Basic Working Conditions

Since 2015, we’ve followed the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to identify our biggest risks and guide our actions. We work with NGOs, trade unions and industry experts to identify workers most at risk and tailor our programmes to address human rights abuses in the supply chains where it is most needed. We work with suppliers to develop their knowledge and skills so that they can identify and address the human rights risks in their own businesses.

We are long-standing members of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). Our Responsible Sourcing Code of Practice (RSCOP) mirrors the requirements of the ETI Base Code and international labour conventions. RSCOP details what is expected of all our goods and services suppliers, including terms of pay and working conditions. We seek to build lasting relationships with our suppliers and are committed to upholding human rights throughout our product and services supply chains. Therefore, we only work with suppliers who share our values of fairness and respect for human rights and welfare. Where issues are uncovered, we work with our suppliers on remediation and offer them support; for example, as outlined in our Child Labour Remediation Best Practice guidance.
 

In our own-brand supply chains, all tier one supplier factories complete a self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ) on Sedex to collect vital information for understanding working conditions at the site. Gathering this data enables us to make informed decisions about the level of further due diligence required, as the answers to the questionnaire are used to produce a risk rating of either high, medium or low. For general merchandise supplier factories, high, medium and low-risk sites require an audit every one, two and three years respectively. For food and grocery sites, only those classified as high or medium risk require a SMETA audit. This is conducted every two years and three years respectively.
 

Ethical audits are undertaken using an industry-wide and internationally recognised audit methodology, SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit). As a minimum, we require a two-pillar SMETA audit that covers the nine key requirements of our RSCOP. We require all social compliance audits to be carried out by an Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA) certified auditor. APSCA is the professional standards body which certifies auditors’ competence and oversees the ethics and integrity of members, both audit firms and auditors. During an audit, the auditor will note any examples of good practice, plus observations and any non-conformances against the RSCOP. All non-conformances are given a criticality score of minor, major, critical or business critical. Once complete, the audit is given a green, amber or red rating that determines whether the site is compliant with our Ethical Compliance Policy. Sites with a red-rated audit are non-compliant to our policy and considered in breach of the RSCOP. All sites, no matter the audit grading, must take corrective actions to resolve non-conformances within the timeframe specified on the audit. These actions are verified either online or in-person by the auditor who formally closes the non-conformances. 
 

This process, alongside additional sources of information, such as in-country risk assessments, provide a valuable snapshot of our supply chain working conditions and helps us tailor our ethical trade programmes to address issues in high-risk sectors and regions.
 

The suppliers we use for goods not for resale (GNFR) provide products such as IT hardware, hygiene materials, forklift trucks and services including advertising, photography and temporary agency workers. We have an internal supplier on-boarding team who verify that these suppliers have agreed to comply with RSCOP. 
 

For GNFR services, we have a programme of independent third-party site-based assessments to gauge the experience of our agency workers against the requirements of RSCOP. Where gaps are identified, we collaboratively address them with suppliers.
 

Despite our comprehensive due-diligence programme, we recognise that systemic labour violations still exist throughout global supply chains, especially in situations where local law and its implementation doesn’t adequately protect workers’ rights. Our policies and practices have a strong role to play in ensuring that workers in our supply chains have a positive, fair and safe work experience. Our policies are shared with our suppliers and their compliance against these is regularly reported. We support our suppliers to engage with various programmes, such as our Better Jobs programme and International Accord in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Transparency across our supply chains is important to us, therefore we regularly upload our first tier supplier list to Open Supply Hub and our website.

Factory List  

John Lewis Supplier Map