveys provide real-time, structured data from workers, providing insights to suppliers and buyers to drive social change.  320,000+ workers responded to our surveys in 2023, providing an accurate and actionable representation of their experiences and perspectives. Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP) WE Tech Survey  added WOVO as an approved worker engagement tech (WE Tech) provider. Adding worker surveys to social compliance audits can lead to more representative audit results and enhanced worker safety.     Partnered with the Rainforest Alliance to integrate human rights + development indicators  into data collection from communities in Peru and Ecuador  to create unique Landscape Assessments - More Reliable + Integrated Tools for All Stakeholders.   WOVO Ecosystem Advancements: Simpler to Expand, Easier to Manage Given the scope of the new human rights due diligence regulations, scalability is key for multinational companies with complex supply chains. In 2023, we focused on reinforcing and enhancing our architecture to improve WOVO’s reliability, speed, and data management, and to support the needs of our growing client base for timely, actionable insights.   Our innovation and product teams focused on creating easy-to-use features and tools to reduce barriers to initiating due diligence programs globally and at scale, including: WOVO Improve :  an automated corrective action and improvement module based on survey and grievance results to help suppliers quickly identify the next steps, access needed tools and resources, and track and share their progress, with brand support.  HRDD Starter Kit: an easy-to-start + swiftly scalable toolkit for brands impacted by new legislation to get suppliers quickly up to date on HR(E)DD requirements and have access to key basic due diligence tools.   Our client advisors focused on helping clients expand their coverage to ensure more workers have access to the tools needed to protect rights and improve livelihoods.  87% of our clients expanded their projects – reaching more regions and utilizing a greater variety of WOVO tools. Our leading clients have hundreds of suppliers using WOVO regularly as part of their sustainability and human rights monitoring and reporting system. Thought Leadership in Action: Webinars, Blogs + eBooks The Labor Solutions team continued to be seen as a leading voice on social sustainability. Our unique approach to improving human rights within supply chains by engaging and supporting suppliers and workers has resulted in an increased demand for speaking engagements and consulting services across a wide range of industries and member organizations globally.    Labor Solutions’ leaders shared insights from a decade of experience at UN Responsible Business & Human Rights Forum Asia-Pacific, Bloomberg’s Sustainable Business Summit, Asia Institute of Management’s Asia Forum on Enterprise for Society, OECD side sessions, Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Manufacturer Forums, EuroCham events + more. Published insights on our blogs + introduced two publications: an eBook on  “Strategies for Effective Human Rights Due Diligence in Your Supply Chain”  and a guide on  “Practical Tips on Leveraging Worker Voices for Improvements.” These free guides provide more depth and explanation of our methodology and approach, as well as recommendations from our decade of worker engagement.   Subscribe to Our LinkedIn for Updates, Trends + Insights.   What’s Ahead for 2024 – Celebrating 10 Years of Improving the Lives of Workers   In 2024, Labor Solutions will celebrate 10 years of improving the lives of workers. We continue to be thankful to our clients and partners who have enabled and supported our growth over the last decade, and we are excited to be able to continue our work and ensure workers remain at the center of due diligence and sustainability.    In 2024, Labor Solutions will continue its unwavering commitment to improving supply chain risk management through education, connection, and engagement of suppliers and workers. Recognizing the integral roles that buyers, suppliers, and workers play, we will continue to improve our tools to ensure we meet the needs of all stakeholders.    2024 will see a continued focus on automation and scalability. Labor Solutions continues to believe that tech tools alone are insufficient for creating change—people must act on results to drive long-term improvements. So, in 2024, our innovation and product teams are working on tools to make understanding and acting on reports easier, more responsive, and more intuitive. We will continue to automate reports, as well as provide real-time recommendations + improvement plans to ensure workers’ voices are not only heard but also provide insights that drive strategy and organizational change. From sharing graphs and data visualization to signing in, we want to make it as easy to interact with our tools as possible!   Innovative thought leadership on social impact and sustainability in ESG is key to the growth of our industry. Labor Solutions is committed to driving the industry forward by ensuring investors, executives, and boards have the language and frameworks necessary to talk about their business and value chain’s impact on humans and the actions necessary to reduce risk and harm.    We will also continue to assist businesses engaged in international trade in understanding worker engagement and navigating supply chain regulations through our free  Resources  and public engagements. As our footprint grows so will our Programs + Kits  – making value chain sustainability projects more accessible and easier to start.    We are proud of the work we have done and look forward to another year of shared impact, engagement, and improvement!

