Reflections from the 2018 Global Forum on Responsible Recruitment

What Now?

Ajda Cevc, Sustainability Development Leader, Inter IKEA Group

A year after the first gathering on responsible recruitment in Berlin it is safe to say that awareness around the widespread practice of charging recruitment fees and related costs to workers instead of employers in many regions around the world is now in the spotlight of multinational brands. What comes next?

As with any systemic issue, the charging of fees and costs is not happening in a vacuum – it is the product of legislative, political, cultural and economic realities, some of which are easier to address than others. But any approach to solving the issue without addressing or at least taking these realities into consideration is destined to fail. So, what are some of the relatively low hanging fruit that actors around the table could start with?

Perhaps the biggest obstacles in transitioning to an ’employer pays model’ of recruitment are those national legislations that still permit recruitment fees and related costs to be charged to the worker instead of the employer. Plus, legislation’s necessary partner is enforcement – even the appropriate legislation can yield no results due to lack of enforcement.

Keeping in mind that unethical recruitment is a global multi-billion dollar business, public and private financial and judicial institutions also have a significant role in cutting the illegal money flows. Millions of dollars flowing to recruitment agents, middle men or government officials are in many parts of the world being transferred through legal channels without legislative or contractual basis. Cutting these flows would significantly hinder individuals and organisations profiting from charging workers in need of a job.

During this year’s Forum we had the pleasure of meeting several fair recruitment agencies that claim to be operating an ’employer pays model’. Their numbers are growing and, even more importantly, in countries where several years ago such an approach was unheard of. It is crucial that we recognise their struggle to build ethical businesses in environments where employers are not used to paying for the services of recruitment agents or where workers commonly believe that one needs to pay for a job abroad. Supporting the business of these trailblazers is crucial for further development of the ethical recruitment market.

While addressing some of the factors that are comparably easier to tackle, we cannot lose sight of the issues on the other end of the spectrum, such as corruption, workers’ low awareness of their rights, deeply embedded customs of paying for a job referral and other associated services etc. Shifting these will be a long-term journey, but creating an environment where worker-paid fees are no longer legal, necessary and/or possible could minimise these more complex factors.

Ensuring that workers enter into employment and end it freely and without obligation is essential to a person’s dignity. It is high time we collectively take purposeful and holistic steps for the ’employer pays model’ of recruitment to prevail.

Speed Is The Key – Create a Demand And and The Supply Will Follow!

Pia Rudolfsson Goyer, Council of Ethics, Norwegian Pension Fund

Once again it’s been a real privilege to listen to all the contributions at the Global Forum on Responsible Recruitment and Employment. The reports we heard about the progress made since we met last year in Berlin proved that both the demand for and supply of ethical recruitment services have increased. But while ethical recruitment is gaining ground as a commercial proposition, we must take care to avoid ethical recruiters being priced out by those operating less responsibly. One suggestion was that some of the costs related to recruitment, such as a passport checks and medical examinations, should be borne by job applicants, since these are personal costs not related to a particular employer.

There was a creative discussion on the Employer Pays Principle. One example drawn from real-life was where companies that could not produce receipts to prove they had paid for the recruitment of workers had to reimburse the workers concerned – on the logical assumption that if the company didn’t pay, it must have been the workers who did. It was also noted that although workers may sometimes not have paid a very high fee, the very fact that they paid anything at all implies a debt has been incurred. In addition, paying the cost of recruiting workers gives employers a strong incentive to reduce staff turnover by providing better working conditions, which in turn leads to greater productivity. A win-win situation all round.

It was said that where there is a certain reluctance among states to discuss responsible recruitment, the business community can drive change by stating that although they would like to continue doing business as usual, they need to be able to recruit ethically to do so. The Bali Process Government and Business Forum was mentioned several times - a powerful initiative that can boost the demand for and supply of responsible recruitment services.

This year’s strong message was: don’t wait – do something now! There is a need to speed things up – to work together, empower workers and work towards increased use of ethical recruiters and/or direct employment! 

I’m already looking forward to next year’s forum.

