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Improve Your EcoVadisĀ Labour and Human RightsĀ Score

Updated: July 12, 2026

Ā 

A low Labour and Human Rights score usually means EcoVadis did not see enough evidence that worker-related impacts and human rights risks are managed systematically. A policy is useful, but it is only the starting point.

EcoVadis also looks for how labour and human rights commitments are translated into health and safety controls, working-condition practices, employee voice, training, risk assessment, coverage, KPIs and reporting. This page explains how to diagnose the theme and prepare stronger evidence for your next assessment.

Quick answer: how to improve your EcoVadis Labour and Human Rights score

  • Use Policies, Actions and Results as the structure for your improvement plan.
  • Start with credible labour, human rights, health and safety, equal opportunity and grievance commitments where relevant.
  • Show how those commitments are implemented through procedures, training, risk assessments, worker consultation, incident management, audits or corrective actions.
  • Track results with workforce KPIs, such as injury rates, training completion, employee turnover, grievance closure, diversity indicators and corrective action closure.
  • Make sure the evidence applies to the assessed scope, is current, and clearly supports the questionnaire answers you select.

Are you in the right place?

1. What the Labour and Human Rights Theme Covers

The EcoVadis Labour and Human Rights theme looks at how your company manages impacts on workers and human rights. The exact questions and activated criteria depend on your industry, size and operating locations.

In practice, the theme can include evidence around:

  • labour and human rights policy
  • health and safety management
  • working conditions, wages, working hours and benefits where relevant
  • employee voice, grievance channels and worker consultation
  • equal opportunity, diversity and non-discrimination
  • training and employee development
  • child labour and forced labour controls where relevant
  • human rights risk assessment or due diligence
  • contractor, temporary worker or agency worker controls where relevant
  • incident tracking, corrective actions, KPIs and reporting

The practical question

Can you show that worker-related impacts and human rights risks are identified, managed, tracked and improved across the assessed scope?

2. Why Companies Lose Points in Labour and Human Rights

Many companies lose points in this theme because the evidence is incomplete or too generic. The company may have good practices in place, but the submission does not prove a managed system.

Common gap Why it weakens the evidence
Policy is broad but not specific A general people policy may not cover health and safety, non-discrimination, human rights, worker voice or forced labour risks clearly enough.
Health and safety actions are not evidenced EcoVadis may not see the procedures, training, risk assessments, inspections or incident follow-up that prove implementation.
Worker voice is unclear A policy promise is weaker when there is no evidence of grievance channels, employee consultation, speak-up routes or response tracking.
KPIs are missing or too old Without recent workforce or safety data, it is hard to show results, monitoring or performance trends.
Certification is out of scope A certificate only helps when the scope, entity, sites and validity match the assessment context.
Human rights risks are not connected to operations Generic statements about human rights may be weak if they do not connect to locations, worker groups, contractors, recruitment or operating risks.

A useful first diagnosis is to ask whether the gap is about policy, action, coverage, results or evidence quality. The answer tells you what to fix.

3. Policies: Worker Rights, Health and Safety and Human Rights Commitments

Policy evidence sets the foundation. It shows what your company commits to, who is responsible and which worker or human rights topics are managed.

  • labour and human rights policy or employee rights policy
  • health and safety policy
  • equal opportunity, diversity or non-discrimination policy
  • grievance, speak-up or concern-handling procedure
  • working conditions commitments, including working hours, wages and benefits where relevant
  • child labour and forced labour commitments where relevant
  • human rights due diligence or risk assessment commitments
  • document owner, scope, review date and management approval

Policy evidence rule of thumb

A credible Labour and Human Rights policy does not only say "we respect people." It explains which worker and human rights topics matter, who owns them, how concerns are raised, and how commitments connect to training, risk assessment, incident management and reporting.

For a broader policy foundation, read Essential EcoVadis Policies. That page explains how policy evidence fits into the wider EcoVadis management-system logic.

Need labour and human rights policy foundations?

The EcoVadis Starter Kit includes practical policy templates and guidance you can adapt to your own scope, responsibilities and evidence base. Use templates as a starting point, then customise them to your company.

Review the EcoVadis Starter Kit

4. Actions: Procedures, Training, Worker Voice and Follow-Up

Actions show how labour and human rights commitments are implemented. This is where the theme becomes practical: procedures, training, worker consultation, incident response and corrective action records.

  • health and safety risk assessments
  • safe work procedures and emergency response records
  • health and safety training records
  • incident investigation and corrective action records
  • employee handbook sections on working conditions, conduct and rights
  • grievance or speak-up procedure and case tracking
  • worker consultation or employee representative meeting records
  • diversity, equity and inclusion actions
  • training records for managers or employees
  • human rights risk assessment or due diligence records
  • contractor or temporary worker control procedures where relevant
  • internal audit findings and corrective actions

Good action evidence is practical

A dated risk assessment, training record, grievance log summary or corrective action tracker can be more useful than a polished statement that does not show implementation.

5. Results: Workforce KPIs, Incidents and Reporting

Results evidence shows whether labour, health and safety and human rights performance is tracked. This does not need to be perfect, but it should be measurable enough to show monitoring, progress or coverage.

