Compensation and benefits

Company performance averages at 18%, with 29 companies (83%) taking some action. When comparing value chain elements, companies are displaying stronger efforts in the workplace (22% on average) than in the supply chain (14%).

This measurement area includes the following seven indicators:

19.  Gender pay gap

Nearly half of the companies (49%) report on their gender pay data for their operations in France or the UK, where it is required by law.

Adidas and Inditex are the only companies that disclose their global gender pay gap. Inditex further explains its methodology and provides geographical analysis across the regions where it operates, as well as confirms the pay analysis was verified by an external party.

Moreover, only three companies (Adidas, Inditex and Fast Retailing) show how they are taking active steps to address any pay gaps identified.

20. Paid carer leave

Three companies (Kering, L Brands and Nike) have a global policy of offering at least 14 weeks of paid primary carer leave, as recommended by the ILO, to full-time employees.

Kering is the only company that extends its primary and secondary carer leave to all employees, including part-time.

Several companies (40%) implement concrete actions that promote the return to work and retention after primary care leave. Four companies (Inditex, Kering, PVH and Target) monitor their employees’ return-to-work, with Inditex and Kering also tracking their retention a year after leave.

Six companies (Kering, L Brands, Nike, Ralph Lauren, Target, Urban Outfitters) have a global policy of providing at least two weeks of paid secondary carer leave to full-time employees. Five companies (Aditya Birla, Inditex, Nike, PVH, Ralph Lauren) track the number of workers who take secondary carer leave. Kering is also the only company that implements concrete actions that promote the uptake of secondary carer leave.

21. Childcare and other family support

Half of the companies (51%) offer their employees some level of childcare support, such as on-site facilities, subsidies, or referrals for off-site facilities. Fewer companies (34%) offer their employees other family support, such as paid time off to attend healthcare appointments with dependents or other dependent care options.

22. Flexible work

Half of the companies (49%) offer flexible working hours to their employees (the ability to alter the start and end of the day). Fewer companies (37%) offer flexible work locations to their employees (the ability to work from home/ telecommuting).

Lojas Renner is the only company that tracks the uptake of these flexible working options.

23. Formal contracts in the supply chain

Half of the companies (49%) take specific actions to ensure its suppliers support formal rather than informal work, such as requiring suppliers to subcontract to registered businesses or recognising the existence of home-based workers. Ten companies (29%) require that their suppliers employ workers through formal contracts. However, no company requires that its suppliers collect data on the gender breakdown of their workers by contract type (e.g., permanent, temporary, piece-rate, agency, sub-contracted).

24. Living wage in the supply chain

Twenty-nine companies (83%) require suppliers to pay their workers the legal minimum wage or industry standard, many of which make a reference to living wages in their supplier codes of conduct either recognising workers’ rights to a living wage or encouraging suppliers to progressively realise a living wage.

Inditex is the only company that requires its suppliers to pay a living wage to their workers.

Fourteen companies (40%) are helping to ensure suppliers pay their workers a living wage, for example, by conducting wage assessments in factories, establishing joint action plans with suppliers and promoting industry collaborations, with only five companies (14%) taking more than two actions: Adidas, H&M, Inditex, Kering, PVH.

25. Family-friendly benefits provision in the supply chain

None of the companies require their suppliers to provide primary and secondary carer leave. Adidas is the only company that makes an explicit reference to maternity leave for workers and states that best practice would be providing three months leave at the worker’s current wage level

Aditya Birla is the only company that requires its suppliers to provide childcare support to their workers if there are more than 30 women working in the facility, as per The Factories Act 1948.