Modern slavery

Governments, regulators and investors are taking a much greater interest in what organisations are doing to combat modern slavery and the exploitation of people both within the workforce and within company supply chains. Modern slavery is considered a key element of environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. It is an issue of interest to investors, policymakers and regulators, who are looking to boards to report externally on their policies and actions.

This factsheet looks at HR’s role in tackling modern slavery, and the steps that can be taken to prevent it.

See the CIPD’s modern slavery statement.

What is modern slavery?
HR's role in preventing modern slavery
Identifying risk
Mitigating risk
Legislation and reporting requirements
Useful contacts and further reading

What is modern slavery?

Modern slavery is an umbrella term covering practices such as forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage and human trafficking. Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception and/or abuse of power.

There are international legal agreements against modern slavery, including the 1926 Slavery Convention, the 1956 Supplementary Convention on Slavery, the 1930 Forced Labour Convention, the 1957 Abolition of Forced Labour Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

In addition, there are United Nations International Labour Authority Conventions against the Worst Forms of Child Labour and for Minimum Age.

HR’s role in preventing modern slavery

HR has a key role to play in how companies proactively tackle the threat of modern slavery. This includes:

understanding the key people risks
the development of appropriate due diligence and policies
whistleblowing channels
ensuring that workers’ rights are communicated, and
the design of training and grievance procedures.

HR can help influence the employment practices of the organisation’s suppliers, for example by advising on recruitment, people management and training across the supply chain network. Companies will need to decide how far down the supply chain to look to understand the impact on individuals, starting with tier one (direct suppliers) and then looking at tier two and tier three suppliers.
New regulations may require companies to consider the impacts of their actions on their value chain and communities, as well as their workforce. Areas where HR needs to exercise vigilance include:

debt bondage
welfare facilities
health and safety
accommodation, and
equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

Another important area for HR to consider is to put in place remediation and grievance mechanisms for any individual or group of employees affected by modern slavery.

Identifying risk

Victims of slavery can be any age, gender, ethnicity or nationality. However, HR should be aware that there are factors which contribute to someone’s vulnerability to becoming a victim. These can include:

poverty
lack of education
living in unstable social, political and economic conditions, or with conflict.

Certain sectors are particularly at risk, such as:

construction
textiles
food and agriculture
social care, and
hospitality.

The presence of additional intermediaries, such as labour agencies and umbrella companies, generates separation between the worker and the end-user, creating difficulty in distinguishing who is responsible for maintaining employment rights.

HR should also be aware of the risks from underpayment in the workforce or supply chain, which can occur in a number of ways, such as:

unpaid travel time
uniform payments for clothing specified by employer dress code
deductions from wages to provide a fund for workers’ holiday pay
unpaid time spent undergoing security checks and searches when arriving at and leaving the place of work
incorrect offsetting (e.g. for accommodation)
unpaid time undertaking online training.

Underpayment is more prevalent for women, low-paid workers and for those on permanent rather than temporary contracts.

HR should be mindful of the following, which may indicate roles that are at higher risk of modern slavery:

roles that are often filled by migrant labour
roles with low barriers to entry
roles that are seasonal
roles that do not require spoken English skills
roles that are paid at or around the national minimum wage.

Mitigating risk

To mitigate the risk of modern slavery, organisations should consider the following:

Employment status

Many new models of employment status make it less clear whether someone is an employee or a worker. Fragmentation of the traditional employment relationship can inhibit employee voice, and present real problems for enforcement of labour standards.