Most Big Companies Fail to Protect Workers and Be Ethical

A group called the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) looked at 2,000 of the world’s biggest and most important companies. They checked if these companies were doing good things for people and being ethical. Sadly, they found that 90% of these companies are not doing enough.

Why does this matter?

These 2,000 companies are very powerful. They make almost half of all the money in the world. They give jobs to 95 million people directly, and many more indirectly. So when they don’t do the right thing, it affects a lot of people.

What should companies do better?

The WBA says companies need to improve in four main areas:

a) Pay employees what is due for them and do not overwork them

Concerning the global cadre of establishments, a mere 4% of companies pledged to pay their employees a living wage. Of course, the real result could be less impressive: only 3 patients out of 100 follow good rules of working hours. Again, companies must perform far better than this.

b) Back their political pursuits

While 69 of them remain silent regarding C2P communication, only 11 explain how they communicate with politicians. The large amount of power that such companies hold should not be excessive and companies should not lie about this.

c) Adequate communication with the workers and the communities.

Once in a while, approximately once every one hundred business organizations conduct their business dialogue with the stakeholders such as employees or communities affected by such business. Firms, which does this, tend to perform better in another sphere as well.

d) Respect the laws and regulations on human rights

Businesses in countries that recognize and protect human rights have better performance. Yet, it reveals that only 6% of the studied companies adhere to these laws completely. More companies should have the attitude and practice of Gunns in that case.

Which companies are doing better?

Some types of companies do a bit better than others:

– Clothes and shoe companies

– Technology companies

– Shops and stores

These companies often do better because customers can see what they’re doing and complain if it’s bad.

Which parts of the world are doing better?

Companies in Australia and Europe are doing their best. North American companies are next. Companies in Asia are mixed – some do well, some don’t. Companies in the Middle East and North Africa are doing the worst overall.

What can be done?

The WBA says:

– Perhaps governments should come up with better laws to protect the workers.

– It thereby becomes the investors’ responsibility to compel organizations to begin performing higher.

– It is now necessary for people to continue observing these companies and to condemn them when they get it wrong.

Many giant organizations have to perform much better in the sphere that concerns employees and human rights and become more ethical. This is because it affects the making of a fair and good world that will favor everyone.