Improving People's Lives'

We now support 34 social impact programmes in our sourcing markets and work with over 40 partners to help deliver these programmes for workers in our supply chain.

My Life

In 2017, in partnership with the international NGO Women Win and Naz Foundation, we launched My Life to build life skills among vulnerable workers in India, with a focus on hostel residents and women. The programme supports factories to train vulnerable workers on basic life skills including health and safety in the workplace, rights and responsibilities, communication, and teamwork. The training also covers improving participants’ understanding of employment documents and wage slips, as part of our commitment to strengthen the financial literacy of people in our supply chain.

There are 600 million internal migrants in India who typically move great distances across the country in search of seasonal or temporary work and many of our supplier factories are concentrated in these areas. As a result, migrant workers can be some of the most vulnerable in our supply chain.

Training is delivered through a play-based approach, which uses interactive activities such as games to help workers engage and learn. It is now offered in four languages and trainers have also introduced Google’s ‘Text to Speech’ feature so workers can listen to and understand contracts that aren’t written in their native language.

This year, we conducted an independent impact assessment of My Life, discussing the programme with 500 factory workers who have completed the training across 8 factories in Tamil Nadu, India. While research is ongoing, the preliminary findings are promising:

• 3 in 5 workers report significant improvements in their communication skills because of the My Life training.

• 3 in 5 workers also report experiencing significant improvements in their personal and menstrual health and hygiene because of the My Life training.

• Two thirds of workers ‘strongly agree’ that they have a better understanding of their rights and responsibilities at work after the My Life training.

My Space

Our My Space programme in India, which is implemented in partnership with St John’s Medical College, Bangalore is an example of how we can work with our partners to support mental health awareness among workers in our supply chain. Already running in 12 factories, this project builds trust between workers and management and facilitates open conversations about mental wellbeing.

The My Space programme trains selected staff to become lay counsellors and engage colleagues to support their peers. Training focuses on raising awareness of and reducing the stigma around mental health issues in the workplace.