What is the WELL Survey?

The WELL Survey is a modular, worker-centered survey framework designed to capture workers’ lived experience across global supply chains. It gathers primary data directly from workers to surface risks, assess system effectiveness, and generate actionable insights aligned with human rights due diligence requirements.

How is the WELL Survey different from traditional worker surveys or audits?

Unlike one-off surveys or social audits, WELL is risk-based, modular, and designed for repeat use. It focuses on how systems function in practice—not just whether policies exist—and consistently surfaces issues audits miss, such as recruitment fees, trust in grievance mechanisms, and barriers to reporting.

How was the WELL Survey developed?

The WELL Survey was developed through a multi-stakeholder design process involving brands, labor experts, and organizations with extensive experience deploying worker surveys at scale. Contributors included representatives from companies such as Nike, adidas, Decathlon, H&M, the LAKE Advisory network, and Labor Solutions. The design process drew on more than a decade of worker engagement experience across global supply chains.

How does the WELL Survey support human rights due diligence (HRDD)?

WELL provides primary worker data that can be used across HRDD processes, including risk identification, prioritization, and ongoing monitoring. Its indicators align with international expectations for due diligence and help companies move beyond compliance toward continuous improvement.

Who uses the WELL Survey?

The WELL Survey is used by brands and companies across agriculture, seafood, electronics, footwear, apparel, and telecommunications. It is deployed across supply chains with varying levels of maturity and is designed to be accessible to workers in diverse contexts.

How does the modular design work?

The WELL Survey is built from indicator-based modules that can be combined or repeated over time. This allows companies to focus measurement on priority risks, adapt to sector or country context, and track change without starting from scratch each cycle.

How are worker safety, anonymity, and trust protected?

The WELL Survey is designed to protect worker anonymity and reduce risk of retaliation. It is implemented using secure data practices and worker-centered methodologies that prioritize informed consent, confidentiality, and safe participation.

How does the WELL Survey connect to action and improvement?

WELL is designed to be part of a closed-loop system. Survey insights feed directly into tools like WOVO Improve and aligned eLearning, enabling suppliers and brands to turn worker feedback into targeted action planning, training, and follow-up.

What is Labor Solutions?

Labor Solutions is a technology company and social enterprise focused on worker-centered human rights due diligence. Founded in 2013 in Singapore, it deploys the WOVO platform — including worker voice surveys, grievance mechanisms, eLearning, and supplier improvement plans — to engage and educate workforces globally, particularly within complex supply chains. Labor Solutions serves 3.8 million+ active workers across 180+ countries in 41+ languages for brands including adidas, Nike, H&M, Dell, Cisco, and Diageo.

What is Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD)?

Human rights due diligence (HRDD) is the process companies use to identify, prevent, mitigate, and address adverse human rights impacts in their operations and supply chains. It requires ongoing risk assessment rather than one-time compliance checks. HRDD is grounded in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and is reflected in binding regulations such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), Germany's Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), France's Duty of Vigilance Law, and similar frameworks globally.

Are audits sufficient for human rights due diligence?

Audits alone are not sufficient for effective human rights due diligence. While audits can identify certain risks at a point in time, they often miss ongoing or hidden issues and do not provide continuous insight into workers' lived experiences. Effective HRDD requires ongoing worker engagement, accessible grievance mechanisms, and systems that track issues and remediation over time.

How does Labor Solutions support CSDDD compliance?

Labor Solutions helps organizations meet EU CSDDD requirements by providing worker voice surveys that collect ongoing evidence of worker conditions, UNGP Principle 31-aligned grievance mechanisms (WOVO Connect), supplier self-assessment and action planning tools (WOVO Improve), and auditable case management that documents risk identification, remediation, and outcomes over time.

How does Labor Solutions differ from EcoVadis?

Labor Solutions is purpose-built exclusively for worker voice and worker-centered HRDD since 2013. EcoVadis is primarily a supplier sustainability rating platform that entered the worker voice space in 2024 through the acquisition of Ulula. Labor Solutions reaches 3.8 million+ active workers directly through a dedicated worker app and multi-channel access, with validated survey methodology and case-managed grievance mechanisms used by adidas, Nike, H&M, and others to meet CSDDD obligations.

What is the WELL Survey?

The WELL Survey is Labor Solutions' validated worker survey methodology, designed specifically for supply chain environments. It collects primary human rights risk data directly from workers including working conditions, recruitment fees, health and safety, discrimination, and freedom of association. Results are reported with demographic disaggregation and risk classification aligned to international standards including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

What is WOVO Connect?

