Unilever PLC
LSE : ULVR
2018 Food & Beverage
DOWNLOAD SCORECARD
Company Ranking
1 out of38 Companies
Company Score
SUMMARY
Unilever plc (Unilever) ranks first out of 38 companies, disclosing significantly more information on its forced labor policies and practices than its peers across all themes. Compared to 2016, the company improved its score by four points by disclosing efforts undertaken across various themes. Most notably, the company developed and disclosed a grievance mechanism for its palm oil supply chains and trainings on forced labor for suppliers across sourcing countries and tiers. The company achieves the highest scores on the themes of recruitment and worker voice. For example, the company discloses the positive impacts of engaging workers in its supply chains and provides several examples of how it supported freedom of association in its supply chains. KnowTheChain identified one allegation of forced labor in the company’s supply chains. The company provided five public responses regarding the allegation and outlines the steps taken by itself and its supplier to improve processes. However, Unilever does not disclose remedy outcomes for workers. Additional steps the company could take to address forced labor risks in its supply chains include strengthening its disclosure and practices on the themes of worker voice, monitoring, and remedy, and expanding existing systems to additional commodities at risk of forced labor.
HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
The comparison tool allows companies' results to be easily compared. Up to two additional companies can be selected and compare against each other as shown below.
SELECTED COMPANIES
SCORE HISTORY
THEME & indicator score
The benchmark methodology has seven themes, selected to capture the key areas where companies need to take action to eradicate forced labour from their supply chains. The themes are comprised of a total of 12 key indicators. For each indicator, a company can score a total of 100 points.
Commitment and Governance
This theme evaluates a company's commitment to addressing forced labor, whether it discloses supply chain standards, and to what extent it has management processes and board oversight, training programs, and engagement with stakeholders on forced labor in place.
| Commitment | 100 / 100 |
| Supply Chain Standards | 90 / 100 |
| Management and Accountability | 100 / 100 |
| Training | 100 / 100 |
| Stakeholder Engagement | 75 / 100 |
Traceability and Risk Assessment
This theme measures the extent to which a company demonstrates an understanding of its suppliers and their workforce by disclosing relevant information (such as supplier names or sourcing countries) and assesses and discloses forced labor risks across its supply chains.
| Traceability and Supply Chain Transparency | 37.5 / 100 |
| Risk Assessment | 100 / 100 |
Purchasing Practices
This theme assesses to what extent a company adopts responsible purchasing practices (such as providing price premiums and procurement incentives) and integrates supply chain standards into supplier selection and supplier contracts, and whether it cascades them down the supply chain.
| Purchasing Practices | 60 / 100 |
| Supplier Selection | 100 / 100 |
| Integration into Supplier Contracts | 100 / 100 |
| Cascading Standards Through the Supply Chain | 50 / 100 |
Recruitment
| Recruitment Approach | 45 / 100 |
| Recruitment Fees | 75 / 100 |
| Monitoring and Ethical Recruitment | 100 / 100 |
| Migrant Worker Rights | 62.5 / 100 |
Worker Voice
This theme measures the extent to which a company engages with workers in its supply chains, enables freedom of association, and ensures access to effective and trusted grievance mechanisms.
| Communication of Policies | 50 / 100 |
| Worker Voice | 75 / 100 |
| Freedom of Association | 75 / 100 |
| Grievance Mechanism | 60 / 100 |
Monitoring
This theme evaluates a company's process for auditing suppliers (including whether audits include non-scheduled visits, review relevant documents such as wage slips or contracts, interview workers, and audit lower-tier suppliers) and providing disclosure on the outcomes of supplier audits.
| Auditing Process | 60 / 100 |
| Auditing Disclosure | / 100 |
Remedy
This theme measures the extent to which a company has corrective action plan processes for non-compliant suppliers and ensures remedy is provided to workers in its supply chains who are victims of forced labor. Publicly available allegations of forced labor in a company's supply chains that occurred in the past three years, and how a company has responded to and addressed those allegations, are also assessed as part of this theme.
| Corrective Action Plans | 100 / 100 |
| Remedy Programs and Response to Allegations | 25 / 100 |