People in the global workforce manufactured the device that enables you to read this page. It is unlikely for you to know the manufacturer’s country of origin or how the international labor agreement, if any, affects the workers who made the device. How would you know if the company that makes and sells the product treats its workers fairly?
Labor practices evolve and vary, so it is crucial for you to examine the regulatory framework for global labor relations, including the impact of national treaties on workers. Explore your country and other countries’ labor models, including your organization’s business location. Then analyze industry self-regulation and the audit process for partners from other countries to identify the risks and barriers to transparency. Pair these considerations with ways reliable data can be made available to consumers and industry partners. These steps will allow you to evaluate and identify strategies to improve labor practices in your organization and the global companies you do business with.
While firms declare goals and values for global labor practices, they may fail to implement those practices. This gap that occurs between formal policies and actual practices is called “organizational decoupling.” Examining the process to overcome organizational decoupling by using data and accurate measures of existing policies is essential. For this, you must understand the responsibilities and barriers to transparency in multi-stakeholder institutions. Only then will you be able to analyze what is within your locus of control to improve transparency, detect how your organization itself might be contributing to labor violations and come up with measures to mitigate and prevent them.
Completing the Human Rights in Global Supply Chain certificate program offered by Genashtim in collaboration with eCornell, will equip you with strategies to improve labor practices and human rights regulations.
eCornell courses are approved by SkillsFuture Singapore for SkillsFuture Credit as well as by HRD Corp Malaysia under its HRD Corp Claimable Course Scheme.