Worker voice - theory and practice

Jul 6
3 min read

Times are a-changing.

Businesses can increasingly be held to account if they benefit from short cuts taken on labour rights, whether that is in their own operations or more widely in their supply chains.

And, as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) set out, walking away from labour rights issues in supply chains should be your last resort, never first response.

The "Protect, Respect and Remedy" approach means your due diligence should include making things better when needed and if you can.

Continuous worker voice converts theory into practice — Dialogue between workplaces and workers is where remedy gets addressed

When it comes to worker voice - how should technology be supporting that process, and what does best practice look like in this area?

Remedy happens locally

Although the root cause for any compromise of labor rights might be external, remedies are delivered to workers locally.

Remedy happens in the relationship between employer and employee and in the Workplace - whether that is across a Workplace or specifically for an individual or individuals.

For the purpose of this post, we use the term "Workplace" generically; but we mean, in each case, the "duty-bearer" - the party (employer, workplace, labour provider etc) who owes a legal responsibility to workers for their human and labour rights.

Worker voice theory: it's a triangle

Our practice in worker voice is based on a triangular model.

We aim to foster dialogue between Workplaces and workers (or their representatives) initiated by worker feedback on their conditions and supported by the leverage that external parties ("sponsors") can bring.

That means:

Feedback from workers can be mutually beneficial for workers and the Workplace.
Feedback is the start (or continuation) of a dialogue between management and workers that focuses on providing decent work in a safe and fair working environment.
A sponsor (third party with leverage, such as a brand or retailer) is involved to monitor this dialogue, intervening to support it, and to encourage Workplaces to engage with feedback responsibly and appropriately.

Worker voice theory - into best practice

For Ask The workers, that leads us to various conclusions:

Workplaces get their own real-time dashboards that show what workers are saying.
Safeguards are built-in to prevent feedback from individuals and vulnerable demographics being identified.
Workplaces MUST discuss findings and respond themselves to workers in order to provide any needed remedies endorsed by workers. Workers will continue to report negatively if remedy design is ineffective for them.
- Worker voice is only half the story (feedback from workers)
- A dialogue is a conversation - Workplaces (employers) should engage with the workforce to co-design mutually-acceptable actions where these are needed.

Experience already shows that sharing continuous feedback from workers with Workplaces can be the catalyst for mutually beneficial dialogue and better labour relations; it can drive improvements in worker welfare where needed - and without heavy interference from third party sponsors.

Continuous worker voice - important

Ask The Workers is continuous worker voice; it is not a survey.

Updated laws and regulations emphasise the importance of "meaningful stakeholder engagement".

The two most important stakeholders are:

the rightsholders (workers), whose fundamental human and labour rights are the focus of the due diligence; and
the duty-bearer (workplace / employer / labour provider as the case may be), in whom the legal obligation to respect, protect and fulfil those rights is vested.

Meaningful engagement with stakeholders includes fostering a dialogue between workers and Workplaces.

Necessarily this is two-way, action-focussed and should be continuous.

Get in touch

See our general article about worker voice and how meaningful stakeholder engagement starts by connecting to the workers to hear what they have to say - so that dialogue between workers and Workplaces can follow.

Do note that we have used "Workplace" in this short blog to represent what may be a collection of organisations - physical places where workers work, employers, labour providers - even accommodation providers. These all may be vectors for different risks.

Find out more and ask us for call?