Newsletter #14
In this issue:
B4IG published its Human Rights Toolbox on Agency Workers & Service Providers!
B4IG published its Operational Recommendations on Ethnic Diversity & Inclusion!
OECD COP27 Virtual Pavilion
and more!
B4IG continues its work to equip member companies and the business community with operational and practical tools. This month, we were thrilled to publish two major achievements of the coalition, the Operational Recommendations on Ethnic Diversity & Inclusion and the Human Rights Toolbox on Agency Workers and Service Providers.
The former document encompasses B4IG companies’ shared experiences and learnings on how to deploy strategies to promote ethnic diversity and inclusion in the workplace, in value chains and ecosystems.
As for the latter, based on the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, it presents a compilation of member companies’ human rights tools that range across diverse stages of Human Rights Due Diligence including embedding responsible policies and management, identification, assessment, prevention, and remediation mechanisms.
Don’t hesitate to share them with your community!
B4IG Operational Recommendations on Ethnic Diversity & Inclusion
Businesses in today’s world are expected to play a proactive role in advancing ethnic and racial Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) in the workplace, in value chains and ecosystems. How can companies ensure that their strategies and work environments are inclusive and offer equal opportunities for all? How can ethnic D&I strategies be implemented across global organisations? More specifically, how can companies address ethnic and racial injustices in European markets where the legal structures and dialogues on the topic differ and manifest in unique ways?
B4IG’s new Operational Recommendations on Ethnic Diversity & Inclusion, published on the 18th of October, offer collective experiences and learnings from leading global companies on how businesses can take action and develop suitable solutions to meet the needs in diverse cultural contexts.
Co-led by Accenture and Salesforce and bringing together a range of companies, including AXA, BASF, BNP Paribas, Capgemini, Danone, Henkel, Kering, Johnson & Johnson, Keurig Dr Pepper, Michelin, Schneider Electric, Sodexo, and VINCI, this work is presented in the form of four pillars with 10 sub-dimensions, indicating specific areas for action:
Recommendation I. Bold Leadership: Set goals that reach beyond legal compliance and hold leaders accountable for results with transparency of metrics & progress.
Recommendation II. Talent Actions: Implement D&I talent actions across attraction, retention, development, advancement & other key processes.
Recommendation III. Culture: Build an inclusive, diverse, and bias-free workplace, where employees are enabled to drive change, and inclusive leadership is role-modelled.
Recommendation IV. Ecosystem: Engage clients, customers, partners, and suppliers to support meaningful change in their organizations and within local communities.
We believe sharing these experiences is critical to ensuring the wider business community makes the strides now required. Read and download the Operational Recommendations here.
B4IG Human Rights Toolbox on Agency Workers & Service Providers
The latest International Labour Organisation’s 2021 Global Estimates indicate that 27.6 million people are entrapped in forced labour. Diverse crises in recent years – armed conflicts, COVID-19 pandemic, climate change – have led to unprecedented employment challenges, disruption in education, increase in extreme poverty, forced migration and a surge in inequalities.
In line with the B4IG Pledge to advance human rights in direct operations and supply chains by working to combat child labour and forced labour and respect freedom of association, the coalition published its Human Rights Toolbox on Agency Workers and Service Providers on the 22nd of September, as a core tool to support companies in improving their human rights and labour practices.
Developed by the B4IG Working Group on Human Rights led by Sodexo, that held several working sessions focusing on companies’ experiences and tools, and based on the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, the ‘Human Rights Toolbox on Agency Workers and Service Providers’ presents a compilation of six member companies’ human rights tools, notably BASF, L’Oréal, Schneider Electric, Sodexo, and VINCI. The tools range across diverse stages of Human Rights Due Diligence including embedding responsible policies and management, identification, assessment, prevention, and remediation mechanisms. The approach is practical and operational, as the selection of tools covers human rights performance management, commitment letters, tendering and contracting tools, and grievance mechanisms, among others.
