Where a serious incident occurs within the supply chain of multiple retailers, brands, and/or suppliers, organisations are encouraged to collaborate to reduce duplication of activity and unnecessary burden for all parties; promote good practice and efficiency in the resolution of issues; provide confidence and assurance to all stakeholders that the matter is being managed in the best interests of those impacted.

Food supply chains can be very complex, and sometimes involve several tiers of production before the final product arrives on the shelf.  It is essential that when companies are delivering their human rights due diligence, to understand the businesses in their specific supply chains, their actual risks, roadblocks and opportunities in order to improve working conditions.   How can companies, especially those far-removed from their supply base do this successfully?

At FNET’s recent All members meeting Danny Miles from Morrisons and Natalie McWilliam from DPS ran an engaging workshop for members to reinforce how engaging the board is crucial to embedding human rights into the business strategy and day to day activities. Here is a flavour of some of the key points which are available in a more detailed member-only guidance document.

Yesterday Tesco’s hosted our largest FNET All members day. It was a fun mixture of presentations, interactive workshops and networking with attendees from a range of job roles including procurement, HR, ethical trade, sustainability and technical functions. Our opening panel focussed on how to pivot from risk to action on human rights due diligence. Rainforest Alliance shared how they have shifted their approach to Assess and Address, developed new worker engagement tools to ‘Expose it, Resolve it, End it’ and using practical examples how the HREDD support programme helps mitigate and remediate human rights abuses. This included Rainforest Alliance and Ergon Associates new report on how to improve Grievance Mechanisms. Twenty Fifty shared some key learnings from their Human Rights work on what is enabling action – broader full value chain approach, senior leader engagement, embedding in procurement, prioritising where to focus and using the data insights to inform due diligence. Princes and Pilgrim UK both shared insights into their recent Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIA) and how these are informing their broader Human Rights strategy. What was interesting was the alignment in common themes between the presentations and subsequent discussions; Grievances, Procurement practices, Human rights issues beyond core labour rights and in goods/services not for resale.

Grievance mechanisms enable people encountering work-based problems to communicate issues and complaints with managers in order for them to be addressed, considered and resolved. In a recent FNET webinar on gender in international supply chains, FNET members heard about the need to ensure that these channels for communication between workers and management are specifically tailored to pick up issues that relate to gender inequality.  These could range from very serious violations such as harassment and gender-based violence, to other issues around breaks, toilet facilities and workplace safety.   The Oxfam Business Advisory Service has developed a grievance mechanism with a gender lens (originally for Reckitt) that highlights the importance of including women, men and gender-expansive individuals in the development of the policies and how they are being implemented, and the importance of training for managers specifically on gender-based grievances and how to interpret and support people when problems arise.