Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment 2024 - Can businesses move from policy to practice?

In the decades to come, demographic change will see shrinking workforces in many parts of the world from Europe, to Asia, to North America. These countries will desperately need migrant workers to sustain their economies, service their industrial sectors, and provide care for ageing populations. 

Yet migrant workers remain vulnerable to many forms of exploitation - including the unethical practice of recruitment fees, which can lead to exploitation throughout their migration journeys. Many companies now recognise the problem and have plans in place to stop recruitment fees, but turning policy into practice remains a significant challenge. IHRB’s upcoming Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment will examine where more progress is needed on this critical issue. 
 

Recruitment fees are starting point for exploitation

Migration for work is usually a cycle consisting of three phases: recruitment, employment and return. If workers are made more financially vulnerable during the recruitment phase through recruitment debt, they may be exposed to further exploitation. As I outlined last year in a commentary on Anti-Slavery Day, the association between flawed recruitment processes, trafficking and forced labour is well established. 

Recruitment debt may also dilute or negate efforts by companies to improve pay and conditions at other stages of the migration cycle. A typical example is payment of a “living wage” to workers who then might have to use a significant percentage of their income to pay for recruitment fees. In fact, a “living wage job” becomes a higher value job, which can mean it comes with increased recruitment costs. The enhanced wage for the worker is undermined by the fact that they are paying a higher recruitment fee to secure that job.  

It should also be noted that many countries are dependent on migrant worker remittances for significant proportions of their GDP. The value of those remittances is also severely diluted if  workers are repaying recruitment debt.

Signs of growing accountability 

Recruitment has become a totemic issue in recent years. Companies are now facing increased societal expectations from staff, customers, and investors to remove exploitation from their supply chains. Increased legal and due diligence requirements also add impetus for action and change. Press exposé have highlighted how regulatory missteps following Brexit and the expansion of the UK Seasonal Workers Scheme, and the difficulty of undertaking effective due diligence on workforce providers at increased distance, results in actors at all stages of their supply chain being compromised. 

This is reflected in the significant number of companies that now have policies to prevent exploitation caused by recruitment fees. Some companies have also ensured repayments to workers if fees are found to have been levied on them. The inclusion of recruitment fees and efforts to prevent workers paying these costs is now a regular feature of company ESG reports and modern slavery statements. 

The recent inclusion of the Employer Pays Principle in the supply chain reporting platform SEDEX’s audit protocol, used by many leading brands, begins to hold companies to greater account for the commitments they have made whilst also sparking overdue debate on where responsibility for recruitment ultimately lies. 

Challenges moving from policy to practice

Progress, however, is set against the backdrop of a deeply embedded system that has for too long lifted recruitment costs from company balance sheets. A system which has allowed false price points predicated on degrees of exploitation has become the established norms. It is time to return those costs to where they belong, a cost of production, a cost of doing business. It is not an added cost. It is a cost correction. 

Over the last few months, as part of IHRB’s Responsible Recruitment Register project, we’ve undertaken a comprehensive review of the recruitment policies of 1000 leading companies to determine how many have publicly available policies that prohibit charging of recruitment fees to migrant workers. Of those reviewed, 397 had a publicly available policy that prohibits charging such fees to workers in their direct operations or global supply chains.

The growing number of companies with clear policies to prevent workers from paying fees for their recruitment is welcome.  Recruitment related costs should be paid by businesses. But there remains a disconnect between policy and practice. Despite commitments by companies to end this practice, many migrant workers are still paying recruitment fees. 

Many companies and their suppliers claim they cannot find recruiters willing to work to an Employer Pays model. Recruiters who are committed to responsible recruitment policies and practices still say they cannot find clients. Effective government oversight and regulation of the recruitment industry in many countries also remains inadequate, denying companies the clear frameworks that enable them to compete on a level playing field. 

The findings of IHRB’s survey of company recruitment policies will be a key theme of this year’s Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment. On June 25 - 26, IHRB and our partners will bring different parties to the table to keep up the pressure to end the practice of recruitment fees, and discuss what is needed to develop strategies that turn policies into effective practices that support migrant workers.

Migration will remain an inevitable feature of the world of work everywhere. Coordinated and planned migration policies  can help ensure the economies of countries of origin and destination are able to flourish. Ensuring recruitment processes free from exploitation can contribute to  addressing poverty and  realising  the Sustainable Development Goals. Responsible recruitment is also a component of the Just Transition and efforts to address the climate crisis. It requires, however, clear government frameworks and effective management of business processes if the benefits are to be shared. There is a significant business opportunity developing but it needs coalitions of all stakeholders to ensure we leave behind flawed, exploitative practices and deliver migration with dignity.