Coherent system for monitoring and remediation

2.2 Audits and Corrective Action Plans

Audits are based on the FWF Code of Labor Practices. In the past three years, we organized audits at most of our main suppliers. Over 91% of The Woody Group’s production has being audited within the past three years.

At Tekumut, a new audit was conducted in November 2022. Some important points for attention came out of this audit:

- Some important remarks on fire safety in the building were made. As a follow up, the general manager of Tekumut went immediately in dialogue with the landlord of the building, to analyse status and remediation. The landlord is not willing to make all necessary investments, so we are still in the process of close follow up and searching for solutions.

- Some workers complainted about negative pressure of some production supervisors. To remediate this, we want an open social dialogue for all departments, organized in a more structural way, so workers can ventilate better. The objective is to have a monthly social dialogue between the management and the worker representatives, with a dialogue in two directions. The report will be posted so that alle workers can have the feeling that they are taking into account. Top management is 100 percent in favor of a more qualitative social dialogue, a Turkish FWF consultant will guide this process in the upcoming year. Also leadership training will be provided for the middle management.

- Overtime and related stress were determined. Our procurement & CSR manager will make up an analysis and action plan to optimize workflows and delivery times. Hopefully it leads to more efficiency and less overtime.

- The audit mentioned that living wages were not in place. This was a very surprising finding for us, as Tekumut’s top management is fully convinced of our engagement towards fair and good working conditions. But here, the timing of the increasements of salaries is crucial, in a country were inflation is extreme and makes giant leaps in just a few weeks time. The audit took place in November 2022, just at the moment that legal minimum wages were raised by 55%, while inflation was around 85% at that moment. Tekumut increases the wages following Turkish habits in July and January. At the Brand Performance Check, we will show that wages in Tekumut are following the extreme evolutions that can sometimes differ from day to day. And we need to repeat that Duzce is a rural region which has a lower living cost than the average Turkish living cost.