“Obligations to employees under labor or social security laws and regulations arising from the regular employment relationship shall not be avoided through the use of labor-only contracting arrangements, or through apprenticeship schemes where there is no real intent to impart skills or provide regular employment. Younger workers shall be given the opportunity to participate in education and training programs.”
An obligation in and of itself is not enough, of course. Therefore, all of our producers are regularly and independently audited by organizations such as Fair Wear (FW). Auditors carefully review whether employment contracts were properly terminated and whether employees are covered by social insurance. This is verified through interviews within and outside the production site and by reviewing documents.
The 2019 FW Audits show that there were some findings regarding the issue of proper employment at our production sites. For example:
We are discussing the objections with our producers and working together to solve them. Deviations from the provisions governing employment contracts can usually be quickly resolved.
Ensuring that all employees have social insurance, however, is more difficult to achieve. In some cases, the lack of social insurance didn’t come from the employer, but from the employees themselves who could then collect the employer's contribution. It is very important to educate employees on this issue. The advantages of social security often haven’t been explained to employees. We expect our producers to provide their employees with information on this issue. In addition we are carrying out FW’s Workplace Education Program training program which also covers this issue.
Data on worker turnover rates is no longer collected during FW Audits. We therefore do not have any current figures for this. In our 2018 audits, the average worker turnover rate was 4.6%.
| GRI: | 401-1 |
