leveraging mobile technology for worker voice and real-time data

LEVERAGING MOBILE TECHNOLOGYFOR WORKER VOICE AND REAL-TIME DATA:

Lessons and Opportunities from ETI Members Experimenting with Mobile

LEVERAGING MOBILE TECHNOLOGYFOR WORKER VOICE AND REAL-TIME DATA:

Lessons and Opportunities from ETI Members Experimenting with Mobile

Mobile ownership is at an all-time high. With nearly 7 billion mobile subscriptions globally, that’s nearly one for every person on the planet. In China, the world’s manufacturing hub, there are 1.2 billion mobiles and 89% mobile penetration. That’s not to say that every person has a phone, but access through a friend or family member is common, even in the most remote regions.

What does this mobile access mean for Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI)1 members and others with a shared vision of a world free of exploitation and discrimination? It’s nothing short of a paradigm shift—from top-down monitoring of working conditions to a more worker-centric approach. Mobile technology opens a new channel for direct and authentic two-way dialogue with workers, 365 days a year. Labour rights groups have said for years that workers are the best monitors of their workplaces. Now that vision is possible.

Vodafone and Accenture estimate that this new mobile-enabled worker engagement has the potential to boost livelihoods by $2.1 billion annually, through improved pay and working conditions, and benefit 18 million workers globally. In the report Connected Worker: How Mobile Technology Can Improve Working Life in Emerging Economies2, they describe six disruptive opportunities for mobile to enhance the lives of workers in global supply chains, and the business value for each. One, called the “Worker Panel,” enables improved working conditions through real-time data.

Several ETI members have already been experimenting with the Worker Panel concept profiled in the Connected Worker report. In this approach, companies and NGOs use mobile to capture anonymous, real-time data directly from workers about their working conditions and then use that data to drive improvements, by a combination of new policies and practices, supplier dialogue, and worker training.

It’s nothing short of a paradigm shift—from top-down monitoring ofworking conditionsto a more worker-centric approach.

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1 To learn more, visit: www.ethicaltrade.org2 http://www.vodafone.com/content/dam/sustainability/pdfs/vodafone_connected_worker.pdf

3 Lessons and Opportunities from ETI Members Experimenting with Mobile

Benefits for Workers

Mobile benefits workers by enabling faster resolution of issues raised through an anonymous

reporting channel. Internally, it can facilitate better working relationships with supervisors

and management through improved communication channels. According to the Vodafone

report, this type of intervention can “encourage worker empowerment, wellbeing and

loyalty.” The two-way channel also supports so-called “m-learning” capabilities—that is,

delivering educational content via mobile phones—so workers can receive information

about their rights or local services, or reminders of training curriculum on wellbeing topics

like financial literacy.

Value to Buyers and Suppliers

The Worker Panel also has these tangible benefits for buyers and suppliers:

∞ Overcoming the limitations of auditing, especially where workers are coached on what

to say during interviews and audits are too infrequent to monitor sensitive issues;

∞ Helping minimise supply chain risk by capturing more reliable information on high-risk

issues and addressing them quickly; and

∞ Using data to engage in a new kind of conversation with suppliers. Connected Worker

describes the potential “to have more proactive discussions with suppliers on workforce

management and move quickly to address problem situations, invest to enhance working

conditions or even deselect suppliers with persistent issues.”

Two-way communication tools can also deliver educational content, so workers can give AND receive information

INFO PUSH: Two-Way Communication tools

Survey Findings

Employer Updates

Training Messages

Rights & Services

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ETI Member Case Studies

In 2012, Marks & Spencer (in the UK)

and Eileen Fisher (in the US) took the

lead in using mobile technology to hear

directly from workers and enhance

supply chain visibility. Since then, several

other ETI member companies—including

Primark and Boden—have applied mobile

technology in their own supply chains

to give voice to over 85,770 workers

across six countries: Bangladesh, India, Sri

Lanka, China, Peru and the UK. Surveys

have covered diverse topics, including

Working Hours, Grievance Mechanisms,

Worker-Management Communication,

Community Needs, and Financial Literacy.