Enough on the Problem – Let’s Kick on With Solutions

Rosey Hurst, Founder and Director, Impactt Limited

Great to spend time with the “Employer Pays” community in Singapore – startling insights, particularly from Ray Jureidini, on the specificity of corruption in labour supply chains.  Great also to see the launch of new initiatives, in the tourism sector and with the ILO.  But not enough worker voice – great to hear from Bhim Kumar Newar on his experience, but one panellist from a worker background is simply not enough.

Clearly, even despite the absence of worker voice, everyone now understands much more about the problem, which is good.  But now, we face a very real danger that the daunting complexities will deter companies from taking the first faltering steps towards delivery of meaningful protection and remedy.  We now need to provide incentives to firms and other actors to press on and deliver clear and measurable improvements which are meaningful to workers, sharing both failures and successes along the way.  

I challenge IHRB to focus next year’s event on answering the following questions:  

• How many workers have been repaid (and how much) as a result of the Employer Pays Principle?  
• How many new recruitment models have emerged and what has been their impact?  
• How much has the cost of labour risen as a result of factoring in the payment of agents?  
• And the biggest question of all, how has Employer Pays contributed to an increase in human happiness? 

I’d make draconian new rules for speakers and panellists.  Every speaker has to focus on impact, and every panel must include a migrant worker, the only person whose voice matters when it comes to measuring the effectiveness of remedy, who can reflect on the risks and rewards of new approaches and enrich our understanding of the potential of Employer Pays to deliver a fundamental increase in human happiness.

Progress and Goals

David Schilling, Senior Program Director, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility

At the first Global Forum a year ago in Berlin, the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment (LGRR) made the decision to focus on two countries—Malaysia and Thailand (and the respective recruitment corridors) to take steps to transform the foreign migrant recruitment system from ‘worker pays’ to ‘employer pays’.  This was a significant decision to change the recruitment model through collective action in one region of the world.  There was evidence at the 2018 Forum in Singapore that this was a good decision and that some progress is being made.  

The forum’s first panel on the “Experience of the Migrant Worker” made it clear that if we are to make the shift from ‘workers pays’ to ‘employer pays’, migrant workers must be at the centre of the change. Anne Beatrice Jacobs, North South Initiative, and Bhim Kumar Newar, Migrant Worker Network, highlighted the exploitative impact of worker paid fees and described the challenges to transforming the current system.  Representatives from Migrant Forum Asia (MFA), a regional network of non-government organisations, associations and trade unions of migrant workers, and a trusted partner, contributed a great deal to our understanding of on-the-ground realities facing migrant workers in specific countries in the region. 

Bottom-up and top-down approaches are both needed to make systemic change.   A number of CEOs of leading companies made statements of support of responsible recruitment and more importantly are actively involved in initiatives like the LGRR, The Consumer Goods Forum’s Priority Industry Principles and the Responsible Labor Initiative of the Responsible Business Alliance. Grant Reid, CEO of Mars stated, “Success is not defined by profitability or quarterly returns but a long-term purpose-led sustainability that advances human rights.”  Andrew Forrest, chair and founder, Fortescue Metals Group, challenged CEOs to ‘provide cover’ for their staff to investigate and eliminate modern slavery in their supply chains. More corporate leaders are needed to create a critical mass of support for ending worker-paid fees.

Other signs of progress were evident in the uptake of the ‘employer pays’ principle in new sectors. The International Tourism Partnership announced its ‘Principles against Forced Labour’ at the forum which are based on the Consumer Goods Forum’s Principles. One global hotel chain representative said, “Respect for human rights and fighting exploitation is a business imperative.”  

While progress is being made (it was heartening to hear that Thailand became the first Asian country to ratify the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention) there is so much more to be done. An often ignored area is the role of corruption in the exploitation of migrant workers.  Ray Jureidini, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, did an incredible job in explaining the difference between the actual cost of recruitment and what workers are charged for a job.  The difference is the amount a worker pays for corrupt charges—between recruitment agencies and employer representatives, whatever recruitment agencies care to charge workers for their own profit, and once at the worksite, ‘recruitment costs’ and ‘food costs’ that are deducted from wages.  Ray’s presentation included copies of an actual cash transfer and a worker’s pay slip documenting corrupt charges. To make real progress on ending worker-paid fees we must carefully think through the implications of massive corruption and whether strategies focused on banks and money laundering could get at this illegal activity.  Let’s see how far we get on this critical issue before the next Global Forum in 2019.

