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Why Streamlining Data Is More Urgent Than Ever
Janet Mensink
5 min read
This is the third piece in a series on improving auditing and buyer-supplier relationships. Previous installments can be found here and here.
During the last thirty years, there has been an explosion in the number of social audit schemes and standards within global supply chains, often with minimal differences between them. Today, manufacturers still endure excessive and often redundant social audits, consuming resource which could otherwise have been spent on improvement programs. Upcoming legislative frameworks will further increase the need for credible and actionable data. Many voices from government, industry and non-profit organizations are calling for a convergence of social and labour auditing practices and a more effective approach in the supply chain.
Reducing the audit and reporting burden on manufacturers is increasingly recognized as an important step towards responsible purchasing practices. In the 2023 Better Buying Purchasing Practices Index (BBPPI), nearly 88 percent of suppliers reported that their buyers now accept standardized audits or assessments instead of implementing their own proprietary tool[1]. This suggests that the more progressive brands and retailers are driving an industrywide shift to reduce repetitive and wasteful auditing. However, there is still significant duplication and a lack of convergence and collaboration in the wider industry. This was highlighted recently in a study by the International Trade Centre (ITC) [2] as well as in a publication by the Sustainable Textiles of the Asian Region (STAR network) that calls on stakeholders to reduce redundancy and streamline requirements.[3]
SLCP has played a leading role in forging the path to converged social assessments. Since operationally launching in 2019, the Program has scaled rapidly, with over 9300 facilities worldwide choosing to complete an SLCP assessment in 2023 alone. There are now over 90 brands and retailers publicly committing to accept SLCP data from their suppliers[4], including companies like H&M, Target, Nike and Disney. Several standard initiatives now accept SLCP data or have incorporated the Converged Assessment Framework (CAF) into their standard, including the Higg FSLM. SLCP recently announced a closer collaboration with Fair Wear that will see SLCP data used in the Fair Wear HRDD Facilitation Hub to promote impactful HRDD implementation and eliminate audit duplication.[5]
Examples such as this demonstrate that collaboration with SLCP can reduce audit duplication and add value to other MSIs by enabling them to focus on delivering more strategic and specialized services to their members. Many standard holders, however, still see convergence as a threat to their business model and progress to achieve further alignment between programs has been slow. The Standards Convergence Initiative (SCI), a joint project of the manufacturers’ associations the International Apparel Federation (IAF) and the Internation Textiles Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), this year released a manifesto calling on standards to further adopt SLCP’s Converged Assessment Framework to reduce the audit burden on manufacturers and to focus resources on more important initiatives.[6]
Despite the challenges, both anecdotal feedback and quantitative external studies confirm that SLCP is enabling a reallocation of resources directed to audits towards improvement programs for many facilities: the 2023 BBPPI findings show that most manufacturers whose clients accept SLCP are saving at least $5000 annually per facility. More importantly, they are also reinvesting these savings into workplace improvements.[7]
In 2023, SLCP tasked a social impact research consultancy to validate the methodology to calculate the costs saved as a result of SLCP implementation. The result was reaffirming, with an estimated $26 million USD saved by facilities in 2023 thanks to a reduction in audits.
While we are encouraged by the progress made, there is more work to do. We recognize that not all manufacturers have benefited to the same extent. Many manufacturers need more of their buyers to accept existing social assessments such as SLCP in order to feel the benefits of reduced duplication. Indeed, some manufacturers report a trend towards more proprietary brand audits, likely as a response to upcoming legislative frameworks and a perceived need for more data.
With the support of our signatories, partners and stakeholders, SLCP is enhancing the Converged Assessment Framework (CAF) to drive further acceptance and convergence. This in turn will drive greater savings and reinvestments in improvement programs. For the last three years, SLCP has received funding from the Initiative for Global Solidarity (IGS), a program implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to further convergence of the CAF with social standards. This has enabled the ambitious partnership with Fair Wear and renewed dialogue with several other standard holders. Other enhancements include increasing compatibility with existing systems and enabling additional opportunities for data sharing, such as:
Continuing to build and enhance the decentralized system of data sharing with the International Trade Centre (ITC) as the neutral central repository for all SLCP data (the SLCP Gateway).
Providing opportunities for other platforms (Accredited Hosts) and partners to connect to the SLCP Gateway.
Promoting and facilitating further convergence in the industry by using cutting-edge technology to increase compatibility with existing social schemes and MSIs.
Scaling adoption of the CAF and acceptance of SLCP data as key aspects of our strategy.
Actively connecting with manufacturers and manufacturer associations to understand key priorities in reducing audit fatigue and data streamlining.
Expanding our analysis of SLCP aggregate data (and in collaboration with external experts) to understand the progress and impact of streamlining data, and to share learnings with stakeholders.
Leveraging internal and external studies to validate SLCP’s contribution to reducing audit fatigue.
Together with partners, seeking further options to unlock resources and redeploy them into workplace improvement programs.
The proliferation of social schemes and audits has in many ways impeded rather than accelerated the desperately needed improvement of social and labor performance within global supply chains. While there is now widespread acknowledgement of the problem of audit fatigue, there is still too much divergence and duplication in the approach to social auditing, and there is a risk that upcoming legislation could intensify the issue. SLCP and its stakeholders are well-positioned to drive convergence in social assessments, and to provide credible and actionable data to support meaningful HRDD.
SLCP calls on all stakeholders to join forces with us; collectively we can act now to make audit fatigue a problem of the past and to create actual improvements to labor conditions.
Janet Mensink holds more than 25 years’ experience in sustainable supply chains, including sustainability consultancy and leadership roles in international development in the nonprofit sector. She has served on several boards and councils of multistakeholder initiatives. As CEO of the Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), she is responsible for overseeing SLCP’s strategic direction and execution.
