UK-based clothing retailer, Marks and Spencer has topped The Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) ranking companies on their performance against human rights.
CHRB rated the human rights performance of 98 companies and the top performing companies against the benchmark, including names like Adidas and H&M as well. Companies in the middle and lower bands of the benchmark should demonstrate their respect for human rights and seek to emulate the best practice of industry leaders; and the companies that are yet to start implementing their human rights responsibilities have no time to lose, because any inaction runs a high reputation wish with investors, customers and prospective employees, reads the statement by CHRB.
Also Read – Fast fashion brands impact M&S’ clothing business
The Benchmark examines companies’ policies, governance, processes, practices and transparency, as well as how they respond to serious allegations of human rights abuse. This is done by scoring the companies on 100 indicators across six measurement themes. A small number of companies emerged as leaders scoring between 55-69 per cent, but the results tilt significantly to the lower bands. A clear majority, 63 out of 98 companies, scored below 30 per cent.
Vicky Dodman, CEO, CHRB said, “The first benchmark would set a baseline and that low scoring companies should “act decisively” to improve. In the future, we want to see companies move up as they respond to increased public scrutiny and engagement from investors.”
