One NGO, cited in the media, recently released the results of a study on the working conditions in a keyboard factory producing for all the major computers brands (see article: http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=613#bw). The issues are not surprising: over 80 working hours a week, wages below the legal minimum, workers exploited under bad and unfair management practices, the list goes on.
Whenever we broach the topic of social compliance in their subcontracted factories with technolology companies, many are unconvinced why they should be concerned. Often they are misguided to believe high product quality is enough to protect them from public vilification for unfair and unequal work practices. Their reading of the situation is flawed.
Not solely restricted to specific products, product quality measures the efficient quality management system of people and their working conditions. The general image of the typical company employee is a qualified high-skilled employee producing cutting edge products and not some migrant worker earning less than USD200 per month. Increasingly, however, the media are revealing the true harsh conditions factories in their supply chain subject their employees to. The aforementioned website is one of many outlets within 1-click access for the target market of highly educated clientele.
Let's try to understand the situation.
Firstly, a very small part of manufacturing process is really about the actual technology, but more significant are of assembling, printing, packing, essentially, all those tasks requiring low-skilled human labor to produce the finished products that consumers purchase. Factories operate as a two-level organization with high-skilled workers as one and one-skilled workers as the other, or they are subcontract to other factories. Both models function with the mentality of them being separate entities, making managing working conditions for low-skilled workers difficult and less of a priority.
Secondly, the cultural context is crucial to the employer/employee relationship. The quality management systems in western countries will more naturally include social aspects where Asian countries mostly likely will not. If they do, they are nowhere near standards set by Western buyers. Workers are selected and trained to obey orders, not for their dynamic personalities to lead change and improvement. In the Asian systems, quality problems stemming from working conditions do not even register as offenses. With no backlash from the Asian systems, technology companies continue to mistakenly believe meeting the standard on product quality means meeting standards on working conditions. But talking a western practice while walking an Asian practice can only deceive Western consumers for only so long. Not a very sustainable business model given these tough economic times with consumer spending spiraling downward fast.
Leaders in innovative processes and cutting edge inventions, technology brands often thought to be most progressive have worse track records in social compliance than the garment industry. This is dangerous if left unaddressed as it has the potential to worsen in the current rapidly rising unemployment climate, perpetuating a vicious cycle for workers willing to tolerate horrible conditions desperate to hold on to jobs. The first crucial step is for these companies to be fully aware of the conditions in all contracted and sub-contracted factories in their supply chain. Knowing is never enough, taking required action to standardize the factories to full compliance will be key to keeping consumer loyalty.
Lei Chen Wong contributed to this article.
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