Our Work With Brands & Suppliers

The presence of homeworkers within supply chains is often hidden by suppliers
and may not be disclosed at audits.

Brands, we want to work with you to support your concerns and minimise risks within your supply chains, particularly improved visibility and transparency issues related to homeworkers and sub-contracted units.

We know that the Covid-19 crisis has created challenges with consequent effects on supply chains and workers in sourcing locations. 

Let’s work together to negotiate these challenges and help homeworkers improve their working conditions and create sustainable supply chains.

  • We can support you to adopt an effective homeworker policy, which encourages your suppliers to disclose the use of subcontractors and homeworkers.

  • We can help you to trace and document homeworker supply chains and draw up an action plan to move forward.

  • We can also help you look at purchasing practices, to identify how these can lead to adverse conditions for homeworkers. The focus is on seeking constructive solutions, e.g., ring-fencing homeworker labour costs in open book costings, to ensure that fair wages are paid.

  • We prefer to work with several brands sourcing from a particular region together, to increase leverage and encourage suppliers to seek sector wide solutions to issues.

  • We are also keen to work with Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives to share learning around effective policies, tools and approaches to homeworking within member companies’ supply chains.

 
 


Through our Hidden Homeworkers Project, we currently have the capacity to support brands who are sourcing apparel and footwear from India, Pakistan and Nepal to extend their supply chain monitoring beyond first tier suppliers to reach hidden workers including homeworkers.

We have an extensive range of resources to help brands navigate the different stages of the journey towards the decent employment of homeworkers within global supply chains.

Want to discuss more specific advice and collaboration? Contact our director Lucy Brill to find out more.