Industry-specific Risk Factors

Multinational companies often come across excessive working hours in their supply chain, where they may not have direct control over production and timelines. This can occur in suppliers’ own operations or, for example, when suppliers contract out some of their work to home workers or smaller factories. Excessive working hours can, however, also occur within company operations — for example, driven by local norms, a culture of excessive working hours (e.g. in the security or services industries) or by the remoteness of company operations (e.g. in oil and gas). In the maritime travel industry, COVID-19 related travel restrictions have also given rise to extended periods of time beyond working hours and work beyond the expirations of their contracts.

Challenges to ensuring decent working time exist across many industries. High risk sectors include agriculture and fishing, fashion and apparel, electronics manufacturing, financial services, and construction and infrastructure. In particular, the first three sectors pose significant challenges to global sourcing companies. To identify potential risk factors for other industries, companies can access the CSR Risk Check.

The agriculture and fishing industries are inherently prone to long or excessive working hours due to the nature of the work undertaken. Industry-specific risk factors include:

• The seasonal nature of harvests, gestation of animals and migration of fish means that agricultural and fishery work is often concentrated around specific periods of time, resulting in long working hours during those times.
• Many workers will be paid based on the weight or quantity of the goods produced, which further encourages working longer hours to increase income.
• A high proportion of informal workers and family/community workers (who do not have social protections or contracts) increases the risk of excessive working time. These risks are also often gendered, as women and girls are expected to support family farms before undertaking other tasks, while men and boys are more often able to prioritize other activities like school and socializing.

The fashion and apparel industry is often linked to excessive working hours in supply chains, with employees working between 10 and 12 hours — and sometimes 16 to 18 hours — a day. Industry-specific risk factors include:

• Fluctuations in demand due to the varied output of clothing (winter, spring, autumn and summer), mostly at the beginning of each season, increase the risks of excessive working hours. Companies sourcing from fashion and apparel suppliers may often demand that the products are manufactured within a short time frame. In turn, suppliers are bound by contractual agreements to honour any commitments made in this respect. Seasonal work requires that employees work intensively and for long hours in a short space of time to meet demand.
• Overtime is sometimes forced and often paid below legal requirements. Calculations of overtime payments are often compromised by a lack of social dialogue, poor general communication between workers and managers, and workers’ lack of knowledge about their legal rights to overtime payments.
• The industry uses a lot of outsourcing and home working, which makes it hard to trace where a product was made and by whom. Informal and home workers often lack labour protections and are vulnerable to excessive working hours.
• Piece rate pay is pervasive in the garment manufacturing industry and is commonly found among factory-based workers and home-based workers. While research on the impact of piece rate pay on working hours and overtime is scarce, the pressure for low-wage workers to reach target earnings drives the occurrence of excessive working hours.

Electronics manufacturing is also often linked to working time violations, particularly in supply chains. Research by Electronics Watch has found that in China, working weeks of 60-80 hours, including 20-40 hours of overtime, are common in electronics factories.

Industry-specific risk factors include:

• The problem of excessive working hours in electronics manufacturing is often driven by strict timelines imposed on manufacturers to meet consumer demand.
• Competition for jobs in the industry can be strong, particularly with respect to famous brands. This can lead to workers being prepared to work excessive hours without adequate rest.
• In China, student workers are given compulsory placements in electronics manufacturing factories, modelled as “internships”, where they may be forced to work excessive hours and often go unpaid or earn extremely low wages.
• Similar to the fashion and apparel industry, overtime is sometimes forced and often paid below legal requirements or industry standards.