Social compliance audit is a higher level of supply chain management service than traditional factory audits. With the globalization of manufacturing industry, the social compliance audit of customers to suppliers emerged in the 1990s.
The social background is: Due to the promotion of human rights organizations in developed countries, Asia-Pacific countries that are undertaking the main shift of global manufacturing are facing the challenge of continuously improving the social welfare of manufacturing workers,production and working conditions. Also with the rise of consumer awareness in Europe and the United States, it has become a fashion to purchase goods from brand manufacturers with good human rights records.
Large commercial brands in the world have to face up to the huge impact of human rights issues on their own brands. Especially for many multinational brands, the globalization of procurement has greatly reduced the cost of procurement, but they are also facing more and more serious accusations of human rights issues. For example, in 2012, apple was exposed by the American media that its core manufacturer, Foxconn in China, did not adequately protect the human rights of frontline employees. Thus, we can draw a conclusion: apple cell phones are made from sweatshops. This has caused great damage to apple’s brand image.
Under the pressure of strong international public opinion, apple immediately took actions to strengthen supply chain management and introduced a third-party inspection company to carry out social compliance audit of suppliers. It requires its global suppliers to immediately raise the production and living benefits of frontline production workers.
When small and medium-sized importers directly or indirectly provide global purchasing and supply services for hypermarkets or big brands, they are likely to face the problem that customers require that production plants must pass social compliance audit before they place orders. However, suppliers that can pass social compliance audit usually do not have competitive prices.
As more and more small and medium-sized importers switch to online sales and sell products directly to consumers through online platforms, they basically no longer need to face the social compliance audit service.
In short, social compliance audit is a fig leaf of big international brands. Basically, small and medium-sized importers do not need to consider it. However, generally speaking, manufacturers that can pass social compliance audit generally have a higher level of production management. After all, the physical and mental of workers are good which will be more conducive to better production with higher quality products. CQI provides small and medium-sized enterprises with factory audit services which are suitable for them. Please see Factory Audit and Quick Factory Audit for details. Among them, the quick factory audit is more popular with our current consumers because it will focus on the points which are most concerned by them and give them more effective reference information.
What is social compliance audit?
Social compliance audit should be carried out ( SCA ) to ensure that you do business with factories that respect social rights. This is based on globally recognized compliance benchmarks.
How much do you benefit from social compliance audit?
Performing social compliance audits will allow you to:
- Avoid bad factories, dangerous working conditions, child labor, etc.
- Start active sustainable development methods.
- Understand how far your supplier is from SA8000 certification.
- Compare potential suppliers and select suitable suppliers.
- Show your customers what you care about.
- Enhance corporate image by complying with social laws and regulations.
What should we check during the social compliance audit?
- Child labor
- Forced labor
- Health and safety
- Freedom of communication and right to bargain
- Discrimination
- Disciplinary measures
- Working hours and environment
- Compensation
- Management system
