Beyond Compliance: Leveraging Worker Voice to Mitigate Supply Chain Risk

In today’s complex landscape, corporate mandate goes beyond simple compliance – it’s about building a truly resilient supply chain. But as human rights regulations fragment and geopolitical risks mount, how do companies safeguard their business against hidden supply chain vulnerabilities? This challenge demands moving past outdated due diligence methods and adopting a modern, worker-centric approach.

The Risk, Fragmentation, and the Due Diligence Gap

For global businesses, human rights violations are no longer just a reputational issue; they are a direct non-tariff barrier to trade that impacts the bottom line. The US ban on products from a major Taiwanese bike manufacturer, for instance, perfectly illustrates how allegations of forced labor can lead to immediate Withhold Release Orders on millions of dollars in shipments, halting business continuity.

The world is moving toward fragmented human rights due diligence (HRDD) and sustainability laws, rather than a unified approach – The EU’s landmark ESG regulations face a period of uncertainty as the Omnibus simplification debate continues, while Asian nations are advancing their own HRDD rules and the EU and the US have already implemented trade bans on products linked to forced and child labor.

The lack of a single blueprint that combines compliance and best practice is a major barrier. Meanwhile, potential abuses and risks are more likely to occur as market pressures, political uncertainty, and cases of disinformation increase. The reality is stark: 28 million workers are forced into poor labor conditions.

The problem is exacerbated by systemic failures in oversight. Over 80% of companies struggle to implement the initial human rights due diligence steps, increasing the risk of escalation and reputational damage. It’s clear that while the cost of non-compliance rises, traditional systems are failing to meet the moment.

Why Traditional Grievance Mechanisms are Failing in Global Supply Chains

Grievance and whistleblower mechanisms for direct employees to report ethical business issues have been in place for decades; however, they often fail to reach workers in the global supply chain, which is precisely where the greatest risk too frequently is.

The reality is that traditional systems lack the very characteristics needed for modern due diligence. They lack operational efficiency and global scale, meaning companies struggle to implement systems that capture reliable, worker-driven insights without overwhelming resources or encountering technical, linguistic, and social barriers that limit worker participation. This leaves organizations with a critical deficit in data, unable to move beyond simply identifying red flags to achieving an auditable, lasting resolution. 

Collaboration Brings Efficiency

No company, regardless of its size, can build an accurate risk profile of their supply chain or address systemic issues like modern slavery alone. However, historically, achieving a full suite of digital due diligence capabilities required engaging multiple specialized service providers. This approach only increased complexity and didn’t help create a cohesive, company-wide ESG strategy.

A new generation of collaborative tools, based on worker voice and modern accessibility, can streamline due diligence processes. By leveraging worker feedback, companies can enhance risk identification, inform purchasing decisions, and achieve efficiency by reducing the burden and duplication of demands on suppliers, ultimately saving costs and time.

Introducing Worker Voice Connect: Always-On Grievance Monitoring

To truly achieve resilience and close the compliance gap, businesses need to elevate grievance management from a reactive burden to a strategic advantage. This is why we are introducing Worker Voice Connect, an innovative solution designed to safeguard supply chains through efficient, auditable, and timely grievance resolution.

Worker Voice Connect gives a powerful voice to every worker, everywhere. Built on over a decade of direct worker engagement, this confidential and accessible platform empowers workers to easily raise concerns through familiar mobile channels in their native language. 

Coupled with anonymity to protect against retaliation, it drives scalable two-way engagement with workers, fosters trust, and increases retention across your global network, ultimately leading to strengthened compliance with stringent human rights regulations and international labor standards.

Proven Trust and Global Scale

Worker Voice Connect is engineered for operational efficiency and global scale. It enables the implementation of a system that captures reliable, worker-driven insights without overwhelming resource requirements or encountering technical, linguistic, and social barriers. The result is actionable and trusted data, accessed through a real-time dashboard, that enables you to address risks – even beyond direct suppliers – before they can cause reputational harm or legal liability. 

It’s already proven in the field: The platform currently supports an impressive 144 languages and is active in 89 countries, utilizing channels workers already trust. Based on over 90,000 survey data points, more than 80% of workers in key countries are satisfied with the grievance channels, confirming they feel comfortable and confident that management will address their concerns.

Learn more about the power of Worker Voice and Worker Voice Connect in addressing global supply chain human rights concerns here.