Designed to help you find the resources you need to take the next step on your sustainability journey.
This working paper aims to help companies build effective strategies for women's economic empowerment by applying a holistic and integrated approach:"Holistic" in considering the broader conditions necessary for women's advancement and "integrated" in leveraging the full set of business assets a company can deploy.
This webinar conducted by an ILO expert examines principle 3 of the UN Global Compact's principles in detail. The webinar addresses challenges companies may face in their workplaces and in their operations to realize freedom of association, a human right at the core of ILO values, which also underpins and supports the other nine UN Global Compact principles.
Many studies show a positive correlation between employee relations and financial performance, which is especially relevant in a labour-intensive sector such as retail. This guide describes lessons learnt from a PRI-coordinated engagement that saw 24 investors managing US$1.5 trillion of assets work together to enhance 27 global retail companies’ performance and reporting on employee relations.
revised in 2018, this self-guided 40 minute E-learning module provides an introduction to the ILO’s Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration). The Declaration provides recommendations to governments, enterprises, and employers’ and workers’ organizations on how to maximize – each with different roles and responsibilities - the positive contribution of multinational enterprises to socioeconomic development and decent work, more specifically in the areas of employment, training, conditions of work and life and industrial relations. The module includes an overview of the principles of the MNE Declaration and real cases of how it can be put into practice and address a range of labour and employment issues in different contexts. It also provides a description of how the MNE Declaration relates to other international instruments which can also guide business behaviour, such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the UN Global Compact, the UN Business and Human Rights Framework and Guiding Principles, and ISO 26000.
Migrant workers are often susceptible to unfair recruitment and hiring practices, leaving them highly vulnerable to exploitation. For many, the debt burden they carry from excessive recruitment fees and migration costs exacerbates this vulnerability and can lead to debt bondage and forced labour. This note calls on business to take action to address such exploitative practices and their associated risk to labour abuse. References to relevant international standards and links to multi-stakeholder initiatives and additional resources are included to provide further guidance.
This webinar presents the experiences of signatories of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a groundbreaking legally binding agreement signed in May 2013 to make garment factories safe. Ensuring that workers throughout global value chains can work in safe places is an important element of supply chain sustainability. This webinar addresses how companies can work together with trade unions and governments to contribute to occupational health and safety throughout their supply chains. Representatives of major brands and global trade unions presented their experiences.
Provides practical guidance and examples to in-house counsel in their emerging role as key change agents in advancing corporate sustainability issues within their respective organizations. The Guide seeks to raise the profile of General Counsel regarding the efforts they are making, and to inspire and encourage other General Counsel and Boards, senior executives and management of their respective organizations to take action and deliver long-term value.
Strong rule of law is essential as a foundation for economic and social development. The Framework seeks to advance the rule of law by engaging responsible business to support the building and strengthening of legal frameworks and accountable institutions – serving as a complement to, not substitute for, government action.
Principle 3 of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles (CRBPs) indicates that all businesses should provide decent work for young workers, parents and caregivers. This webinar explored how companies can commit to supporting children’s rights by paying particular attention to the rights of young workers – who are above the minimum age of employment – as well as parents and caregivers. The discussion looked at what kind of support companies can provide to implement Principle 3, including provisions of safe working conditions for young workers, paid leave, breastfeeding and child care facilities, agile working hours, and the benefits of providing such support. The webinar also included specific examples from business.
Companies and organizations are making tremendous strides in creating policies that support inclusive and diverse environments; however data shows that women, as well as other minority groups such as ethnic and/or racial minorities, persons with disabilities etc. continue to be underrepresented and face barriers to achieving their full potential. While there are several factors that contribute to this global reality, one factor that is often overlooked is the need to address unconscious biases and implicit associations that can form an unintended and often an invisible barrier, restricting a company’s gender equality policies and programmes from reaching their intended mark. To achieve truly inclusive business environments the Women's Empowerment Principles call on companies to take steps to uncover, raise awareness about, address and reduce unconscious biases throughout their organization, including at the management and leadership levels.
Learn about how companies in the UN Global Compact are taking action to advance corporate sustainability around the world.
ILO experts on skills and employability explore the contribution of enterprises to building a skilled workforce in their countries of operation. The discussion focuses on common challenges companies face in developing and implementing a skills and employability policy and practical examples of private sector engagement in skills systems.