BSR Insight | Integrating Human Rights Into Business Operations
Integrating human rights considerations into all aspects of business is among the biggest challenges for companies implementing the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. To generate support for a human rights policy or management system at the operational or site level, companies should provide:
Incentives: Tie performance goals to specific outcomes, such as the completion of human rights impact assessments, for a few key company roles. Supplement these with lower-value incentives such as prizes for the department with the most team members to complete human rights training.
Training: Provide different tiers of training for employees based on how closely they affect the human rights of stakeholder communities. This can range from a five-minute online course to a two-day workshop.
Ownership: Involve operational managers who regularly make decisions that impact human rights in the development of the company’s human rights strategy as owners, rather than as stakeholders. For example, a company could create a cross-functional human rights strategy task force and assign specific responsibilities to each member.
To learn more, attend our BSR Conference 2011 session on integrating human rights at the operational level, or contact Faris Natour.
About the Author(s)
Faris Natour, Director, Human Rights
Faris leads BSR’s human rights practice, advising companies on human rights strategy, policy development, human rights impact assessments, and other elements of human rights due diligence... Read more →
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