BEST PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED

At the beginning of this partnership we put in place a pilot project with few L’Oreal strategic suppliers, 18 in total, that accepted to participate in this initial project. It involved a kickoff meeting with also regular webinars every month to explain the living wage commitment, and how to implement such commitment in all entities and for all workers. 

This pilot project was extremely successful, well beyond any initial expectations. Why?

First because suppliers exactly followed the right sequence of steps (see our proposed sequence of steps).

Second, because we realized it is extremely stimulating for individual suppliers (who are not always familiar with the living wage concept) when front runners share their experience, explain how they overcame initial difficulties, how they progressively improved the situation to finally get our living wage certification.

We will continue to do this, by organizing with L’Oréal regular meeting to hold such discussions, and we will use this space to regularly keep you informed about other companies’ experiences and what lessons can be learned.

Many of them realized that paying a living wage that they initially often viewed as an additional cost, and additional burden on them, could also enhance workers’ motivation, help them to improve key HR indicators such as turnover, absenteeism and ultimately also increase the quality of goods and stimulate innovation.