Just this week at the Global SAP Ariba conference in Barcelona, Amal Clooney called on corporations to put respect for human rights at the core of their business, highlighting the trend of ‘doing good’ as a way to bolster profits.
Companies are increasingly being held accountable for human rights abuses in their supply chains. As our supply chains become globalised and increase in complexity, transparency of who is in our supply chain – and how they treat their workers – becomes more and more opaque.
Introduction of modern slavery legislation in Australia now makes Australian companies with a turnover in excess of $100mil AUD accountable for tracing their supply chains and taking measures to ensure that slavery risks are identified and addressed. In a guidance document laid out by the Department of Home Affairs, companies are made aware of what needs to be included in their reports and provided to the Department of Home Affairs prior to December 2020 (or 6 months after the company’s official financial reporting year)
But this is not just a simple compliance exercise. In order to be able to report effectively, the right supplier governance mechanisms need to be established throughout the extended supply chain to enable the level of transparency required to identify problematic supplier practices and human rights abuses. The clandestine nature of modern slavery keeps the problem hidden in the factories of our supplier’s suppliers, without the right lens of risk management and targeted supplier interactions it becomes impossible to detect.
At State of Flux, we are experts in supplier management. We have more than 15 years experience in establishing effective supplier governance frameworks, supplier performance, risk models and driving supplier collaboration.
To hear more about how we can assist you in setting your organisation up for effective modern slavery reporting, contact our Australian leads Kate Skattang and Nathan Jones.
Benchmark your approach to SRM by taking part in the 2019 global SRM research. Upon completion you can request a free benchmark of your responses compared against industry best practice.