Audit programs are vital for assessing compliance and sustainability within supply chains, but they may miss major risks to worker safety and rights. Recent media reports ha ve highlighted that audits are insufficient in detecting risks, especially in issues related to forced labor and other labor abuse incidents.   Continuous engagement methods like worker surveys and grievance mechanisms are an effective augmentation to audits, helping to identify workplace problems.   Using Worker Surveys to Better Inform Social Audits Recognizing the limitations of traditional methods, multinational companies, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and industry standards like the Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP )   are now incorporating worker surveys into their assessment process. These surveys are anonymous, offering workers a safe space to share feedback - allowing buyers and suppliers to collect larger sample sizes at scale, and detecting trends in the workers’ responses.   These workers’ responses can help identify localized issues that otherwise may go unnoticed. Surveys, when appropriately deployed, provide more representative results, engage more workers at once, and help reveal facility patterns for risk management.   Worker Surveys also have incredible val ue for employers. By identifying and addressing workplace issues, employers can mitigate safety risks, save time and costs, and retain workers. Employers who leverage workforce data to proactively resolve issues also reduce compliance costs and attract buyers.     [Learn more about the benefits of including direct employers in worker surveys]   Using Grievance Mechanisms to Monitor Issues Audits and surveys are useful to evaluate working conditions at a point in time, but they may not catch unexpected incidents. Having an effective grievance mechanism and worker dialogue program between employees and their direct employers (through committees, working groups or mediated by trade unions) can provide real-time insights for improvement.   For example, audits can confirm fire exits are well-maintained, but if a fire exit is blocked, the employer needs to be notified to take immediate action to prevent injuries. A supplier-owned grievance mechanism provides a channel for workers to report incidents, ask questions, or offer suggestions.   Encouraging constructive communication from workers can also prevent dissatisfaction, and safety issues and helps management act before problems become harmful. By tracking and categorizing worker questions and complaints, management can identify when prevention or additional communication may be necessary. For instance, posting a document or holding an information session for all workers might be a better approach than individually responding to similar questions.   WOVO Connect is a Labor Solutions ’ platform for direct employer-employee communication. It is a digital grievance mechanism that protects workers' anonymity while allowing two-way dialogue. The case management system enables employers to easily manage communications, including tracking of response times and issue types while workers, on the other hand, can give feedback directly to their employers. Buyers get real-time aggregated data to strengthen existing systems and foster a collaborative approach between all stakeholders.   [Learn more about How One Factory Reduced Fire Safety Accidents by 80% using WOVO Connect + Educate]   Continuous Engagement over One Time Data Collection Worker surveys and grievance mechanisms are beneficial for improving compliance and worker safety. Continuous monitoring of workplace safety through engagement with workers allows for the collection and analysis of real-time data throughout the year, enabling immediate action instead of waiting for one-time audits or an OSH disaster. Utilizing a digitized platform can save time and money, as well as prevent accidents and workplace injuries.   As countries demand proactive measures to address workplace risks, customers will ask about your monitoring programs. Use WOVO to comply, gain control, and make informed decisions with reliable data.

Ensuring transparency and ethical practices throughout the supply chain has become a legal imperative for businesses.  More and more HRDD regulations necessitate responsible sourcing practices and the protection of human rights at every stage of the value chain. However, many suppliers find themselves ill-equipped to meet these emerging obligations. Labor Solutions' new Five Parts Business + Human Rights Course educates suppliers on the UN Guiding Principles on businesses and human rights. It employs a blended classroom approach that is interactive and scalable - ensuring that participants not only learn the theory but also understand its practical application in their supply chain. Course Structure: Four Digital Lessons: Introduction to Human Rights Due Diligence:  A primer on the foundational elements of HRDD and its implications for your supply chain. A State’s Duty to Protect Human Rights:  How governmental responsibilities intersect with business operations. Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights: Navigating the business's role in human rights preservation within the supply chain. Access to Remedy:  Exploring mechanisms for addressing grievances and non-compliance within the HRDD framework.   3-Hour Live Practicum: An expert-led, interactive session, learners will : Act out three case studies to apply the principles learned. Review example policies to contextualize the learning. Draft a sample implementation plan to visualize the path forward. Engage in risk prioritization exercises to strategically focus their efforts. The lessons use real-life examples and explain global trends to emphasize HRDD principles' relevance to business operations. After completing digital lessons, participants attend a 3-hour live practicum led by experts. This hands-on session helps stakeholders prioritize risks, review policies, act out cases, and set implementation plans. The aim is to leave with a clear framework to effect change locally. This HRDD course is an affordable and flexible program, coming with global online reporting to ensure all suppliers are up-to-date. By taking this foundational step towards responsible business conduct, suppliers can align their operations with human rights principles. If interested in building a more ethical supply chain , reach out to Labor Solutions today  to learn more and get started!

