About the data
KnowTheChain benchmarks current corporate practices, develops insights, and provides practical resources that inform investor decisions and enable companies to comply with growing legal obligations while operating more transparently and responsibly.
The KnowTheChain benchmarks aim to help companies protect the wellbeing of workers by incentivizing companies and identifying gaps in each sector evaluated.
The KnowTheChain methodology is based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and covers policy commitments, due diligence, and remedy. The methodology uses the ILO core labor standards (which cover the human rights that the ILO has declared to be fundamental rights at work: freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, and the elimination of forced labor, child labor, and discrimination) as a baseline standard. The methodology has been developed through consultation with a wide range of stakeholders and a review of other benchmarks, frameworks, and guidelines such as the OECD Due Diligence Guidance on Responsible Business Conduct.
Methodology
The company has a process to create corrective action plans with suppliers found to violate its policies, with the goal of improving conditions and achieving respect of the ILO core labor standards, which include the elimination of forced labor. The company's corrective action plans include potential actions taken in case of non-compliance, a means to verify remediation and/or implementation of corrective actions, and potential consequences if corrective actions are not taken. The company discloses:
(1) a corrective action process for its suppliers and potential actions taken in cases of non-compliance, such as stop-work notices, warning letters, supplementary training, and policy revision;
(2) a means to verify remediation and/or implementation of corrective actions, such as record review, employee interviews, or spot-checks;
(3) potential consequences if corrective actions are not taken; and
(4) a summary or an example of its corrective action process in practice.