When the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, it made a commitment to the Planet, prosperity, peace and people. At the heart of this 2030 Agenda, 17 sustainable development goals have been set, including 2 concerning the reduction of inequalities and the promotion of decent work : goals 8 and 10. Goal 8 advocates sustainable and shared economic growth in order to create decent jobs and improve living standards. Goal 10, on the other hand, focuses more on the problems of inequality within countries, highlighting the need for better social protection and the adoption of fiscal policies.
As a goal in its own right, the living wage is also an effective catalyst for simultaneously achieving many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By mobilising around living wage issues, large companies and institutions can have a major impact on policies and on improving living standards for everyone, starting with employees.
the challenge
Our client is a leader in international logistics and transport. As part of its CSR roadmap, the issues of decent pay and inequality are of paramount importance. That’s why this major group turned to Ksapa to help them define their pay policy and analyse living wages.
To begin this in-depth analysis, our client defined priority risk areas where the issue of poverty and living wages is omnipresent. This enabled Ksapa to focus on predefined countries.
OUR APPROACH
In order to respond to the client’s request, Ksapa adopted a 3-stage approach:
- The scoping phase – This phase consists of collecting official public data on the living wage and on the policies adopted by governments, focusing firstly on female employees and secondly on subcontractors.
- The calculation – Based on the data collected, Ksapa begins to calibrate a living wage calculation tool which will then be used to determine what level of wage is decent for each site identified. This step is essential in order to cross-reference the data collected on the reference platforms with the Group’s internal data.
- Activation (communication and action plan) – This phase consists of making human resources departments aware of the concept of a living wage and putting in place an action plan to rectify salaries, if necessary. This action plan is based on an order of priority for the sites, taking into account the level of risk, the wage bill and employee benefits.
RESULTS & NEXT STEPS
Once the work has been carried out on the group’s employees, Ksapa recommends extending the study to subcontractors on the sites and updating the data on an annual basis. Ksapa also recommends monitoring the economic climate and fluctuations among a sample of workers in order to track at-risk segments. Ksapa has a digital application developed specifically for this purpose.
Ultimately, this work enables the group to be more profitable, to optimise its productivity by reducing production costs, to improve its brand image and the resilience of its value chain on the global market. Above all, it is vital to analyse the salaries paid in order to address inequalities and combat poverty, thereby contributing to a fair and inclusive society.