Specifically, ETI member companies have

used mobile surveys to:

1. Capture real-time data to support

commitments to follow the ETI

Base Code;

2. Give workers a voice in a way that

complements FOA & grievance

mechanisms;

3. Share educational information with

workers to help them understand their

rights and access local services; and

4. Validate assumptions about what

workers actually experience in the

workplace.

All of these companies have used a

tool called Labor Link, developed by

California-based nonprofit Good World

Solutions. The platform uses simple,

voice-based technology called Interactive

Voice Response (IVR) to enable two-way

communication between workers, their

employers, and buyers.Cisco / Photo by Arjun Kartha


TOPICS

In China, Marks & Spencer used the Labor Link platform to survey managers

and workers at 24 M&S suppliers manufacturing a diverse range of products.

Surveys covered topics related to Ethical Trading Initiative’s Base

Code, worker-management communications, working environment,

health and safety, and working hours. Labor Link surveys targeted both

workers and managers, with an average response rate across factories of 44%.

Respondents were 73% female and on average 33 years old.

FINDINGS

Mobile survey data revealed

interesting differences in knowledge

among workers in areas such as

workplace communications. For

example, when asked the question

“Is there a way workers can submit

a written complaint when they have

a work related-problem?” 78% of

factory management responded

affirmatively, and only 48% of

workers said the same. M&S will

use this data to develop training

programmes on Workplace

Communications and align the

company’s business practices

more closely with worker needs.

Q: Is there a way workerscan submit a written complaint when they havea work-related problem?

CASE STUDY: Marks & Spencer

In the last year, Marks & Spencer (M&S) has scaled up its use of mobile

technology in the supply chain to poll 64,230 workers across 46

manufacturing locations in 5 countries (China, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka

and the UK)—exceeding its 2013 target of 22,500 workers in 30 factories

by more than double.


Marks & Spencer

This is the first time these workers have had an anonymous channel to

report on sensitive issues like harassment and bullying, working hours, and

communication with their supervisors. With more detailed data, M&S is able

to go beyond auditing to engage in a new kind of conversation with suppliers.

“With 44% of workers choosing to participate voluntarily, we see a higher

degree of trust and scalability in anonymous mobile surveys, compared to

more traditional methods of connecting with workers through interviews,”

said Heather Franzese, Executive Director of Good World Solutions, the

organisation behind the Labor Link platform.

RECOGNITION

M&S and Good World Solutions were recently shortlisted for “Best Business/

NGO Partnership” in Ethical Corporation’s Responsible Business Awards 2014.

Through this work, M&S has sought to inspire a movement of leading

brands and retailers in the US and UK that are now using mobile to

connect with workers for deeper supply chain transparency. The strategy

is aligned with the company’s Plan A 2020 values of being in touch, doing

business with integrity, and supporting innovation across the business.

Listening to workersin this way helps us connectthe dots between qualityof life issues like workplace health and safety and business issues in manufacturing,such as worker retentionand productivity.”

“

Fiona SadlerM&S Head of Ethical Trading

photo: Good World Solutions


TOPICS

Working Conditions, Progress Out of Poverty Index (PPI), Community Needs

PURPOSE

To compare supplier performance (SA8000-certified and not certified) on gender

equity, recruitment practices, awareness of labour standards, worker-management

communication, job satisfaction, livelihoods and community needs.

FINDINGS

Housing: At one factory, one in four

workers identified inadequate housing

as the greatest need facing the

community. Migrant workers in North

India travel from other states and

live in temporary housing with other

workers.

Recruitment: 32% of workers

surveyed reported paying a recruitment

fee to get their job. This data provided

a starting point for Eileen Fisher and its

suppliers in India to understand what

workers experience, even before they

begin work.

Supplier Response: Suppliers may at first be reluctant to allow direct worker

communication. Framing the business case of anonymous worker feedback is

essential to build buy-in.

CASE STUDY: Eileen Fisher

Eileen Fisher was the first ETI member to use Labor Link, in India in 2012.