WOVO Connect is Labor Solutions' operational grievance mechanism, aligned to UN Guiding Principles Principle 31. It allows workers to submit concerns via app, SMS, QR code, or IVR. Cases are tracked, assigned, and resolved through a structured case management workflow with full audit trail. It is used by brands including adidas across 400,000+ workers to meet CSDDD and LkSG grievance mechanism obligations.

What does CSDDD require for grievance mechanisms in supply chains?

The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) requires companies to establish or participate in effective operational-level grievance mechanisms that allow workers and affected stakeholders to raise concerns about adverse human rights and environmental impacts. These mechanisms must be accessible to all affected stakeholders, protect against retaliation, and be aligned with the effectiveness criteria in UN Guiding Principles Principle 31. Companies must also provide or cooperate in providing remediation where impacts have occurred. WOVO Connect is Labor Solutions' grievance mechanism designed to meet these requirements.

How does worker voice support LkSG compliance?

Germany's Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) requires companies to implement a complaints procedure accessible to workers and communities in their supply chain, assess human rights risks on an ongoing basis, and take preventive and remediation measures when risks are identified. Worker voice tools support LkSG compliance by enabling companies to collect direct evidence of working conditions from workers, identify risks before they escalate, document the effectiveness of grievance channels, and demonstrate active ongoing engagement with their supply chain workforce.

What is WOVO Improve?

WOVO Improve is Labor Solutions' digital supplier self-assessment and action planning platform. It allows suppliers to assess the maturity of their labor rights and due diligence systems, generate automated improvement action plans based on assessment results, and track remediation progress over time. It closes the loop between worker survey findings and supplier-level change — creating documented evidence of HRDD effectiveness that brands can use for CSDDD and LkSG reporting.

What is the difference between a worker voice tool and a whistleblower hotline?

Worker voice tools like WOVO Connect are designed for supply chain workers to raise day-to-day concerns, access training, respond to surveys, and engage with grievance processes at the factory level. They are accessible via app, SMS, QR code, or IVR, and built for low-literacy, low-trust contexts. Whistleblower hotlines are typically phone-based channels for reporting serious legal violations within a company. Global helplines can satisfy a regulatory checkbox under CSDDD or LkSG but rarely work in practice for supply chain workers, who need embedded, trusted, local-language channels built for their reality.

Which industries and sectors use Labor Solutions?

Labor Solutions is used across apparel and footwear, electronics, fast-moving consumer goods, agriculture, seafood, and retail supply chains. Clients include global brands such as adidas, Nike, H&M, Dell, Cisco, HP, Diageo, Carter's, Puma, OVS, and Decathlon. Labor Solutions tools are deployed wherever complex, multi-tier global supply chains require ongoing worker engagement, human rights due diligence, and compliance with CSDDD, LkSG, or other emerging HRDD frameworks — particularly across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Worker Wellbeing, Engagement + Livelihoods

Listening to Workers to Create Better, Safer Workplaces + Value Chains

A stakeholder-led, modular tool to amplify worker voices and deliver credible, comparable insights to improve value chain workplaces worldwide.

From safety to equality hear directly from workers to understand what matters most and surfacing risks audits can't.

Worker Voices. Real Impact.

One Survey. Every Industry. Better Results.

Every Result Comes Directly from Workers.

Asked about their Experience. Anonymously, in Their Own Language

Co-Created, Trusted + Used Globally

Expert-Led Quality, Stakeholder-Driven Efficiency, Worker-Centered Outcomes.

Workers Know What Audits Can't
WELL Found Serious Risks at 35% of Sites who Passed Audits

The Industry’s First Modular Survey

Your Survey, Globally Comparable, Industry Aligned, Regulation Ready, Local Impact

Start with the Global Baseline.

WELL Core Program: UNGP Pillar 2

Then Shape It to Your Risk.

WELL Extensions to meet your risk profile

The WELL Core Program: UNGP Pillar 2

Workplace rights at risk in most global value chains — and the Pillar 2 principles all buyers need to evidence. WELL Core runs at every site, in every program.

Engagement

Occupational

Health + Safety

Access to Remedy

Harassment

+ Abuse

Reports mapped to UNGP Pillar 2

Additional reporting alignment available for CSDDD Art. 7–10 · LkSG · ESRS S2

“The WELL Survey has become an important part of our Human Rights Due Diligence strategy. Its approach provides clear, reliable insights into workers’ experiences, helping us validate conditions beyond traditional audits, strengthen risk assessments, and engage suppliers in more meaningful conversations.”

-Carters

The Case Study

Worker Identified Risks

Verification starts with the people closest to the risk. Reach past documentation to lived experience.

Audits Tell Buyers What Sites Built.

