... On 19 September, just-style.com... included commentary from... “ELEVATE CEO Ian Spaulding: ‘As the report indicates, ELEVATE has championed the 'beyond audit' model which addresses the shortfalls of programmes that focus only on conventional audits via the implementation of robust and proven improvement programmes.’ ‘We are aligned with, and fully support, the report's recommendation that audits and monitoring initiatives need to engage workers in a meaningful way. This is at the heart of ELEVATE's worker engagement tools which identify social and labor risks directly from workers... and helps promote more effective remediation.’"

... ELEVATE acknowledges that social audits are not designed to capture sensitive labor and human rights violations such as forced labor and harassment... To capture more reliable data on sensitive topics... ELEVATE has made its anonymous ELEVATE Worker Sentiment Survey standard... in 8 of the company’s top assessment countries where over 80% of ELEVATE audits are conducted. This coverage is expanding...

... The outcomes of the... [Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety] five-year program... include: •Completion of 93% of remediation across Alliance-affiliated factories • 428 factories completed... initial Corrective Actions Plans • Nearly 1.6 million workers were trained to protect themselves in case of fire emergency. The Alliance introduced the Amader Kotha Helpline, access to finance through work with IFC and USAID and - for factories that had to be closed - actually paid to workers lost wages...

[T]he social auditing industry has made solid gains over the last 20 years, but much improvement is still needed to keep workers and workplaces safe and thriving...

Our approach to worker engagement at ELEVATE is described in the linked document. 

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