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Adidas

Audits are among the tools Adidas uses to assess its business partners’ level of compliance with Adidas Workplace Standards and support its ongoing efforts to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence, including consideration of labor rights and occupational health and safety.

Business partners must comply fully with all legal requirements relevant to the conduct of their businesses and must adopt and follow practices which safeguard human rights, workers’ employment rights, safety and the environment.

Over the course of a supplier’s relationship with Adidas, they may undergo several different audits related to our social and environmental standards.

International Associates is able to audit your system against the Adidas standards.

Adidas Workplace / Employment Standards

All audits are conducted against the Adidas Workplace Standards which comprises of the following requirements:

FORCED LABOUR

Business partners must not use forced labour, whether in the form of prison labour, indentured labour, bonded labour or otherwise, or permit the trafficking in persons for the purposes of forced labour. No employee may be compelled to work through force or intimidation of any form, or as a means of political coercion or as punishment for holding or expressing political views.

CHILD LABOUR

Business partners must not employ children who are less than fifteen (15) years old, or less than the age for completing compulsory education in the country of manufacture where such age is higher than fifteen (15).

DISCRIMINATION

Business partners must not discriminate in recruitment and employment practices. Decisions about hiring, salary, benefits, training opportunities, work assignments, advancement, discipline and termination must be based solely on ability to perform the job, rather than on the basis of personal characteristics or beliefs, such as race, national origin gender, religion, age, disability, marital status, parental status, association membership, sexual orientation or political opinion. Additionally, business partners must implement effective measures to protect migrant employees against any form of discrimination and to provide appropriate support services that reflect their special status.

WAGES, BENEFITS & COMPENSATION

All legal requirements relating to wages and benefits must be met. Wages must equal or exceed the minimum wage required by law or the prevailing industry wage, whichever is higher. In addition to compensation for regular working hours, employees must be compensated for overtime hours at the rate legally required in the country of manufacture or, in those countries where such laws do not exist, at a rate exceeding the regular hourly compensation rate.Workers have the right to compensation for a regular work week that is sufficient to meet workers’ basic needs and provide some discretionary income. Where compensation does not meet workers’ basic needs and provide some discretionary income, business partners must take appropriate actions to progressively raise employee compensation and living standards through improved wage systems, benefits, welfare programmes and other services.

WORKING HOURS

Employees must not be required, except in extraordinary circumstances, to work more than sixty (60) hours per week including overtime or the local legal requirement, whichever is less. A regular work week must not exceed 48 hours, all overtime work must be consensual and not requested on a regular basis. Employees must be allowed at least twenty four (24) consecutive hours rest within every seven-day period, and must receive paid annual leave.

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION & COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Business partners must recognise and respect the right of employees to join and organise associations of their own choosing and to bargain collectively. Business partners must develop and fully implement mechanisms for resolving industrial disputes, including employee grievances, and ensure effective communication with employees and their representatives.

DISCIPLINARY PRACTICES

Employees must be treated with respect and dignity. No employee may be subjected to any physical, sexual, psychological or verbal harassment or abuse, or to fines or penalties as a disciplinary measure.

Business partners must publicise and enforce a non-retaliation policy that permits factory employees to express their concerns about workplace conditions directly to factory management or to adidas without fear of retribution or losing their jobs.

HEALTH & SAFETY

A safe and hygienic working environment must be provided, and occupational health and safety practices which prevent accidents and injury must be promoted. This includes protection from fire, accidents and toxic substances. Lighting, heating and ventilation systems must be adequate. Employees must have access at all times to sanitary facilities which should be adequate and clean. Business partners must have health and safety policies which are clearly communicated to employees. Where residential facilities are provided to employees, the same standards apply.

ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

Business partners must make progressive improvement in environmental performance in their own operations and require the same of their partners, suppliers and subcontractors. This includes: integrating principles of sustainability into business decisions; responsible use of natural resources; adoption of cleaner production and pollution prevention measures; and designing and developing products, materials and technologies according to the principles of sustainability.

Adidas Audit Types

Type of Audit	Objective	Scope of Audit
Initial Assessment (IA)	To assess newly proposed factories against Zero Tolerance (ZT) and Threshold Issues (TI).	All Zero Tolerance and Threshold Issues (ZT&TI), Management Commitment Evaluation (MCE) and Management System Evaluation (MSE)
Initial Assessment Follow-Up	To determine whether the factory has remedied all Threshold Issues which were identified in an IA and that no new ZT or TIs exist.	All ZT & TI, MCE and MSE, similar to an IA. All the open issues from the IA must be assessed. Scope is used for all the second visits where the first designation of the factory is either “SEA Rejected with Second Visit”, "Compliance Override - High Risk", or “SEA Accepted--Subject to Conditions”.
Performance Audit (PA)	To monitor compliance in existing suppliers against all areas of adidas’ Workplace Standards & Guidelines	All code provisions including ZT & TI, MCE and MSE must be reported on. Auditors should also report all identified non-compliances from any other categories of non-compliances that fall outside the scope of ZT/TI. All the open issues from the previous audits and any allegations shared by third parties must also be assessed.
Performance Audit Follow Up	To verify remediation of existing open issues (TI or NC) only. This is not a full scope PA.	Only issues that requires immediate attention ZT/TI and other required code provision can be skipped in this type of focused audit.
Desktop Performance Assessment (PA)2	Same as PA but conducted remotely by an auditor instead of being physically onsite.	Same as PA but should have prior agreement by SEA Director, as it should only be used if physical PA cannot be conducted.
Special Investigation	To investigate allegations based on third-party complaints, or issues that may have been identified in another assessment that requires further investigation by a subject matter expert.	The scope is limited to the specific focus area of the investigation.

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Adidas

Adidas Workplace / Employment Standards

FORCED LABOUR

CHILD LABOUR

DISCRIMINATION

WAGES, BENEFITS & COMPENSATION

WORKING HOURS

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION & COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

DISCIPLINARY PRACTICES

HEALTH & SAFETY

ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

Adidas Audit Types

Type of Audit

Objective

Scope of Audit

Initial Assessment (IA)

Initial Assessment Follow-Up

Performance Audit (PA)

Performance Audit Follow Up

Desktop Performance Assessment (PA)2

Special Investigation

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