Missguided's Approach to Modern Slavery: Policies, Risks, and Actions, Lecture notes of Business

Download Missguided's Approach to Modern Slavery: Policies, Risks, and Actions and more Lecture notes Business in PDF only on Docsity! • Modern Slavery Statement 2017-18 Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which result in deprivation of a person's liberty by another to exploit them for personal or commercial gain. We consider modern slavery to be one of the most salient risks within the global garment sector although no sector, industry or economy is immune to it. We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and we are committed to act with integrity and transparency in all our business dealings and relationships. This statement documents our policies, due diligence process, risks and the actions taken to mitigate them directly and in collaboration with other stakeholders, alongside our training programme to tackle modern slavery within our business and supply chain. The oversight of modern slavery is led at board level, accordingly this statement has been reviewed and approved by the Board of directors and signed by our CEO. Nitin Passi Founder & CEO About Missguided We are a British brand founded by our CEO in 2009 which has grown into global multi-channel retailer with a UK head office operating under name MISSGUIDED Ltd and MISSGUIDED Retail Ltd. Product: Apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty products Customers: Target female 16-35 Territories: Our goods are sold in 80 territories Turnover: 215 million Sales channel: Primarily Etail but also via 2 fully owned stores and 3 concessions. Wholesale: We work with 12 Wholesale Partners across the UK, Europe, North America, Australia & Asia Franchise stores: Planning to open in next FY Employees: 600 across head office and retail Offices: We have head office in Manchester UK Fulfilment centre: Our fulfilment centre based in Manchester is run by a third party, XPO Logistics Ltd Customer care office: We operate In-House and across 3 Outsource Partners Due Diligence Governance: We have a corporate social responsibility governance board in place chaired by our CEO and attended by our trading and people director alongside heads of supply, buying and CSR manager. We meet on a quarterly basis to review risks, our due diligence and actions. Close across-departmental working is essential for implementation of our standards & policies including modern slavery policy. Monitoring: We have an Ethical trading programme in place to risk assess all our Tier1 factories against our ethical trade policy and modern slavery. Our ethical trade programme is supported by internal team factory visits to uncover real conditions. We ask our suppliers to support and show progress on agreed timescales under our continuous improvement standard. Partnerships: Collaborations are key in addressing the risks of modern slavery, any brand working on their own will not be able to prevent modern slavery in the supply chain, as such we are members of • Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI): Which enable us to work with different brands, trade unions and civil society through different initiatives, such as Leicester Working Group, to address the issue collectively • Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX): Our membership of Sedex helps improve transparency in our supply chain Access to Remedy: To empower workers we have established a multilingual helpline for our UK supply base, where UK workers can raise issues in confidence, whistle blowers are further protected by our whistleblowing policy. Risk Assessment We conduct risk assessment of our Tier 1 factories based on external reports, our partnerships and our own due diligence programme and access to remedy helpline. The manifestations of modern slavery are complex and hidden and to prioritise actions, we have developed a set of indicators to guide our actions. We understand that there is a high risk of modern slavery in supply chain where there is: • Migrant labour • Vulnerable group of people (Refugees) • Contracted or temporary workers • Undisclosed sub-contracting • Child labour • Female workers Risk assessment, management and steps taken Risks Why are these risks Steps taken Migrant workers The risk of modern slavery increases when there is high presence of migrant workers in any country because of • An inability to understand the terms and conditions of employment • An inability to speak the local language leading them to be more vulnerable to exploitation We have issued Anti-slavery and human trafficking policy which defines supplier specific requirements and provides guidance on spotting signs of modern slavery Risks Why are these risks Steps taken Refugee May not have access to legal means of employment making them vulnerable to exploitation • We have issued a policy to help suppliers understand the responsibility. • Document refugees when they are found to ensure they are treated fairly and according to local law Contracted or temporary workers • May have been recruited from home countries with false promises • May have fewer rights in workplace making them more vulnerable to exploitation • Banned all cash payments in UK factories to be able to trace back the payments made to workers in their own account • Require contracts to be in place for all workers including temporary workers in UK • Modern slavery risk assessment of all Tier 1 UK factories Undisclosed sub-contracting Undisclosed sub-contracting, where factories registered with us send our products to be manufactured at factories not registered with us. • This breach our supplier terms of engagement • We have no visibility of such sites, workers can be more at risk of exploitation We have • Mapped our Tier 1 supply chain • Revised our policy of Undisclosed subcontracting to make it more stringent • Revised our terms of engagement with suppliers to focus more on this area