We share this collective work with the objective to encourage knowledge transfer across the broader business community and support companies in improving their human rights and labour practices! Read and download the full version of the document here.
B4IG Workshop
B4IG organised its first in-person internal workshop in Paris on the 6th and 7th of October! Sherpas and working group members as well as representatives from partnering organisations joined several working sessions on the focus areas for 2023, the Taskforce on Social Related Financial Disclosures (TSFD), the next step of the D&I working group, possible collective actions related to inclusive recycling, and the proposed Fair Transition Fund. During the Call for Partner’s session, four Incubator’s projects were pitched and made individual calls for partnership.
An energizing moment for the coalition with more than 60 participants on both days, coming from the US, UK, Netherlands, Italy, France, etc.! We would like to thank all the participants for their engagement and the fruitful discussions!
From the OECD
Launch of the OECD Observatory on Social Mobility & Equal Opportunity
What are the key challenges to promoting social mobility in the years to come? What role can businesses play in fostering upward mobility? Join the OECD WISE Centre on 25 November as it launches its new Observatory on Social Mobility & Equal Opportunity. During the high-level roundtable, panelists will share insights on challenges to social mobility, followed by an expert workshop where research and innovations from around the world in this area will be explored. Consult the agenda and register here.
OECD COP27 Virtual Pavilion
The OECD Virtual Pavilion is back for COP27. Register for over 3 weeks of live events and hear from leading experts from the OECD and beyond for insights on the global effort to combat climate change. Drawing on OECD analysis and data, the Pavilion showcases a broad range of events and resources on cross-cutting climate topics including: finance, agriculture, adaptation, carbon pricing, artificial intelligence, transport, youth, and much more. To register and consult the rolling agenda click here.
Around the Globe
The World Health Organization published Guidelines on mental health at work with evidence-based recommendations covering organizational interventions, manager training and worker training, individual interventions, return to work, and gaining employment.
Record high inflation is hitting low paid workers harder than others all over the world. See the recent Living Wage Foundation survey on the impact of being paid less than the Living Wage in UK in the current crisis: Life on low pay during a cost-of-living crisis.
The ILO has published a new brief in consultation with IOE and ITUC, which provides a perspective on the question of living wages and describes how the ILO promotes the setting of adequate wages that consider both the needs of workers and their families, and economic factors. Moving forward, the ILO looks to strengthen its contribution to a better understanding of living wages: ILO Brief - Setting adequate wages: The question of living wages
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) published Taking Stock of Smallholder Inclusion in Modern Value Chains: Ambitions, Reality and Signs of Change, a working paper examining ‘the promise and reality of including smallholders from developing countries in modern value chains as a path to sustainable development’.
Save the date(s)
Incubator Graduation Event on December 1st, 3-5pm CET. Following the end of the Incubation program, the 2022 teams will present their projects and reflect on the key lessons learned from this year's program.
IDH, one of our partners in the Living Wage Working Group, will host a Living Wage Summit on 7 December in Brussels, Belgium. The event will bring together a line-up of speakers from the private and public sectors to discuss how to accelerate practical action on Living Wages. Register here. .
The Impact Measurement & Social Metrics WG4 will hold two meetings in November:
Session on November 8th, 3-4pm CET: Key Milestones in the harmonisation process of social disclosure standards in 2022 and WG Roadmap.
Joint Session with WG3 Living Wage on November 14th, 3-4pm CET: Follow-up of the previous joint session and discussion on proposed indicators on living wage.
Following the October 6th and 7th workshop, WG3 Inclusive Recycling will organise a WG meeting towards the end of November and WG2 DEI its next WG meeting in December on the next priority areas, Age/Generations and a comprehensive D&I survey framework.
The B4IG Annual Board Meeting will take place on November 17th. Important decisions to come. Stay tuned!
Thanks for reading, and be sure to follow B4IG on Twitter and LinkedIn!
The B4IG Team