The workplace is changing faster than ever, and supply chains are no exception. Workers expect to be heard and valued, yet 83% want to share their opinions on key issues while 85% remain silent because they worry they’ll be viewed negatively if they speak up, according to research from the Harvard Business Review. In global supply chains, this silence is more than a morale issue – it’s a risk management blind spot. The most critical risks don’t wait for scheduled assessments: conditions deteriorate gradually, issues affecting home-based or informal workers emerge between audits, problems workers won’t raise in formal settings escalate unchecked.
This session examines how leading brands are building worker voice programmes that strengthen supply chain oversight:
- Beyond audits: How leading brands are integrating worker voice with existing programmes
- Reaching invisible workers: How businesses can use direct feedback channels to gain visibility on home-based, migrant, and informal workers often missed by traditional assessments
- Practical examples of how worker voice channels help to identify critical risks
- How to ensure worker data collected is reliable and representative of the diversity of ethnic groups, languages and literacy levels
- From insight to action: Turning worker voice into timely remediation and stronger human rights outcomes
