Building trust starts with having hard conversations
As part of human rights due diligence, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights prescribe that businesses must implement effective grievance mechanisms to begin conversations that matter. But with limited guidance on where to start, many businesses fall short.
Enabling early intervention
Protecting the rights of people in our global value chain is a fundamental part of who we are. Grievance mechanisms help to address problems before they escalate. To empower workers and communities, in 2021 we partnered with Oxfam Business Advisory Service and created a practical toolkit for suppliers to develop and implement site-level grievance mechanisms. In this way workers can have their concerns addressed in a constructive way.
What is a grievance mechanism?
A grievance mechanism is a system for reporting concerns and complaints that negatively affect workers. It creates transparency and boosts morale for a more meaningful engagement with workers.
How well do you want to know your workforce?
Our toolkit was piloted with several suppliers within India, Pakistan, China, Peru and the UK, across the manufacturing and agricultural sector. Workers were engaged to provide honest feedback, destigmatising the word ‘grievance’. We’ve taken key learnings and have now published our toolkit.
If you want to know more about how to design and implement a grievance mechanism, join our webinar on 19th July. You will hear from Oxfam Business Advisory Service's Monica Romis and Reckitt's David Pettet on how the Grievance Mechanism toolkit was developed and what they learned along the way.
When: 12-1pm, Tuesday 19th July
Where: Zoom
You can register here.
Read more about our human rights activities here.
If would like to know more about Oxfam’s work on grievance mechanisms, email advisory@oxfam.org.uk.