Grievance mechanisms: designed with and for workers

Key takeaways

• Most grievance mechanisms fail to involve rightsholders (and their representatives) in their design and implementation, thus limiting trust and transparency.
• The process of setting up matters as much as the mechanism itself, and rightsholders need to be actively involved in the process.
• Integrating grievance mechanisms into social dialogue and worker representative structures provides a trusted and legitimate pathway for recourse, strengthening collective bargaining and empowering workers with an institutionalized voice.
• Creating an enabling environment is necessary, where brands and stakeholders provide support through commitment, understanding, and access to resources, without limiting the independence and credibility of the process and eventually the mechanism itself.
• Shifting mindsets from viewing grievances as “problems” to seeing them as valuable insights and opportunities for improvement can help companies strengthen relationships with workers, farmers, and communities.
  Move beyond viewing grievance mechanisms as tools like hotlines or apps – they are not tick-box solutions but ongoing processes and commitments that foster trust, dialogue, and access to remedy for workers, farmers, and communities.
• Regular monitoring for ongoing effectiveness enables continuous learning and improvement, and for GMs to be embedded into an organisation.

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