Level Playing Fields?

Andrey Sawchenko, Bangkok Field Office Director, International Justice Mission

Maybe it was World Cup fever taking over but I kept hearing speakers talk about the importance of a “level playing field.” Participants also noted on both days, to nods and approving murmurs in the audience, that the modern slavery business model is generally very profitable and, in most places, low risk for those who exploit and traffic humans. It seems clear that ethical businesses may have the moral high ground but they are playing uphill. Before we can get to a tipping point, we need more level playing fields. 

At this year’s World Cup, Russia prepared their fields of play to be perfectly level. It’s the same in business: host countries must assure investors that everyone will be playing by the same rules in their industries, including the rules protecting workers from human rights abuses. 

So, the way to worker protection and fair competition for ethical businesses is consistent enforcement of fair laws from host countries. In industries that rely heavily on foreign migrant labour, host countries include migrant sending countries. During the Forum, both Pia Goyer and Andrew Forrest encouraged brands to ask governments for a level playing field in worker protection in the places where they want to do business. Ambassador Swing rightly observed that the most practical way businesses can guard against risk multiple tiers down a supply chain is to move host country governments to improve worker protection frameworks so that whole industries are more likely to be free of trafficking and exploitation, and the whole pool of workers is safer. 

As host governments begin to enforce their laws and identify worker exploitation, investigations and prosecutions will root out local bad actors, and perhaps some negative news stories will come to light in the places where brands source. While these are not what any business wants, they are necessary steps towards establishing the level ground that ethical businesses need in order to thrive. Long term, consistent host government law enforcement will end impunity for bad actors in supply chains, reduce human rights abuse “fires”, and enable promising worker voice, transparency, and ethical recruitment processes to flourish. 

I look forward to hearing at a future event how business leaders are engaging with host governments to ensure both workers and ethical companies can really compete on a level playing field. These kinds of results will continue to engender trust from global consumers. 

Say NO NOW to Unethical Recruitment

Priya Chingen, Head of Human Rights, Princes Tuna (Mauritius)

After attending the first Forum on Responsible Recruitment in Berlin last year, I was pleased to attend the 2018 Forum in Singapore, and more so about the fact that I had the opportunity to be a speaker at both events.

The Global Forum is an opportunity to bring the business community together and to raise awareness of the issues affecting migrant workers. However, beyond the forum, I believe it is also critical for businesses to effectively say “NO” to unethical recruitment and other forms of worker exploitation and this should be done “NOW’’. If a company employs migrant workers - including along supply chains - it means that the human asset is a critical part of its operations. Therefore the employer has a duty of care to all employees, whether migrant or not, and they should all be treated with dignity.

During the forum several speakers highlighted the harsh reality of migrant workers - this is now a known fact wherever migrant workers are employed. As a platform, the Forum can bring together those who can take action and drive change towards an ethical model for the recruitment and employment of migrant workers. We should therefore adopt a holistic approach to look at all forms of worker exploitation that might take place within and beyond the recruitment process. 

To make this happen, the forum and similar convenings should ensure the active participation of government representatives from both receiving and sending countries, as well as a broad representation of recruitment agencies and business from different sectors. Unethical recruitment involves a wide network of actors and therefore engagement of all players is critical in achieving results towards a responsible recruitment system. 

The 2018 Forum has also put forward the business opportunities that exist for ethical recruitment agencies and this is something to be publicised. It is often understood that ethical recruitment is expensive, however if all parties join forces to better manage the costs of recruitment the process can be beneficial for all. The Global Forum and similar events should encourage the exchange of practical solutions to eradicate unethical recruitment and other forms of worker exploitation.

Improving Workers' Lives Meaningfully

Sumi Dhanarajan, Associate Director APAC, Forum for the Future

In the early years of the ethical trade movement, recruitment processes, fees, and other (often hidden) costs that workers bore unduly, were identified as a root cause of abusive working conditions in global supply chains.  The theory of change at the time however focused primarily on correcting issues on the factory floor through codes of conduct, monitoring, and auditing by brands. Although these activities gave nod to the fact that the unethical rot started during recruitment, they did little to address the vulnerability and disempowerment that became entrenched at that stage.  So, the fact that, twenty years on, a whole two days were dedicated to bringing together actors from across global value chains to give highly pertinent attention to responsible recruitment, is a clear and very welcome signal of progress. 

