Elaine Mitchel-Hill is an expert in responsible supply chains, sustainable procurement and labour rights and is the ESG & Human Rights Director at Marshalls plc. In this article for Anti-Slavery Day 2022, she shares her view of the need for more commitment from private businesses to tackle modern slavery, and gives an insight into the data-led approach taken at Marshalls.
"Anti-Slavery day will likely see the virtue signalling of all-and-sundry in the business community. Lovely. Whatever most posts say, I’m all in. But there are 364 days remaining each year to knuckle down and get stuck into the serious business of identifying risks in supply chains, ensuring that human rights and environmental due diligence goes beyond compliance and working to bring about the systemic changes required in so many places, including the UK. So maybe we can apply the same zeal to those days too.
I’ve been working in this space for nearly 20 years, and I just don’t see the level of traction from business that would be there if work to eliminate slavery was consistently on the radar; resourced appropriately, a standing item on the board agenda, clearly defined, measured and monitored, and scrutinised appropriately by ESG rating agencies and investors. To illustrate my point, 40% of the businesses required by UK law to provide an annual modern slavery statement haven’t done it! If that’s not the private sector thumbing its nose at the issue of slavery and sending a signal that they really don’t care, then I don’t know what is.
So, if we’re not then willing, as the private sector, to do the work because on a human level it’s quite simply the right thing to do, and for many it’s a legal requirement (!), then perhaps we can be enlivened by incoming EU mHREDD legislation and the potential for something similar in the UK. On top of this, we have the new procurement act, a review of the modern slavery act, and the documentation and evidence that businesses are increasingly required to provide to help avoid disruption to supply. And let’s be honest, right now your procurement director needs another supply chain issue to add to the mix like a hole-in-the-head.
And by documentation and evidence, I don’t mean the neat tick-box, yes, no, does not apply kind of information. I mean high calibre supply chain mapping, high quality data analysis and triangulation, the bespoke approach to places where audits of any merit are simply not possible, the detailed reporting which informs procurement and wider business decision making. And yes, getting out into the supply chain. Getting back to raw materials. Hearing worker views, listening to survivor voice. And yes, the collection, crunching and constant monitoring of meaningful data. All of which raises the game, allows the elevation of strategic dialogue – both inside of your organisation as well out outside – and signposts the way to better decision making. It will also clearly reveal areas of risk which demand a fitting response.
Data and metrics in this space may not, on the face of it, seem compelling to some. But they have the potential to drive the change that has so far illuded many. As Trilateral Research – a company that specialises in ethical AI, including on human trafficking issues – notes, without effective utilisation of data, we are fighting blind. I was possibly the least likely person to embrace data and metrics, and I engaged tentatively initially with the possibilities that technology offers and how high-quality data and metrics can speed up progress. Verisk Maplecroft, Traffik Analysis Hub, and Everyone Business live monitoring are staples for us now.
Working with the UN Global Compact on a project in the DRC has been an education; I have seen the gaps that data exposes and the enormous potential. Analysing top-down and bottom-up supply chain data within Traffik Analysis Hub, the leading technology platform to disrupt human trafficking, revealed that whilst the DRC in this instance was data poor, there was also a significant gap in companies efforts to track back down supply chains beyond tiers one and two.
I understand now that meaningful data can paint a picture, influence change, and provide an understanding of what is happening in business from the perspective of the workers and people who are impacted. Trilateral Research’s Honeycomb tool now means it’s possible to extract and analyse meaningful data from text; thousands of pages of documents, statements and stories can quickly be turned into data. I, for one, am knee-deep in rethinking our own collection and use of data.
As more businesses embrace meaningful data and metrics, and can provide detailed analysis, the data-poor laggards will be exposed. You know who you are, and many others also know who you are. I sincerely hope that if you don’t engage that you are severely bitten on the backside, because there is no excuse for wilfully remaining ignorant and being blatantly complicit in the enslaving of our fellow man, woman and child."
Find out more about the human rights work at Marshalls
With an international customer base and a global supply chain, Marshalls operates in the most ethical and sustainable way, and has a vision to create net positive futures. Find out more about the work Marshalls does in disrupting human trafficking and exploitation within the construction sector on our website.