In this question you are being asked to identify the company's human rights and environmental policies. Start by searching within published documents which set out the company's human rights standards and environmental standards (as related to its own company operations in its head offices, stores, warehouses, and owned production facilities)
Where to look for this information:
- Company documents
- Company policies
- Company websites
- Company code of conduct
- Parent company documents (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)
- Parent company policies (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)
- Parent company websites (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)
- Parent company code of conduct (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)
- Employee Handbook (if publicly available)
- Careers section of the company website
Good keywords for your searches include:
- Animal Welfare
- Annual Leave & Public Holidays
- Anti-bribery, & Corruption & Presentation of False Information
- Biodiversity & Conservation
- Child Labour
- Community Engagement
- Contracts & Terms of Employment
- Discrimination
- Diversity & Inclusion
- Effluents
- Energy & Carbon Emissions
- Equal Pay
- Forced or Bonded Labour
- Foreign & Migrant Labour
- Freedom of Association, Right to Organise & Collective Bargaining
- Harassment & Violence
- Health & Safety
- Living Conditions/Dormitories
- Maternity Rights & Parental Leave
- Notice Period, Dismissal & Disciplinary Action
- Overtime Pay
- Restricted Substance List
- Sub-contracting, Outsourcing & Homeworkers
- Wages & Financial Benefits (e.g. bonuses, insurance, social security, pensions)
- Waste & Recycling (Textiles)
- Waste & Recycling (Other)
- Water Effluents & Treatment
- Water Usage & Footprint
- Working Hours & Rest Breaks
Things to watch out for:
- Supplier Code of Conducts do not count toward this metric question, unless they explicitly state that they apply to the company's own employees.
- Some of the policies in this section can be found in an Employee Handbook, if publicly available, or sometimes in the Careers section of the website.
- Environmental policies are often separate company policies, not included in an Employee Handbook.
- Restricted Substance List itself must be published, not sufficient if they just say that they have a RSL in place.
- For Waste & Recycling (Textiles), we are looking specific for policies on off-cuts and textile wastage or policy on waste resulting from defective stock or production samples.
- Equal Pay policy can sometimes be found within a discrimination policy. The discrimination policy must explicitly state that it includes pay/remuneration and gender/sex
- Biodiversity and Conservation policy can include deforestation and forest-based fibre policies
- Banning the use of any animal derived fibre isn't sufficient for points for Animal Welfare. We are looking for a policy such as the Five Freedoms approach, which covers issues such as husbandry and use of animal derived materials.