The company has strong values around Human Rights and Women’s

Empowerment and wanted to hear directly from workers on these key issues.

photo: Holly McKenna


OUTCOME

Eileen Fisher partnered with Social Accountability International (SAI) to facilitate

an on-site workshop for workers to co-create solutions to their priority

issues identified in the first survey. Women prioritized child care, resources

for substance abuse, and financial literacy training. Men wanted improved

transportation and financial literacy training. EF is using results from Labor

Link to formulate their factories’ corrective action plans, and will be

using the results to help guide their human rights grant giving in supply

chain communities; so that it is more in line with workers’ wishes.

Labor Link data hasbeen really valuable to us in terms of understanding vulnerability and risk and hearing worker voices.It also helps us target our resources better in areas that matter to our workers.”

“

Luna Lee, Human Rights Leader, Eileen Fisher, Inc.

NEXT STEPS

The company wants to expand mobile worker engagement to other key

countries, including China and the US, to compare worker wellbeing across

countries. The next phase will use a standardised survey inspired by the

OECD Better Life Index or similar measure of wellbeing.

Eileen Fisher



TOPICS

Worker-Management Communication,

Job Satisfaction, Opportunities for

Advancement

PURPOSE

Given the high worker turnover in China,

Boden and its suppliers wanted to dig

deeper into job satisfaction and worker-management communication and

quantify the business case for investing in workers.

LEARNING

The top response when asked

“Why did you choose to work at this

factory over others in the area?” was

“better working conditions” (39%).

That was followed closely by “higher

wages” (26%). These responses

show the extent to which treating

workers well can benefit business

as well through improving

recruitment and retention.

OUTCOME

Boden is using the data to continue dialogue with suppliers on understanding workers’ needs both inside and outside the workplace and to help shape future support and training programs in the region.

CASE STUDY: Boden

Boden was one of the first companies to test Labor Link in China, where

workers are especially tech-savvy and eager to use technology to engage

with local employers and outside groups.

Q: Why did you choose towork at this factory over others in the area?



FINDINGS

Across HERfinance brands and factories in India, Labor Link measured a

21% boost in women who say they manage their own salaries—instead of

giving it over to their husband or other family member. Among the workers

that finished all six training modules, 73% feel more confident talking about

financial matters, and the number of workers with their own bank account

increased by 16%.

CASE STUDY: Primark

Primark was the first company to use Labor Link on the topic of grievance

mechanisms. The company polled workers in Bangladesh about grievance

channels and their preferred communication modes to support the

development of a pilot project there. Labor Link data is informing the design

of the pilot and next steps.

Primark has also used Labor Link as part of Business for Social Responsibility

(BSR)’s HERfinance program, to capture monitoring and evaluation (M&E)

data before and after financial literacy training to measure the degree of

knowledge retention and behavior change.

Among the workers that finished all six HERfinance training modules,

73% feel more confident talking about financial matters.

“

Cisco / Photo by Arjun Kartha


Lessons Learned

• Building trust is key. Voluntary participation rates of 30-40% among workers show a high degree of trust in the anonymous channel. Local trainers build a rapport with workers through factory site visits, explaining who is behind the survey and the purpose. The same is true for management, who may at first be reluctant to allow direct contact with workers’ phones. Phone use is often restricted on the factory floor, so the platform is accessible 24/7. Workers can call from home or in transit to or from work. Participation is strictly voluntary and workers always have the ability to opt out of informational messages.

• Mobile complements other channels. Mobile is not meant to replace other sources of information, such as audit data, face-to-face interviews or NGO advocacy. It is additive and can capture more timely or sensitive information from a critical mass of workers, in a way that’s cost-effective. For example, if audit findings indicate a risk of sexual harassment, a follow-up mobile survey can focus specifically on that issue to understand the problem and indicate options for a more targeted intervention to address it.

• Culture drives differences in technology use. Labor Link is flexible enough to reach workers with different technology preferences, and manufacturing almost any product type. In Bangladesh, workers use basic feature phones and can access pre-recorded questions in Bengali to address low literacy rates. In China, smartphone penetration ranges from 40-80%, depending on factory type, so Labor Link is available through a WeChat application that’s accessible by workers with smartphones. This gives workers the option to use the technology they prefer. At the moment, we see about one-third of workers in China choosing WeChat and two-thirds choosing voice-based surveys.

