The economic turbulence of recent years, caused in part by geo-political instability, the pandemic and climate change have created unprecedented pressures on supply chains. In this context, workers have become more vulnerable to human rights’ violations. The recent emergence of legislation on Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) provides a great opportunity to drive positive change.However, to achieve this, we need to re-envisage the traditional social auditing model and embrace more collaborative tools that provide credible and actionable data.
There is growing consensus that meeting the needs of this new era requires a move beyond traditional audits to tools founded in collaboration and partnership. In this new paradigm, key players including governments, workers and employers co-design solutions. This will ensure the resulting data meets the needs of all parties and enables them to play their respective roles in improving working conditions. With this ambition, SLCP developed the Converged Assessment Framework (CAF) as a public good through a multi-stakeholder process. Tools like the CAF aims to produce data that different actors can use for different purposes, including to support more effective due diligence, to drive remedy and prevention, to improve purchasing practices, and to inform evidence-based policymaking.
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SLCP believes that multistakeholder governance is one of the foundations of credible and actionable data that can support meaningful HRDD. In addition, fit-for-purpose tools must be rooted in law instead of setting arbitrary standards. Governments must play a critical role in ensuring the durable protection of their citizens, including workers in facilities. The CAF continues to evolve in alignment with International Labor Standards, as defined by the ILO, and with National Labor Law. SLCP also considers the OECD Due Diligence Guidance on Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) as the leading implementation framework and has built the CAF in line with this.
Emerging legislation, such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, increases the need for tools that will produce the credible and actionable data required for meaningful HRDD. Comprehensive facility level social assessments such as SLCP’s Converged Assessment Framework (CAF) can play a critical role in providing foundational information to inform supply chain actors and directly enable improvements to working conditions. Particularly on quantitative topics like wages, working hours and occupational health & safety, the CAF can provide a comprehensive overview of legal non-compliances and risks. When addressing complex issues such as migrant labor or salient issues like discrimination, stakeholders can leverage SLCP data to complement the risk-based follow-up required in line with HRDD Guidelines. In our HRDD Toolkit, we set out how stakeholders can use SLCP data to meet HRDD requirements as well as what additional or consecutive assessments might need to be undertaken.
SLCP recognizes the need to continuously improve the CAF, for example to further enhance data quality and to include more worker involvement in our data collection. With the support of our signatories, partners and stakeholders, we have developed a multi-year CAF Roadmap. This includes critical enhancements to further improve credibility and actionability such as:
- Further aligning the tool with the principles of international labor standards (ILS) and with national labour laws (NLL), and emerging HRDD requirements.
- Working with stakeholders and partners to focus on data points that drive change and deliver impact, enabling further rationalization in the tool.
- Partner-led consultation with national stakeholders (including governments) in producing countries.
- Seeking expert advice to ensure data is credible and actionable for a broad range of national and international stakeholders.
- Continued priority on data quality and integrity by capacity building of Verifiers and a smart mix of quality assurance (including innovative and data-driven approaches).
- Expanding options to include worker voice in the assessment process.
- Further data governance to ensure the robustness and quality of the data, analysis, interpretation, and validation.
- In collaboration with partners, further advancing our work on impact reports and sharing data with stakeholders, including academia and NGOs, to drive data insights and inform policymakers.
In short, we see an ongoing and increasing need for due diligence tools that support business responsibility and generate credible data that is meaningful for governments and other stakeholders. This can help create lasting positive change for workers and support the implementation of emerging legislative requirements. We believe SLCP is well-positioned to be one such tool due to our multi-stakeholder governance, our collaborative approach, and our strong belief in the role of law in compliance.
Janet Mensink holds more than 25 years’ experience in sustainable supply chains, including sustainability consultancy and leadership roles in international development in the nonprofit sector. She has served on several boards and councils of multistakeholder initiatives. As CEO of the Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), she is responsible for overseeing SLCP’s strategic direction and execution.
