VF's worker rights strategy
In 2019, VF published a Commitment to Anti-forced Labor and Responsible Recruitment read more here.
We are diligently driving workplace standards, so no worker has to risk their dignity, health, or life to work in the apparel supply chain. We are empowering workers to pursue better lives for themselves and their families. Together, these efforts will help us build a thriving, productive workforce.
Workers at VF contract factories may not be charged any fee or cost related to their recruitment, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part. We support the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity to enhance respect for the rights of migrant workers from the moment of recruitment, during employment, and through further employment or safe return to their home country.
About the programme
The programme on Responsible Recruitment and Migrant Workers is part of VF’s new worker rights strategy that addresses all identified salient human rights risks in our supply chain. Forced labor is a severe human rights violation and a high priority to address. Migrant workers are a vulnerable group that is more exposed to forced labor due to various circumstances and sometimes hidden risks, which we will address collaboratively through this programme with our suppliers.
This programme will support our supplier partners to prepare and engage in dialogue with VF, regarding challenges and opportunities to improve practices before the new standards will be integrated into VF’s audit programme.
To ensure that we hear from the workers themselves and to understand the impact of the project, we are working in partnership with Ulula and Quizrr to roll out digital solutions for remote impact assessment, more effective communication, and online training for both management and workers.
Project Milestones
By 2025, workers in all tier 1 facilities experience safer workplaces with less GBVH and trust the functioning prevention and remediation mechanisms in their workplace.
In order to ensure that Your Voice Matters! programme is implemented successfully, Ulula and Quizrr will be hosting onboarding sessions the following dates:
- Jordan November 22nd, 2021
- Taiwan November 30th, 2021
- Thailand December 1st, 2021
These sessions will cover our suggestions on how to best implement the programme and ensure worker buy-in and participation. After the session, we will share the promotional posters and flyers and the guide to successful deployment via email.
Posters & flyers
Print, put up posters promoting the Worker Baseline Survey and leave stacks of flyers in high traffic areas (entrance, break room, cantine, or other areas workers frequent). These will have unique site IDs and information on how to participate.
Worker Phone Numbers
Share your workers’ phone numbers with Ulula via a secure and private channel (you will receive the link to do so to your email). Our data demonstrates that workers are more likely to participate in the survey when they are contacted, compared to when they are asked to initiate the survey themselves.
Register your factory for the training
Please follow this link to register your factory for the training programme.
Training tablets
Tablets with pre-installed training modules are available for a fee of 350 USD each. We will reach out to you after registration to arrange delivery of tablets to your factory.
Promote the Worker Survey among your employees. We will also make the survey available via web, to facilitate for workers who have data-only SIM cards. They will have to enter the factory code found on the posters posted around their factory. The worker survey links will be posted once the survey goes live in January 2022.
The engaging Quizrr digital training will be available for your entire workforce on topics such as ethical recruitment, workplace policies and workplace dialogue. Make sure to follow the training plan and track your progress in the online dashboard. The training will be available on smartphones and tablets.
Following the Quizrr training, we will deploy an endline survey to understand if workers’ situations and perceptions have changed since the Your Voice Matters! Programme was launched. The survey will be available for 2 weeks in August 2022. To ensure a high degree of participation, we will be inviting the workers to take the survey via IVR, web and WhatsApp once again, and we will be asking you to redistribute flyers, put up posters that you printed for the baseline and announce this endline survey as a second round of the baseline survey done previously. We request that you encourage all your workers to participate again in this survey!
Ensuring successful outcome
5 easy steps
1. Create implementation team
Put together a team of dedicated managers and employees who will be programme champions! Explain the goals and benefits of the programme, and empower them to share the information (key dates, how to participate) with their colleagues. Check in with them periodically and support them in their efforts.
2. Attend onboarding sessions
Please join the onboarding sessions to understand how the survey and training will work, what types of results you might expect, and how to engage and empower your workers to share their voice!
3. Set training plans to meet targets
Quizrr will support your implementation team with developing a training plan to ensure you meet your training targets in a timely manner without jeopardising your production targets. Please follow the training plan closely to ensure everyone will have access to the training.
4. Engage and follow-up through dashboards
Access the Ulula and Quizrr dashboards to check in with your participation rate and review employee survey responses and training results.
5. Q&A
Do you need more support on training? Click here to access Quizrr Helpdesk.
Do you need more support on survey? Click here to access Ulula Helpdesk.
About Quizrr
Quizrr uses relatable, engaging, and gamified digital content with short live-action and animated films along with quiz questions – all in local languages. With Quizrr, you can easily train and empower your workforce, track their progress on the online dashboard, and improve worker engagement.
Build capacity
Train your workforce in topics such as ethical recruitment, workplace policies and workplace dialogue.
Measure and Share
Track your progress. Benchmark your result against other businesses. Keep track of your progress in the online dashboard.
Create Impact
Improve worker engagement and sustain knowledge. Lower your worker turnover and engage your workers. Repeat training.
Flexible & Efficient
Easy to plan and scale up. Train individually or in groups.
Engaging & Interactive
Relatable content that speaks directly to workers. Builds and improves workplace dialogue.
Strengthen Buyer Relations
Establishes trust and transparency. Allows data sharing with your business partner.
Business Benefits
Increases worker engagement, which can lead to improved production and less worker turnover.
The toolkit includes resources for management to prepare and facilitate training.
Download & Installation of the Quizrr App
Click here to access a step by step manual to download the app.
Smartphone Training Manual
Click here to access supporting material for smartphone deployment.
Tablet Training Manual
Click here to access supporting material for tablet deployment.
Training Tips
Click here to access supporting material to ensure a successful deployment.
Training Poster
Click here to access the training poster to print.
QR Code poster
About Ulula
Ulula offers a suite of digital tools to obtain honest feedback and creates more transparent and responsible supply chains. Ulula’s solutions connect organizations with their stakeholders through two-way communication to gather continuous insights anywhere, anytime and in real-time. Through multi-lingual and multi-channel (including offline such as SMS and IVR and online such as WhatsApp, email, web forms and an app) communication, Ulula gathers, analyzes and visualizes the data in real time on interactive dashboards.
Design
Ulula works with the relevant organizations (clients like VF Corporation and organizations like the International Organization for Migration) to create short, anonymous and free surveys through a variety of channels that capture meaningful insights and information on employee experiences.
Deployment
Ulula works with clients and their suppliers to implement and deploy the surveys through onboarding sessions, where suppliers learn more about the tool, how to have a successful deployment, and the insights the program gathers.
Dashboards
All insights gathered are housed and visualized on the Ulula dashboards, where suppliers can access to review their factory’s answers. Access is anonymous and free of charge for suppliers.
Direct and anonymous worker feedback provides all stakeholders with valuable insights into the experiences of workers that might otherwise go unreported or unnoticed. Unlike on-site focus groups and interviews, mobile based engagement ensures the consultation of a larger sample of participants to achieve honest and representative results about workers’ perceptions, more easily and more frequently.
Digital engagement empowers workers to share their opinions through a secure and anonymous channel and provides key insights for both factory management and VF Corporation to take decisions and prioritize initiatives that incorporate workers’ priorities. As a result, consulting workers easily and continuously, management ensures that they effectively meet their goals in providing a safe, rewarding and productive work environment.
VF Corporation
Contact – Sokunthea Seng, Worker Rights Program Manager VF Corporation
Quizrr
Contact – Gina Wang, Supplier Engagement Manager, Asia
Ulula
