The ILO Helpdesk is a service from the International Labour Organization that provides a one-stop-shop to help company managers and workers understand the application of international labour standards.

Identifies practices that businesses can implement to advance decent work and improve occupational safety and health (OSH) globally. Co-developed by the United Nations Global Compact and the International Labour Organization, the brief focuses on the role that businesses can play in ensuring safe and healthy workplaces, especially when operating in countries with deficient national safety and health and employment injury protection schemes. It further recognizes the important link between sound OSH practices and effective employment injury insurance schemes: the most desirable mechanisms to protect the incomes of workers who suffer work-related injuries and cover their medical costs.

Description: Part of the UN Global Compact SDG Ambition Accelerator Initiative, the Living Wage Ambition is one of ten SDG Ambition Benchmarks aiming at challenging organizations to set more ambitious targets and accelerating integration of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into core business management. This ambition is encouraging companies to provide and promote a living wage as an essential aspect of decent work to ensure all workers, families and communities can live in dignity. The guide “Achieving the Living Wage Ambition: Reference Sheet and Implementation Guidance” provides illustrative details regarding the steps to take to successfully implement a living wage programme in a company’s business system which will lead to all employees being provided with wages and benefits that are sufficient to cover at least their basic needs. For more information on the SDG Ambition Accelerator Initiative please visit here.

  Guides employers in implementing family-friendly policies that support parents and caregivers in their own operations and using their influence and leverage to promote such policies among business partners and within their supply chains.  Conditions of employment not only have a significant impact on the well-being of workers but also their children and families. Yet, for the hundreds of millions of workers in global supply chains, basic entitlements that provide them with the time, services and resources to support their families are widely absent. The large-scale business disruptions and the socioeconomic crisis resulting from COVID-19 have exacerbated the situation. Now, more than ever, family-friendly policies and practices are needed to support workers and their families during the crisis and beyond.

Examines how companies can navigate complex multi-tiered supply chains and their associated challenges as part of their efforts to advance decent work in their global supply chains. While multi-tier supply chains have the advantage of driving efficiency, reducing planning cycle lead times and reducing possible business disruptions, they also increase the risk of causing or contributing to human rights impacts and decent work deficits, particularly in the lower tiers of the chain. This is exacerbated in a crisis situation such as a pandemic, where workers’ rights and conditions may be compromised and income threatened as a result of order cancellations, factory shut-downs, or layoffs. This report seeks to guide multinational enterprises in reducing global supply chain vulnerabilities and provides proactive measures companies can take and best practice examples to draw inspiration from.

Provides guidance on the evolving business and human rights legal landscape and the consequent legal considerations that apply to multinational companies. Today, multinational companies must navigate increasingly complex human rights obligations, identify human rights risk in supply chains through due diligence, and take steps to mitigate such risks or make public disclosures. This topic is relevant to professionals tasked with embedding sustainability and human rights considerations in their business strategy. This report was developed by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP with input from the participants of the UN Global Compact Decent Work in Global Supply Chains Action Platform.

The Decent Work Toolkit for Sustainable Procurement will enable companies, procurement professionals and suppliers to develop a common understanding on how to advance decent work through purchasing decisions and scaling up efforts to improve lives around the globe. With a focus on trust and transparency, the Decent Work Toolkit for Sustainable Procurement is publicly available to all and contains real-life examples of buyers and suppliers jointly addressing decent work concerns in global supply chains.

Investors, governments, and other stakeholders are increasingly demanding that companies demonstrate sustainable strategies aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This guide seeks to support companies looking to integrate the SDGs into their financial strategy and business model. A credible SDG strategy allows a company to clearly communicate its impact, facilitates easier access to the growing market for SDG financing, and connects investors with a pipeline of potential opportunities to address the SDG investment gap.  This publication is available in English and Spanish

The publication highlights the potential role of social dialogue in fostering stability, equity, productivity, sustainable enterprises and inclusive growth. It also showcases some successful examples.

Provides the first ever estimates of child labour and human trafficking in global supply chains. A significant share of child labour and human trafficking in global supply chains occurs at lower tiers, in activities such as raw material extraction and agriculture, making due diligence, visibility and traceability challenging. The report outlines several key areas in which governments and businesses can do more. It underscores the critical role of States in addressing gaps in statutory legislation, enforcement, and access to justice and in establishing a framework for responsible business conduct. For business, the report underscores the need for a comprehensive, whole-of-supply-chain approach to due diligence.

Businesses today recognize both the business and social imperative of respecting human rights. Often, companies struggle to identify and implement meaningful action to address risks to trade union rights in their global value chains. Included in this resource is a diagnostic tool in Part 2.2 to help companies assess where and why they might face heightened risks to trade union rights.  The resource also highlights a range of practical steps companies can take depending on the risk factors that are present. Additionally, it showcases eight examples of how real companies have approached trade union rights in practice.  

This guidance identifies the main improvements required for gender-sensitive social auditing and provides recommendations, practical advice, and relevant examples on how to effectively integrate gender considerations into audits.