social audits

Tens of thousands of social audits are performed every year, either as internal company monitoring (often by the company's corporate social responsibility team), or by a third party (usually a commercial auditing firm).  Sometimes, the results of this monitoring will be verified by an external third party such as the FairWear Foundation or Fair Labor Association. These audits usually include a document inspection, site inspection and worker interviews. The quality of audits varies hugely - an unannounced two day site visit coupled with workers interviews off-site without factory management present is much more likely to give a realistic view of conditions in a factory than an announced two hour visit where the workers are interviewed on site with management present.

Social auditing is now a multi-million pound industry, yet there are growing signs that it has not proved to be the cure to improving working conditions that it was once thought. Social audits have encouraged suppliers to hide workers' rights violations, keep fraudulent books and coach workers so that they give the 'correct' answer should they be interviewed by those conducting the social audit. Research by the Ethical Trading Initiative in 2006 found that 'ten years of work based around codes of conduct had delivered only limited benefits to workers in areas such as health and safety and minimum wages, while there had been no progress in areas such as living wages and freedom of association, or for workers in subcontracting factories, migrants and contract workers'. As the enabling rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining are rarely given priority, there are limits to the sustainability of this auditing approach, as workers are not able to negotiate to ensure that the key issues affecting them are addressed. In addition to this, the ETI impact assessment concluded that improving labour practices will continue to be difficult whilst brands and retailers do not address their purchasing practices and continue to push suppliers to lower prices, reduce lead-times and offer greater flexibility.

Further information:

- Recommendations for improving social audits are outlined in the Fashioning an Ethical Industry Factsheet 9a: Social audits.

- Research by the Ethical Trading Initiative and Clean Clothes Campaign suggests that codes of conduct and auditing have not improved conditions for workers. Read the reports:

Looking for a Quick Fix: How weak social auditing is keeping workers in sweatshops

ETI Impact Assessment 2006 The ETI code of labour practice: Do workers really benefit?

- What more should companies be doing to ensure that workers' rights are respected?  Members of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) - including Debenhams, Marks and Spencer, Asda, Tesco and Next - make recommendations in the report 'Getting Smarter at Auditing'.

- Read a facinating article in the Washinington Monthly written by an auditing inspector 'Confessions of a Sweatshop Inspector'.