The Covid crisis has highlighted the importance of resilient supply chains and at the centre of a robust supply chain is people. 

Their contribution is often overlooked. They’re not as visible as, say, our store colleagues but it’s the efforts of the workers in our supply chains that have made the near-impossible possible.

That is why, now more than ever, we need to play our part in ensuring we safeguard their wellbeing. Workers in our supply chain need to feel engaged, listened to and treated fairly – this is core to the trusted value promise we make to our customers.

“M&S’ founders understood there was a direct link between how people were treated and the value created through the supply chain”

As an industry, we have focused a great deal on lean supply chains but the last year has demonstrated the strength in having resilient supply chains. Too often resilience gets interpreted as just the physical infrastructure, such as having extra distribution centres, alternative sourcing suppliers or doubling up on data centres. 

But new thinking is now focusing on the power of individuals and how more engagement and innovative new ways of working lead to improved colleague wellbeing and increased productivity at the same time. Producing consistent quality products relies on a well-managed, skilled and engaged workforce. Ultimately this means adopting a worker-focused approach.

Marks & Spencer’s founders understood there was a direct link between how people were treated and the value created through the supply chain. The best way to ensure this was through long-term partnerships with trusted suppliers.

Facing reality

Fast-forward 137 years and these founding values have been codified into our global sourcing principles, with employee engagement and great employment practice as our cornerstone.

To live up to this, we must hold a mirror up to make sure the reflection is true. We have to be willing to face the realities that confront us and understand where we and the wider industry can do better. 

It is for that reason we asked Oxfam to conduct a gap analysis of our supply chains, giving it access to 400 people working at our suppliers who were asked for honest, anonymous feedback on their working lives.

“To effect real change, particularly in an era of increasingly complex globalised supply chains, we have to work with others across the industry”

Oxfam’s findings clearly reveal that while existing audit practices will remain a cornerstone of the ethical assurance process, nothing beats hearing directly from workers, particular on some of the broader areas of concern such as gender discrimination or in-work poverty.

That is why we’ve taken action and committed to scale our worker voice pilot programmes, including our leading app-based worker survey with employee engagement consultancy nGaje, which will now reach over 500 food sites in the UK by 2022. 

Technology is a huge enabler in helping business get closer to the true worker experience as it provides workers with easy to access, anonymised and multi-language tools. Tracking that data doesn’t only highlight issues but can also validate concerns of on-the-ground ethical teams – equipping you to have more meaningful conversations with your suppliers but also with the wider business. 

The worker voice

The insight and data from our worker voice will now regularly be reviewed by our recently formed environmental, social and governance board subcommittee, placing increased rigour and oversight to our assurance programme.

However, setting standards and investing in our own supply chains, no matter how rigorous, can only set a baseline. To effect real change, particularly in an era of increasingly complex globalised supply chains, we have to work with others across the industry. 

Whether that is formal support of the recent call to action on human rights abuses in the Uyghur region or in openly sharing our lessons of what is and isn’t working – through sector platforms such as the ETI or forums such as Retail Week.

Although retailers are competitors, we know we share the same concerns and in many cases use the same sites and suppliers. For that reason, the independent report from Oxfam is being shared openly and transparently. 

We are committed to sharing the framework of our worker voice programme and the lessons we have learned with the wider industry. 

We believe that’s the only way we will deliver meaningful change at scale for the people who work across our industry’s supply chains. That is how we will give them the support they clearly deserve.