International Labour Organization / International Finance Corporation
2007
Personal & Household Goods, General
Asia, Africa, South-America, Global
Labour
Better Work aims to improve compliance with labour standards and competitiveness in global supply chains, with a focus on scalable and sustainable solutions that build cooperation between governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations and international buyers. The protection of workers’ rights and entitlements helps distribute the benefits of trade to promote human, social and economic development. Compliance with labour standards can also help enterprises be more competitive through various channels such as access to new markets and buyers and new sources of financing and credit, and can contribute to high productivity and quality.
Better Work activities focus on improving labour standards compliance at the enterprise level, and building the engagement and capacity of all actors involved in global supply chains: buyers, suppliers, and workers. Other key partners include representatives of national labour administrations, who contribute to country programme design and implementation, and donors, who support the initial phases of global and country-level activities, with a view toward sustainable, independent country programmes over time. Better Work staff conduct enterprise compliance assessments based on ILO core labour standards and national labour law. The assessment results form the basis of tailored advisory and training services offered by Better Work, for both management and workers. Topics range from workers’ rights and responsibilities to human resources management, supervisory skills and occupational safety and health, among others. STAR, Better Work’s information management system, allows enterprises to share assessment and remediation information with international buyers.
Buyers can get involved by subscribing to assessment reports, supporting enterprise improvement efforts, signing the Buyer Principles and participating in the Buyers’ Forum. Based on World Bank research in the Vietnamese apparel industry, redundant audits conducted by multiple buyers at the same supplier factory cost approximately US$ 50 per worker per year. By contrast, Better Work offers assessment and advisory services for around $3 per worker per year. By reducing costs associated with identifying the problems, more funds can be redirected, by both buyers and factories, to finding and implementing actual solutions.