Take responsibility

To effectively identify adverse negative impacts, it is important to establish a robust grievance mechanism. This grievance mechanism is always accessible to internal and external stakeholders. A robust complaints mechanism:

• is known to all employees at your company, your suppliers’ employees and other stakeholders;
• is easily accessible to all employees and external stakeholders;
• handles information confidentially;
• is trusted by all employees and stakeholders;
• protects reporters (whistleblowers);
• registers all complaints and how they have been handled;
• is transparent about the procedure and time limits;
• is aligned with international law.

It is essential to regularly educate employees about the grievance mechanism and provide other stakeholders with clear information about the mechanism. It is good to emphasise that the mechanism helps to safeguard human and labour rights and environmental protection.

Please note! A company can establish its own grievance mechanism. Alternatively, smaller companies can join a collective grievance mechanism. This could be a part of a collective labour agreement. In light of this, it is important to check whether there is a collective body in your sector with a robust grievance mechanism. Tip: check whether local production locations have good grievance mechanisms in place.

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Remedial measures are necessary to address or resolve adverse impacts in the supply chain. The action your company must take depends on the extent to which your company is involved.

• Causing: for example, a flower grower who has a nursery in Africa where labour rights are being violated.
• Contributing to: for example, a clothing brand that changes orders at the last minute. As a result, employees must work overtime. The number of links between the factory and the clothing brand is irrelevant.
• Being linked to: for example, a jeweller purchasing gold through many intermediaries from a mine where child labour has been discovered. The jeweller has not contributed personally to the risk: they have paid a fair price and have fair purchase terms in place.

If your company causes or contributes to adverse impacts, you must provide for remediation. If you are linked to the damage, you are expected to use your influence to provide for remediation for the victims of abuse. You can do this by engaging with suppliers or buyers that cause the damage. If your influence is limited, see how you can increase it. You could do this by working together with supply chain partners or joining multi-stakeholder initiatives.

Remediation means that you revert the situation to how it was before the adverse impact. Remedial measures can take many forms. You could offer an apology, recognise union representatives, provide financial compensation, dismiss responsible employees or take measures to prevent the adverse impacts in the future. The form of remediation needed to address or resolve damage depends on the nature and extent of the adverse impact. It is therefore essential to always engage with the victims of abuse or their representatives. They must feel that their situation has been put to rights. That is why their input is crucial. You could also explore:

In some cases, national and international legislation and regulations state which remedial measures must be taken.

If there is no legislation or regulation to provide for remediation, it is helpful to see how other companies in similar situations have provided for remediation.

In the event of human rights violations in particular, it is essential to involve stakeholders in remediation and other measures. The victims’ perspective must be taken into account in any decision on remediation or other measures.