In 2021, almost 28 million people were in forced labor worldwide, highlighting the prevalence of exploitative conditions and the importance of addressing forced labor in supply chains. With more countries passing laws to ban products made with forced labor, it is critical for global companies to proactively address this issue within the value chain or risk facing financial and legal liabilities or import bands. Education is a key step in the prevention and identification of forced labor. Sari, an Indonesian migrant worker in Malaysia, was recruited through a distant relative. The work required enduring meager pay and harsh conditions for the first year. But she believed this to be a normal rite of passage and hoped for improvement in the next year. Caught in this cycle, she even unknowingly perpetuated the misconception to her own family members. In many cases even hiring managers may also lack awareness of ethical considerations and downplaying labor rights due to inadequate knowledge, cultural norms, and workplace pressures. Addressing these gaps in awareness among workers and line managers is essential to fostering a culture of respect for labor rights and ethical conduct within the supply chain. In 2023, Labor Solutions released 20 new lessons, including two for managers and four for workers on responsible sourcing and preventing forced labor in their workplaces. These lessons aim to reduce risks throughout the supply chain by ensuring both workers and management teams know what forced and child labor is, what responsible recruitment is, and how to report incidents for effective prevention. [View our complete eLearning catalog] The Role of Managers in Preventing Forced Labor The eLearning courses help managers eradicate forced and child labor from supply chains. They provide a practical understanding of regulations, best practices, and workers' rights. Managers can identify, prevent, and address human rights violations with the knowledge and skills gained from these two lessons. • Introduction to Human Rights Due Diligence • Introduction to Responsible Recruitment Empowering Workers to Recognize + Report Forced Labor The eLearning lessons for workers provide tools to recognize signs of forced labor and take appropriate action, created in collaboration with Better Work, RISE, and JustGoodWork, • Fair Working Conditions • Right to be Free from Forced Labor • Responsible Recruitment for Workers • Introduction to Grievance By educating workers on their rights, workers are equipped with the knowledge of what is right or wrong. With WOVO Educate global companies can share training with workers throughout the value chain with one click. [How One Brand Exceeded their 3-Year Training Goal in Less than a Year by Digitizing Safety Trainings] Labor Solutions' WOVO Educate + Lessons With accessibility, flexibility, and scalability at the core of Labor Solutions’ learning management system, WOVO Educate can reach managers and workers globally at any time. The micro-learning model saves time and bandwidth, enabling workers and managers to access responsive and targeted training. These interactive courses are designed to be engaging and effective, resulting in improved learning outcomes for participants. The lesson contents are also designed in partnership with industry-leading organizations: Better Work: A partnership between the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to set standards for working conditions and support workers through tripartite collaboration (governments – unions – business). Better Work provides in-country monitoring and advisory support to improve working conditions in the global apparel and footwear industry and make the sector more competitive. RISE (Reimagining Industry to Support Equality): An initiative to support collaborative industry action at scale, to advance gender equality in global garment, footwear, and home textiles supply chains. JustGoodWork & Fifty-Eight : An organization & mobile application that prioritizes supporting migrating workers and ensuring they have safe workplaces and access to their rights. Fifty-Eight uses data and evidence to advance public knowledge in providing good work for people everywhere, helping businesses align with their primary purpose in society: to provide products and services that are good for people. As new regulations on supply chain human rights and responsible business conduct continue to evolve and tighten, businesses must stay ahead of the curve and ensure compliance throughout supply chains. Labor Solutions empowers managers and workers to become advocates for human rights through a collaborative approach and proven eLearning courses. Contact to discuss how Labor Solutions can provide a turnkey solution to tackle forced and child labor in the supply chain.

Background Managers at a Cambodian factory noticed a significant spike in wage-related questions on their Worker Engagement Dashboard report. They were concerned. By sorting the messages and focusing only on those related to wages, they found that all the inquiries were related to a decision by the Cambodian government to change the minimum wage. Workers had sent many anxious messages, wanting to know how they would be impacted. Outcome Through WOVO, management responded to individual inquiries letting workers know that they were aware of the concern and waiting for an announcement from the Ministry of Labor. In responding to workers directly, they were helping build a culture of communication and trust. Additionally, they sent out a broadcast message to all employees letting them know that the company was waiting for more information and would communicate with workers as soon as they had received it. Then, once the Ministry of Labor announced the new minimum wage, factory management sent out a company wide post via WOVO sharing the government’s decision and letting workers know how it would impact wages at their company. In doing so, factory management reiterated that the government, not factory leadership, was responsible for the change in wages. The timeliness of this message, made possible by WOVO, was pivotal in explaining the situation, sharing important information, and helping prevent a potential strike by workers, who were disappointed in the amount of the minimum wage adjustment.