On Day 1 of the Forum, Anne Jacobs of the North-South Initiative, and Bhim Kumar Newar, of the Migrant Worker Network, spoke of the systemic, complex and interlinked nature of migrant worker abuse that starts during recruitment. Their mapping of migrant workers’ experiences offered critical insights into where we have to begin to bring about change. One composite example in particular stuck with me: having paid a recruitment fee, if a migrant worker is at risk of failing the health screening in their home country, they will feel compelled to pay a bribe to get the right screening result. When they arrive in the recruiting country and fail their health screening there, they will bribe again. If that fails, they become undocumented and enter into a further spiral of vulnerability. The ‘Employer Pays’ Principle does much to prevent this spiral, but it is important that we push on to find ways to halt the corruption, that like water, will find its way of seeping through the cracks, usually drowning the most disenfranchised individual in the chain. 

It is important that we continue to test our theory of change on addressing migrant workers abuses. One issue which I think calls out for this is in regard to the kind of legislation that we currently believe will induce the necessary systemic transformational shifts. Many at the Global Forum lauded the introduction of disclosure and transparency legislation such as the Modern Slavery Act and the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act as significant levers of change. But are we watching closely enough for unintended consequences? What if disclosure regulation means that companies are being legally advised to disclose less, not more, because the law allows them to and, they are told disclosing more than is required creates liability risks that they want to avoid? How are we tracking the way companies are responding internally to such legislation? How do we know if the regulation is catalysing progressive behaviours or regressive ones? So far we know that whilst a few leading companies have substantively met the S.54 requirements of the Modern Slavery Act, the majority continue to perform poorly. According to research done by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, nearly half of the companies have not met even the minimum legal thresholds and the majority of companies do not provide details on the complexity of their supply-chains and risks they have identified with regard to modern slavery.[1]

We are still in an experimental phase of finding ways to rid global supply-chains of exploitative practices that lead to the violation of migrant workers’ rights. Acknowledging this phase means being mindful of testing our hypotheses to see if the intended positive impacts are actually materialising. As we continue to take strides forward in protecting migrant workers, let’s be sure to keep a keen eye - to paraphrase Marika McCauley-Sine from Mars - on whether our efforts are “improving peoples’ lives meaningfully.”

A Collective Desire to Accelerate Progress Towards Responsible Recruitment

Quintin Lake, Director, Fifty Eight Consultancy

The 2018 Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment and Employment was an excellent event and exceeded my expectations.

I had attended the first forum, held in Berlin in 2017, and it has been so encouraging to see more participants, progress and potential emerging just one year on. There were twice as many participants, with everyone very clearly committed to addressing the challenges workers face through exploitative and opaque recruitment practices. While the pace of progress is not as fast as everyone would want, many more companies and industries were represented and it is clear there is a gathering momentum towards wide-spread commitment to the “Employer Pays” principle of recruitment – the International Tourism Partnership released their own set of industry principles to address forced labour, off the back of the Consumer Goods Forum making the same commitment in 2017.

The 2017 forum was a pivotal moment for our business and approach to producing a tool that can enable safer and more transparent pathways to work for migrant workers.

Just attending the forum gave a clear perspective and overview of what was being done globally to move towards responsible recruitment, and where there were still gaps and a need to pilot new approaches. That insight, together with the connections made at the forum, have helped fuel our work over the last year – and the 2018 forum gave us a deadline to push towards.

Because of the potential of being able to gather again with companies, NGOs, academics, government representatives and others at the 2018 forum, we pushed hard to make enough progress in one year to be able to make the most of 2 days together to get critical feedback, ideas, potential partnerships – as well as sense-checking our work against the global progress made over the last year.

The 2018 forum in Singapore achieved all of this and more. In particular, because of the collective desire to see progress towards responsible recruitment accelerate, there was a real sense of collaboration and desire from everyone I spoke with to see how we could help each other to move forward faster.

Thank you to IHRB, the Consumer Goods Forum, and everyone involved in making the event the success that it was. I am already looking forward to 2019 and the further progress that will be made.