Network meeting: ESG & Stakeholder Engagement – deep dive on how to build progress on a specific human rights topic

Network meeting for ESG & Stakeholder Engagement: Member deep dive on how to build progress on a specific human rights topic – working hours

The meeting is exclusively for members of the network.

Working hours are a core indicator of decent work, and excessive and unpredictable working hours remain one of the most material human rights risks in global value chains. It directly affects employee health and safety – as well as productivity, reputation, retention, and stable value chain performance.

Especially in high-risk sourcing markets, poor working-hour practices are a lead indicator of deeper systemic issues like wage pressure, capacity planning failures, and weak supplier management. Investors and customers increasingly link responsible working hours to brand credibility – thereby pushing the topic from a compliance issue to a strategic lever for operational resilience and long-term value creation.

Addressing working hours requires moving beyond CoCs and audits toward smarter purchasing practices, data-driven oversight, and collaborative supplier engagement.

This network meeting offers a practical deep dive on how network members translate working hours policies into measurable progress. Focus is on what works in practice – and how to scale it across complex global matrix operations. By sharing best practices, the members help each other move from abstract principles to concrete policies, controls, and remediation, which reduces risks and strengthens impact.

Tentative program

1:00             Network lunch

1:30             Welcome & news from the Secretariat

1:40             Around the table

2:00             Topic of the day: Inspirational presentation by expert

2:30             Topic of the day: Inspirational company case

2:45             Topic of the day: Member discussion

3:45             Round-up of meeting

Contact advisor Neel Gammelgård for more information: ng@etiskhandel.dk.

The meeting is exclusively for members of the network.