Labor Solutions supports Puma’s Human Rights, Women’s Empowerment and Worker Engagement strategies in 6 countries, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Philippines, Turkey and Indonesia. In 2023, Puma expanded its worker engagement programs via WOVO. Now   nearly 65K workers have access to the WOVO platform with access to human resource tools, grievance management platform, worker surveys and eLearning  modules.   Puma also expanded deployment of the Better Work e-learning course on Discrimination and Elimination of Violence and Harassment at Work via Labor Solutions’ mobile app WOVO to support their women's empowerment stragety. The module was deployed in Cambodia and Indonesia and reached 51% of workers in eight factories. Read more about Puma’s Sustainability initiatives in its 2023 Human Rights Report .

The ILO's latest study on union federations in partnership with Labor Solutions concluded that unions are facing challenges in managing grievance data and that digitization with tools like WOVO could help them overcome these challenges. The ILO conducted the study with the support of its Strengthening Industrial Relations in Indonesia project , the Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV) , and Labor Solutions, a tech and advisory social enterprise. The focus of the study was two main federations and their confederations in the garment sectors, as well as five other union confederations and three independent union federations in the palm oil and fishery sectors. The study aimed to develop recommendations for confederations, federations, and local trade unions on how to improve their grievance management process and overcome challenges. Challenges Faced by Indonesian Unions in Managing + Using Grievance Data The study found that union federations with members in multiple regions are struggling to manage data on union membership and grievances. Their current data is often incomplete, and outdated, and does not provide useful insights or support for advocacy and reform. The study also found that the existing grievance management systems created by each federation are good for managing and resolving cases, but they are not good for other things that the federations do, such as advocacy and reform. The systems also do not support the federations' plans for growth and development in the future. However, the study confirms that trade unions play a vital role in grievance mechanisms and provide essential services to their members. Some federations that participated in the study leveraged technology and online tools to connect with their members and intake grievance cases. Recommendations from ILO to Trade Unions The study concluded with "a set of recommendations as follows: Digitization is found to a good for problems associated with scaling and data collection and analysis. Digital tools can automate processes that are resource-intensive and make complex data more user-friendly and easy to understand. Trust-based connections and communications with workers developed by federations are identified as the strength of the federations that should be maintained using the existing communication channels. Development of a dashboard-based case management system for each federation that allows federation officials at any level to input new cases from any available channels such as social media, web-based form and WhatsApp, review the status of open cases and support new case investigation and resolution. Development of case categorization through tagging and custom or individualized categories so that data can be easily analyzed and lessons learned incorporated into future case management. Buy-in and support from each level of the federation are critical. The federations should be aware of concerns from factory-level trade union representatives and ensure that they are convinced of the value of the new features and are able to navigate them to support their work." How WOVO Connect Can Help Multi-stakeholder Initiatives WOVO Connect is a grievance + safety case management system for complex supply chains. It is a two-way anonymous communication system that directly connects workers through various channels, including SMS, QR Codes, Instant Messaging Services, or via the WOVO platform itself. The platform also provides aggregated, real-time data that is comparable across different regions and over time. The dashboard also provides insights that can help pinpoint problematic areas to proactively make changes. Based on the program objectives, the data, and results can be shared with buyers, suppliers, or other third-party organizations like labor unions to promote transparency, and autonomy, and empower local facilities.

Background: Access to social benefits and a proper remuneration is the right of every employee. Fixed minimum wage standards and prompt payments are requirements set by international labor-focused organizations that must be fulfilled by every company. Like several of our clients in manufacturing, Factory Six faced challenges in providing prompt salary payments and remuneration. This was a result of two factors: internal technical issues with the company’s payroll system, and the inability to notify employees of delays. Consequently, the number of questions and grievances regarding late payment continued to increase. In January 2017, 30% of messages from employees recorded by Factory Six were regarding payroll. The Challenge The Labor Solutions account manager coordinated with our internal data analyst and product development team to propose a strategy to help Factory Six overcome this issue. First, we worked with the factory to develop standard announcements to be sent using the broadcast feature available on the WOVO platform’s dashboard. The message templates were developed to suit a variety of different needs—some of which announced anticipated delayed payment, and others providing specific details on when salaries would be paid. All messages were scheduled to be sent two weeks prior to the anticipated pay date. Next, we worked with Factory Six to implement the technology. Through the application, management was able to post calendar reminders for each pay period and also submit detailed information related to remuneration and benefits in the form of newsletters. This provided the ability to manage communication to all employees at once, or specific groups, directly from their online dashboard. As a result, the total number of messages related to payroll have decreased by 83% percent, in just three months after the strategy was implemented. These efforts have helped Factory Six better structure its communication, and thus give employees a sense of security in knowing when their salary will be paid long before the actual date. In its efforts to continue this improvement, Factory Six has since utilized the calendar feature on the dashboard effectively. We noted that managers have scheduled reminders on pay dates months in advance on the dashboard. Updates: Labor Solutions has since launched a Payslip feature to help Factory Six and other organizations follow compliance standards and communicate customized payroll documentation to each employee via our WOVO app.