  • lost time incident rate or total recordable incident rate
  • number of health and safety incidents
  • near-miss reporting and corrective action closure
  • health and safety training completion
  • employee turnover or absenteeism
  • employee training hours or completion rate
  • grievance cases received and closed
  • grievance closure time
  • diversity or equal opportunity indicators where appropriate
  • employee engagement or consultation coverage
  • human rights risk assessments completed
  • site or workforce coverage of labour and human rights controls

Simple KPI example

"Health and safety training completion increased from 82% in 2024 to 96% in 2025. The boundary covers all employees at the assessed entity's three sites. The data owner is HR and the training record is reviewed quarterly by Operations."

6. Labour and Human Rights Evidence Examples by Management Layer

The table below gives a practical way to organise your evidence before uploading documents or planning a reassessment.

Evidence layer What it should prove Example documents Weak version
Policy Worker rights, human rights, health and safety, non-discrimination, grievance and governance commitments. Labour and Human Rights Policy, Health and Safety Policy, Equal Opportunity Policy, grievance procedure. A generic HR statement with no owner, scope, worker voice route or review date.
Action How commitments are applied through procedures, training, consultation and follow-up. Risk assessment, training records, incident log, grievance tracker, employee consultation minutes, audit report. A claim that practices exist with no records, procedure or implementation trail.
Coverage How much of the workforce, sites, contractors or relevant worker groups are covered. Training coverage report, site coverage statement, certification scope, workforce group coverage, contractor control process. One site or one training example with no explanation of assessment scope coverage.
Results Whether workforce and human rights performance is tracked and improved over time. Injury rate, training completion, turnover, grievance closure, diversity indicators, corrective action closure, HR dashboard. No recent workforce KPIs or data without year, unit, scope or owner.

Before uploading, test each document with one question: what exact answer does this prove? If the answer is unclear, the evidence may need context, a better file, or a different question match.

7. Relevant Standards and Frameworks for Labour and Human Rights

Standards and frameworks are useful on this page, but they should be used carefully. They are reference points for building stronger labour, health and safety and human rights evidence. They are not a substitute for your own documents, implementation records and KPIs.

Standard or framework Why it is relevant Evidence caution
ISO 45001 The most directly relevant management-system standard for occupational health and safety. Use a valid certificate and make sure the scope, entity and sites match the EcoVadis assessment scope.
SA8000 Relevant for social accountability, workplace practices and labour conditions. A valid certification can support evidence when it applies to the assessed scope. It does not replace company-specific procedures, records and KPIs.
ILO International Labour Standards Useful reference for labour rights, working conditions, freedom of association, forced labour, child labour and non-discrimination. Use these standards to shape your commitments and controls. Upload evidence of your own policy, implementation and monitoring.
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Useful for human rights due diligence, risk identification, prevention, mitigation and remedy. The framework helps with structure. The evidence should show your actual risk assessment, controls, grievance process or follow-up.
ISO 26000 Useful as social responsibility guidance, including human rights, labour practices and organisational governance. ISO 26000 is guidance. It can support the logic of your programme, but you still need company-specific documents and records.
UN Global Compact Ten Principles Useful for commitments across human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. If your company is a participant, keep evidence of the commitment and communication. If you use the principles internally, show how they are implemented.
GRI Standards Useful when labour and human rights performance is reported publicly through a sustainability report or ESG report. A report can support reporting evidence when it includes recent, relevant workforce, safety or human rights data and clear boundaries.
OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct Useful for responsible business conduct, employment and industrial relations, human rights and due diligence. Use the guidelines to shape due diligence and risk processes. Upload evidence of your own process, records and follow-up.

How to use these references in your EcoVadis evidence

Do not upload a standard or framework as proof by itself. Use it to improve your own policy, risk assessment, training, worker voice process, KPIs and reporting, then upload evidence that shows your company actually uses those practices.

8. What to Do If Labour and Human Rights Is Your Weakest Theme

If your EcoVadis scorecard shows Labour and Human Rights as the weakest theme, avoid starting with a long list of random HR actions. Start with the reason the theme is weak.

Five-step diagnosis

  1. Read the theme score and improvement areas. Note whether the comments point to missing policy, weak action, missing reporting, low coverage, weak health and safety evidence, unclear worker voice or document quality.
  2. Map existing evidence. List policies, procedures, training, risk assessments, certifications, grievance records, audits, KPIs and reports.
  3. Find the missing layer. Decide whether you have policy without action, action without reporting, or reporting without clear scope.
  4. Choose three evidence fixes. Focus on documents you can actually create, improve or formalise before the next assessment.
  5. Plan the next review point. Decide when HR, operations, health and safety, legal, sustainability and management will review progress together.

For wider improvement planning, read How to Improve Your EcoVadis Score. If you already have a scorecard and need help diagnosing what held the theme back, a Scorecard Review can help you turn the scorecard into a practical improvement plan.

Unsure whether your labour and human rights evidence is strong enough?

If your assessment is underway, Submission Support can help you check whether your labour and human rights evidence supports the questionnaire and work through priority gaps before submission.

Get Help Preparing Your Submission

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Frequently Asked Questions

About the Author

Rutger founded Double Your Sustainability to help companies work through EcoVadis assessments with more clarity and less wasted effort. He draws on 15 years of corporate sustainability experience, direct lessons learned from achieving EcoVadis Platinum medals, and practical client work helping companies prepare submissions, review evidence and understand scorecards.

As a certified EcoVadis Solutions Practitioner with an MSc. in Strategic Sustainable Development, his focus is on turning sustainability work into clearer evidence, better decisions and scorecards you can interpret and act on.

Connect with Rutger on LinkedIn.