• The mobile gender gap is real. GSMA and Cherie Blair Foundation for Women estimate that women are 21% less likely to have a mobile phone than men.3 Differences can be even more pronounced in an area like North India, where workers in apparel manufacturing are predominantly male. Labor Link’s community training methodology specifically targets women and teaches them to be comfortable using phones in a new way (and enables them to share phones with friends or family, so personal mobile subscription is not a barrier). Custom local language materials and hands-on demonstration make it accessible to illiterate women with basic feature phones. Labor Link offers incentives for participation in the form of free airtime and, in some cases, handsets. One female respondent in India said, “It’s easy to use, like playing a game.”

3 “Women & Mobile: A Global Opportunity.” http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/GSMA_Women_and_Mobile-A_Global_Opportunity.pdf


• Closing the feedback loop is essential. Similar to employee opinion surveys in an office environment, it is essential to communicate back to respondents after a mobile survey. Labor Link has experimented with different ways of sharing information with workers. These include delivering highlights of survey findings via SMS or voice-recorded messages, or asking factory management to post findings in the factory. Buyers and factory management need to set appropriate worker expectations about how quickly they should expect to see changes based on the new information.

• Educational features are under-utilised. Companies are most interested in capturing data from workers, and less concerned with sending educational information back. There’s huge potential to leverage this channel to share educational information with workers about their rights, life skills and local services through their phones, but we need to partner with NGOs, social enterprises and trade unions to achieve it. Future enhancements to the technology could also enable peer information sharing among workers or some form of social networking.

Opportunities & Next Steps

This is a new field and there are still untapped opportunities for a number of actors to leverage mobile to support workers’ rights:

• NGOs and social enterprises: NGOs and social entrepreneurs with localised content can use the platform to broaden their reach and deepen their impact by sharing customized educational messages. Labor Link has the capability to send voice-recorded (IVR) or SMS messages to targeted workers on topics such as financial inclusion, health and nutrition, or education.

• Trade unions & labour rights groups: Unions and advocacy groups can use mobile data to get anonymous feedback from a larger number of workers and serve workers better. Unions are already using social networking technology such as WhatsApp and Weibo to reach workers in some regions. Advocates can also benefit from the ability to send mobile messages to workers about their rights.

• Donors and conveners: International donors such as DFID and “mobile for good” actors can support initiatives to drive improved performance in ethical trading via mobile. For example, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women is using mobile to connect women to mobile financial services. There’s an opportunity to extend this work to factory workers, in connection with in-factory training programs on financial literacy.

About Good World Solutions

Good World Solutions, the nonprofit social enterprise behind Labor Link, develops

innovative technology solutions to serve millions of vulnerable workers in global supply

chains. Since 2010, Good World’s award-winning Labor Link platform has reached

150,000+ workers, farmers and artisans in 16 countries. The tool has been recognized

by Ashoka Changemakers and Feedback Labs, GSMA Global Mobile Awards, the Global

Social Benefit Institute at Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and

Society, and the Gratitude Network. By increasing transparency in global supply chains,

Good World Solutions drives systemic change in company buying practices and catalyzes

economic empowerment for the people that make popular consumer products.

.

www.goodworldsolutions.org1500 Broadway Ave, Suite 400, Oakland, CA 94612

p. 510.844.1693 | e. [email protected]

Realising the Full Potential of Mobile

How is mobile data driving real impact? It’s still early days but opening a new channel for worker voice gives workers a seat at the table and introduces a new accountability mechanism to drive improvement. Repeat surveys can track progress over time. Unlike audits, or surveys that use outside technology, this follow-up “pulse” information can be collected in a way that is cost-effective and does not interfere with production.

In addition to the examples above, we’re seeing companies use worker input to inform corporate policy. For example, one electronics company is setting a new Working Hours policy and polled workers about their preferences so that the company can set a policy that meets legal requirements while taking into account worker needs. Working hours and wages should, according to the ETI Base Code, be negotiated through collective bargaining, but using mobile can support and complement the process.

We invite additional ETI members to experiment with mobile technology. As more brands and NGOs collect standardised data from key sourcing countries, there will be more opportunities to benchmark performance, speak the same language to suppliers, and drive real improvement.

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leveraging mobile technology for worker voice and real-time data

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