The Social Audit (SA) in Indonesia verifies that you are doing business with factories respecting social rights. In today’s marketplace, it is essential to protect your reputation by ensuring that your supply chain is socially compliant and responsible. You will be able to qualify new suppliers and understand if it is suitable to work with them.
This audit service is one of the most cost-effective ways to evaluate your supplier and identify any potential compliance issues. There are numerous social compliance standards, but Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) is a great standard for importers who try to work with a new supplier.
Compliance with SA8000 lays a solid foundation for compliance with local laws and international human rights norms. You can prepare your supplier for an audit and accurately interpret the results of an audit by understanding the requirements of an SA8000 social compliance audit checklist.
WHY SA8000 IS A GREAT STANDARD FOR SOCIAL AUDIT?
Many importers are using SA8000 compliance to determine the standard they want to apply when auditing their suppliers, it is because this compliance has a clear and simple requirement to assess the supplier. However, it is ultimately up to you to determine which social audit framework you want to apply to your supplier based on your own needs and the needs of your customers.
Furthermore, another reason why SA8000 is a great standard is because this standard is based on the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, national labor laws, and international human rights norms.
SA8000 social compliance audit checklist should include the nine requirements i.e., child labor, forced labor, health and safety, freedom of association and right to collective bargaining, discrimination, disciplinary practices, working hours, remuneration, and management system. The details of each will be explained as follows.
- Child labor: Child labor is a big issue in Asia. Child labor is defined as any work performed by a child under the age of 15. This standard also establishes requirements for the employment of “young workers” who are under the age of 18 but over the age of 15. Many countries in Asia allow for the employment of young people. In general, a supplier will meet the requirements of this section if they follow local and national labor laws. Aside from age restrictions, the standard requires that:
- Young workers work only outside of school hours if they are subject to compulsory education laws; and
- Young workers are not required to work more than eight hours per day or at night; and
- Children and young workers are not subjected to hazardous working conditions.
- Forced labor: In the SA8000 standard, the suppliers are not allowed to use forced or slave labor. Furthermore, the company is also not allowed to withhold the employees’ salary, bonus, or personal documents because by doing so it can be difficult for the employees to leave at will.
- Health and Safety: The SA8000 standard requires the company to provide a safe and healthy working environment for its employees. It is due to health and safety violations can have serious consequences. Safety violations can lead to a factory explosion or building collapse in extreme cases, delaying production indefinitely and potentially forcing you to find an alternate supplier for your goods.
- Freedom of association and collective bargaining: Employees have the right to organize trade unions and engage in collective bargaining with their employers under the freedom of association and collective bargaining requirement. It also protects unionized workers from discrimination, harassment, and intimidation. Compliance with this requirement, however, may differ depending on national or local laws.
- Discrimination: SA8000 standard makes sure that the company protects employees from discrimination based on origin, race, religion, gender, political affiliation, and other attributes.
- Disciplinary practices: the company must treat its employees with dignity and respect. Disciplinary practices such as corporal punishment, inhumane treatment, verbal abuse of employees, and mental or physical coercion are prohibited under this requirement.
- Work hours: After six consecutive days of work, a company must provide employees with at least one day of rest. Furthermore, the normal workweek should not exceed 48 hours, and overtime must be voluntary and limited to 12 hours per week.
- Remuneration: Social compliance auditors will check whether or not the company pays their employees a living wage. Wages must cover employees’ basic needs while also allowing for discretionary spending. Suppliers must also follow the local laws regarding mandatory income withholdings such as Social Security and taxes.
- Management systems: Factory management must take several additional steps regarding corrective actions, preventative measures, policies, and documentation for full SA8000 compliance.
SA8000 is a great standard to assess your supplier to get the information whether they apply an ethical manufacturing practice or not. A social audit based on the standard can provide you with a clear picture of what is going on in your supplier’s factory as well as any potential compliance issues.
Don’t let social compliance violations cause a strike, a building collapse, or other production disruptions at your supplier’s facility. You can ensure compliance with retailer compliance standards and keep production on track by conducting an SA8000 compliance audit.
Contact us for more information about the social audit in Indonesia.