WELL Tells You if It's Working.

Join the more than two dozen brands

actively deploying WELL in their value chains

Learn More

Read Why

Questions that Matter

Experience-Based Design to Build Trust + Uncover Real Issues

Setting the Bar

WELL Methodology + Standards to Ensure Data Validity

Worker Sourced Risk View Per Site
Statistically-Backed Guidelines for Data Validity
Always mapped to UN Guiding Principle on Human Rights Pillar 2
Framework reporting available for CSDDD, ESRS S2, LkSG and other equivalent frameworks+ regulations

The WELL Seal

A Sign of Suppliers Who
Listen to Workers

WELL Self Diagnostic Tool

Turn Insights Into Meaningful Change + Better Workplaces

Help suppliers move from data to impact. Our self-assessment and action-planning tool help translate worker feedback into site owned action.

Self Diagnostic Tool

Get Started Today

Reach out to the Labor Solutions' Team to Learn How to Deploy the WELL Cycle

GET STARTED

What Is Worker Voice — and Why Audits Can't Replace It

Worker Grievances Up 32% — Here's Why that's adidas' Biggest WOVO Milestone Yet

The WELL Cycle: Four Steps. One Standard. Every Value Chain.

Worker-Driven Due Diligence Is Not a Project. It's a Practice.

WELL Survey graphic showing how worker voice aligns with the UN Guiding Principles and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), highlighting SDGs 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11 and 16.

The WELL Survey: Aligning Worker Voice with the UN Guiding Principles and the SDGs

FAQs

Audits assess systems, policies, and documentation. They ask: does this factory have a grievance procedure? A health and safety policy? The WELL Worker Survey asks workers directly. It generates primary data from the people who experience conditions every day — on wages, safety, management behavior, recruitment, working hours, and more. 35% of audit-passing sites have been found to have serious risks when surveyed using WELL. Audits miss what workers know. WELL surfaces it.

The WELL Worker Survey is available in 41+ languages with audiovisual support for workers with limited literacy. Questions are experience-based rather than policy-based, written to be understood without legal framing or workplace jargon. Workers access the survey through channels they control — not channels managed by factory administration. This produces honest data that reflects what workers actually experience, not what they think they are supposed to say.

The WELL Worker Survey is aligned to UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Principle 31 and recognized by the Social and Labor Convergence Program (SLCP). It is designed to generate the worker experience data that CSDDD, LkSG, and France's Duty of Vigilance Law require companies to collect as part of their human rights due diligence. Survey results can be used as documented evidence of worker engagement for ESRS S2 reporting.

Listening to Workers to Create Better, Safer Workplaces + Value Chains

Worker Voices. Real Impact.

One Survey. Every Industry. Better Results.

Co-Created, Trusted + Used Globally

Expert-Led Quality, Stakeholder-Driven Efficiency, Worker-Centered Outcomes.

Workers Know What Audits Can't WELL Found Serious Risks at 35% of Sites who Passed Audits

The Industry’s First Modular Survey

Your Survey, Globally Comparable, Industry Aligned, Regulation Ready, Local Impact

The WELL Core Program: UNGP Pillar 2

-Carters

Worker Identified Risks

Questions that Matter

Experience-Based Design to Build Trust + Uncover Real Issues

Setting the Bar

WELL Methodology + Standards to Ensure Data Validity

The WELL Seal

A Sign of Suppliers Who Listen to Workers

WELL Self Diagnostic Tool

Turn Insights Into Meaningful Change + Better Workplaces

Help suppliers move from data to impact. Our self-assessment and action-planning tool help translate worker feedback into site owned action.

Get Started Today

Read More About How Worker Surveys Drive Impact

Read More About How WOVO Engage Has Improved Worker Outcomes

The EU Forced Labour Regulation Sets an Obligation of Result — and Worker Evidence Is How You Meet It

What Is Worker Voice — and Why Audits Can't Replace It

Worker Grievances Up 32% — Here's Why that's adidas' Biggest WOVO Milestone Yet

Read More About How the WELL Survey Has Improved Outcomes

The WELL Cycle: Four Steps. One Standard. Every Value Chain.

Worker-Driven Due Diligence Is Not a Project. It's a Practice.

The WELL Survey: Aligning Worker Voice with the UN Guiding Principles and the SDGs

FAQs

How does the WELL Worker Survey differ from a social audit?

How do you survey workers in low-literacy environments?

What regulatory standards does the WELL Worker Survey satisfy?

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INSIGHTS

Workers Know What Audits Can't
WELL Found Serious Risks at 35% of Sites who Passed Audits

A Sign of Suppliers Who
Listen to Workers