Tchibo's New Ideas for Social Responsibility Audit

Accepting third-party standard certification or brand owners' "Social Audit" has become a "standard action" for many export manufacturing companies. In labor-intensive industries such as toys, electronics, clothing, shoes and hats, particularly common. The audit model that has continued since the 1990s has achieved remarkable results in monitoring and improving the factory’s employment of child labor, forced labor, corporal punishment, and hidden safety hazards. However, its limitations have gradually become apparent.

Interactive topic: Is social responsibility audit useful?

A new mode of auditing based on dialogue

To this end, the German retailer Tchibo is actively looking for new ways to more effectively achieve its social responsibility auditing goals. From 2007 to 2012, it developed a training program for suppliers - WE (Worldwide Enhancement of Social Quality) in cooperation with the German Federal Enterprise "GIZ", which aims to support the German government in achieving development policy goals.

For suppliers participating in the WE project, Tchibo has abandoned the traditional mode of "checking audits" through the brand's own auditors or third-party auditing agencies, and instead employs trainers. Carry out "factory-style" training and coaching, and try to integrate the improvement of the factory's social responsibility level into a dynamic, two-way training plan through multi-party dialogues and other forms.

According to Nanda Bergstein, head of the WE project Tchibo, the project started in 2007 has so far included 220 factories from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India and other Asian countries. In these factories, the Tchibo and GIZ project teams set up several training groups, each of which consists of several local trainers with rich experience in the field of social responsibility, responsible for the WE project training in several factories. Because the project is multinational, Tchibo and GIZ also arrange for some international coaches to train local trainers to ensure that the project is executed accurately and consistently at each factory.

After completing the formation of the training team and the determination of the training content, the trainer will regularly go to the factory for training on the WE project according to the schedule. "During the two-year training cycle, our trainer will go to the factory. Six times, and four workshops attended by all project teams responsible for factories”. Wang Xuejun, who used to be the trainer of the WE project, said: "When I went there for the first time, I asked everyone to open up to the trainers, brand representatives, factory managers, employee representatives, and even relevant third-party organizations, NGO representatives, etc. Say, what's wrong with the factory. I won't talk about social responsibility audits, labor laws, etc. now."

At the beginning of the factory visit and seminar, the trainer will teach the factory manager A "6-step method" for how employees can solve problems from their own standpoint, identify existing problems and challenges in the plant, analyze the root causes, identify where their interests lie, and brainstorm initial ideas solution.

When there is a preliminary plan, managers, employees, etc. will show it to each other, and then jointly seek a solution acceptable to both parties, and document these plans as an action plan. During the execution of the operation, these plans are continuously revised according to new problems encountered.

Considering that employees may be afraid to express their true thoughts, sometimes managers and employees are placed in separate rooms during meeting discussions. In addition, there are many measures to strictly maintain the rationality of the process. In order to ensure that these are implemented in place, Tchibo and GIZ have very strict requirements on the professionalism, observation and neutrality of trainers.

The project's local trainers are familiar with the culture and customs of the factory location, so they can easily build trusting relationships with managers and employees; the international trainer's role is to assist the local trainers in ensuring the correct implementation of the project.

Professionally trained trainers have unique meeting discussion tools to guide questions and discussions. For example, they give managers and employees anonymous "problem cards" to give them the freedom to write their thoughts. In this way, "two sides of the same problem" can often be found. For example, in a factory in Bangladesh, regarding the issue of absenteeism, employees wrote on the card, "I don't know who to ask for leave because of a temporary emergency, and I have to walk away. Makes me afraid to go back to work for the next few weeks, my salary is deducted a lot.” And the manager wrote that “the absenteeism rate of employees is as high as 15% every day.” Put the two cards together and know that the employee is not lazy, Managers, on the other hand, found a solution to the high absenteeism rate—clearly asking for leave.

Comparison of the pros and cons of the old and new audit methods

This is a brand-new form. The protagonist of the traditional social responsibility audit is the auditor. Usually, during the one-day audit, the auditor They will review documents such as pay stubs and overtime work sheets, conduct employee interviews, go to the factory to check safety measures, etc., and finally come to the conclusion of whether the factory meets the standards and which level of standards it meets.

Although the auditor will eventually develop an action plan for improvement based on the non-compliance of the factory, and meet with the management personnel responsible for the relevant work in the factory to guide them to improve, but this method is undoubtedly static, one way. The WE project approach emphasizes finding problems in dialogue, two-way communication, and continuous improvement.

Why is dialogue so important? In Nanda's view, it is because the dialogue between enterprise managers and employees can effectively make up for the shortcomings of traditional factory audits. "The advantage of social responsibility audits is to find obvious non-compliance. In the less obvious violations of social responsibility standards, such as the freedom of trade unions and collective bargaining, social responsibility audits have encountered difficulties.” Nanda said, “Because many workers are often afraid to confess in front of strangers due to various concerns Therefore, we realized that the social responsibility audit has its limitations on some issues."

In addition to limitations in obtaining the real situation of workers, traditional It is also difficult to obtain the understanding and cooperation of the factory in the factory inspection. "The factory inspection usually lasts only one or two days, which is a superficial inspection. Therefore, the work of the auditor is also understood by many factories as 'intrusive','' "Command-control"," said Bernadette Daubenmerkl, WE project leader at GIZ, "so to establish a cooperation and dialogue mechanism between international buyers and local suppliers, and to provide suppliers with assistance in capacity building, they can often be supplied. Businesses understand and accept it in good faith.”

“The effect of social responsibility audit is obvious in the early stage. Because the factory and workers have no concept. For example, whether the fire escape is blocked or not, whether the fire extinguisher is working, can be checked immediately. Come out." Wang Xuejun thought. In addition to being a trainer for the WE project, he also served as a senior manager of social responsibility for international brands such as adidas and PUMA. Recalling the development process of the early social responsibility audit in China, Wang Xuejun said: "Afterwards, the factory knew what the auditors were doing and the importance of it. On the day of the audit, they would clean the factory and prepare the materials. In some cases, professional consultants are invited to handle it.”

It is undeniable that Chinese enterprises have made great strides in fulfilling social responsibility standards, treating employees well in accordance with the Labor Law and other laws and regulations, and improving the working environment. progress. However, subject to realistic competitive pressures, companies are often unable to fully implement relevant standards, otherwise their meager profits will be eroded. In Wang Xuejun's view, the inherent social responsibility audit model is already facing a bottleneck. "For more than ten years, many audit patterns have not changed. The standards are the same, the inspection content is the same, and the factory conditions are roughly the same. Ten years ago, workers worked more than 60 hours a week, no Sunday rest, no social security, etc. The problem is still difficult to solve in some factories today." Wang Xuejun said.

For the reasons that are difficult to solve, Wang Xuejun believes that the factory cannot be completely blamed. "Everything that can be changed has been changed, and what can't be changed still can't be changed. For example, working hours, especially for Christmas orders, have half a year. Orders, no orders for half a year. Do you want to do it when the order comes? Definitely do it, but you have to work continuously for 14 or 15 hours. The factory can only follow the market.”

This brings embarrassment Situation: The social responsibility audit standards specified by brand owners or third-party organizations are very complete and strict, but many factories are unable to fully comply with them. For survival and interests, they have to strive for approval through various means. "The result is that brand buyers and factories do not trust each other, brand owners do not know the actual situation of the factory, and the factory has no intention of doing what the brand owner wants. They play Tai Chi with each other."

The WE project: "A beam of light shines through the darkness"

The new way that Tchibo and GIZ tried to establish trust between the two sides through dialogue broke the state of confrontation between the two sides. "In the final analysis, the problem of the factory is the problem of communication between people. Including the resignation and strike of many workers, it is actually a communication problem. WE will do some special training on communication, and communicate between the factory departments and between the superior and the subordinate. To rationalize the communication between employees and establish a channel for dialogue between employees and management.” Wang Xuejun said when talking about the essential role of the WE project, “Many factories used to have dialogue channels, such as suggestion boxes and posting notices. But these are all Very passive, you ask the workers to write something and put it in. Whoever takes it, who sees it, doesn’t care whether his monitor will see it or not, he has no clue, and he is terrified. So in the end, it is useless.”

Wang Xuejun believes that Tchibo's WE project "is a breakthrough. Although it cannot completely solve the problems faced by social responsibility audits, it can be used as a good method and tool for factory capacity building, in production efficiency, quality, on-site 5S, etc. There will be improvements in all aspects.” Not only that, “In the past, the two sides of the factory inspection did not trust each other. The factory had a hard time preparing for the inspection, and it was difficult for the brand owner to know the real situation of the factory. The WE project revealed a dark scene between the brand and the factory. A beam of light, you can see a little bit."

Nanda told CEConline, "According to Ramboll Management Consulting's assessment, projects are built on trust, enabling dialogue to find workable solutions It is possible. WE has improved the working conditions of workers and increased worker satisfaction, which will have a positive impact on production efficiency, quality, and factory innovation capabilities. This is a win-win result.”

Solving the inherent stubborn problems requires joint efforts

But the WE project is not perfect. According to Bernadette's introduction, after the first phase of the project, the evaluation found that the establishment of the minimum living wage (Living Wages), freedom of association, etc., cannot be achieved only through factory training, but through dialogues involving relevant social parties. mechanism can be resolved.

Wang Xuejun also believes that some problems in the social responsibility of factories are difficult to solve. power and profit margins, the status quo of economic structural transformation and upgrading, and so on.

Wang Xuejun was on the front line in the WE project. He also believed that the flaws in the organization method also restricted the project from playing a greater role. For example, the most important point is that the core participant of the project, the employee representative, should ideally be elected by all employees. However, due to the lack of this atmosphere in the factory, the boss is also more sensitive to this issue, and the project team finally has the right to choose It is also given to the managers of the factory who are responsible for the relevant projects. Even if employee representatives are elected, due to the lack of union culture and protection of representatives, employee representatives often do not know and dare not express their true thoughts.

In any case, the WE project co-operated by Tchibo and GIZ is a beneficial innovation to the social responsibility audit model. At present, among many brands, only Tchibo dares to stop the social responsibility audit of the factories participating in the project within two years, and focus on the experiment of new models. This is very courageous, because once an accident occurs, the brand can easily become the focus of public opinion attacks, and it is difficult to argue.

At the same time, Tchibo and GIZ pay for the WE project, and the factory does not need to pay the factory inspection fee like a traditional factory inspection, which undoubtedly adds an extra cost to the brand owner. It can also be seen that Tchibo and GIZ's determination to explore new ideas.

In the past two decades, governments, social groups, trade associations, enterprises, etc. have been promoting the implementation and practice of corporate social responsibility standards, but in many factories in developing countries, the reality and public expectations The gap is still huge. The traditional factory inspection model has both effectiveness and limitations. The WE project can be an effective supplement. However, in countless factories in developing countries, the awareness of employees' rights and the standardized management of managers are still in the "primary stage", promoting factory social responsibility standards. improvement still has a long way to go.