SA 8000: Why your manufacturing business needs it

Get your business certified with SA8000

Business sustainability has a larger scope than most people realise. It is not just about the environment or emissions. Rather, sustainability includes other important aspects of a business as well, primarily, social and governance factors and issues.

And there are many benefits to making your business sustainable, ranging from a boost in PR to significant cost savings in the long term. 

There are several organisations that provide guidance, frameworks or standards that help businesses looking to become sustainable. There are reporting standards, like GRI and SASB, for companies that wish to communicate their sustainability information to stakeholders in a standardised way. There are also voluntary organisations, like the CDP and UN Global Compact. 

But for most large businesses, the aforementioned standards do not properly cover a very important aspect of their sustainability performance – social.

The Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) helps meet this requirement. For any business that has employees, their standards present guidelines to improve labour conditions and how they can be communicated to the relevant stakeholders. 

And the best part is, you can get certified if you are successful in meeting the conditions required by the standards. 

How were SA8000 standards created?

The standards were created by Social Accountability International (SAI) in 1997 as the first credible social certification. Since its creation, it has led the industry and has certified over 4000 organisations from around the world. 

Spanning across 58 industries and consisting of companies from 56 countries, the certification program has strong credibility in ensuring proper standards are met for a business’s workforce. 

It is designed for organisations of all sizes, to improve workers’ standards and ensure that their rights are met. It assists businesses of all shapes and forms to understand and consider the social impact of their activities on their workers.

How will the SA8000 standards make your business sustainable?

What will your business gain from adopting the standards and getting certified? There are several benefits, financial and financially material, that your business stands to gain upon joining the certification program. 

SA8000 is the most credible social standard

For starters, getting certified means you are part of the most credible social accreditation standards for businesses in the world. 

You would be following the same high standards of workplace conditions, rights and practices as some of the most ethically run businesses in the world. Joining the standards can directly result in an enhanced reputation for your business.

Proves your commitment to social sustainability

It proves your commitment to improving the conditions of your employees and continually manage and improve your social impact, to all relevant stakeholders.

Important stakeholders such as investors are becoming increasingly concerned with a business’s sustainability performance, and being certified as socially sustainable gives you an advantage. This means your business will now be more appealing to investors or buyers. 

SA8000 helps maintain strong stakeholder relationships

It helps you maintain better relationships with all stakeholders.

While it is easy to only consider the owners and investors while making business decisions, that is not the most sustainable way of doing business. Your employees are a strong part of what drives the success of your business, and getting certified helps you maintain stronger relationships with them.

SA8000 helps improve productivity

It improves the quality of work and productivity. 

With improved standards and working conditions, comes the ability to unlock the potential of your workforce to do more. A happier, more satisfied workforce will result in increased productivity and better quality of work, thereby giving your firm a potential competitive advantage. 

Joining helps reduce risks

It results in better hazard and risk detection. 

This is especially important for manufacturing businesses and reduces the risks associated with workplace injuries, which can result in legal action against the business. Getting your business certified by the SA8000 standards means a considerable amount of risk hedging has been done, making your business more attractive to investors who will care about such risks.

Joining SA8000 helps retain employees

It helps in higher employee retention.

With the improved working conditions drive by the standards, comes a more satisfied workforce. This can result in increased employee retention, resulting in considerable cost savings in recruitment efforts. 

How will your employees benefit from the SA8000 standards?

As discussed it is not just the business as a whole that gains from joining the SA8000 standards. The employees also stand to benefit from important improvements that are resulted by the joining of the certification program. Some of the benefits to employees are:

Safe workplaces and healthy working conditions are mandated by SA8000

With the requirement on businesses to maintain safe and risk-free working conditions, comes improved working conditions for employees. The standards also direct business towards creating a healthier working environment for its employees. 

A living wage is ensured by SA8000

A business that adopts the standards cannot get away with exploiting its workers by paying low wages. The standards dictate that at the very least, living wages are to be paid to all employees. 

Increases awareness of rights and opportunities to organise

The transparency that comes with the standards means workers are made aware of their rights. The SA8000 standards also allow the workers with some right for collective bargaining, stimulating increased organisation among workers, a key to preventing exploitation by employers.

Better relationships with management through the standards

The workforce and management being closer together will only result in a healthier, more sustainable business. The standards present an opportunity for workers to have more input in workplace decisions, and help maintain strong relationships with the management. 

How can you get certified in SA8000?

Joining the SA8000 to get certified requires your business to undergo three primary steps. 

The first step is an online self-assessment that helps determine whether your business is ready to apply for certification or not. Following this step, the next stage involves using the services of an accredited certification body that will conduct multiple audits of your business to determine if you can get certified or not. 

Any organisation that gets certified is free to publicise its achievement and can use the SA8000 certificate they will receive upon getting certified. 

While the certificate itself is valid for three years, keeping it requires your business to undergo on-site surveillance monitoring, likely to be 2 times a year. This ensures your business is not stagnant and is on the track of continuous improvement. 

The full step-by-step guide to getting SA8000 certified can be found on their website. 

How SUSTINARO can help communicate your business sustainability with SA8000

Getting your business SA8000 certified is, for the most part, something that you can initiate yourself. Granted, you will need to use the services of an accredited certification body to get certified, but other than that, it does not require a significant investment of resources for your organisation.

What can require significant investments, is properly communicating your achievement once you are certified. There are ways to ensure that all your stakeholders are made aware of your achievement. And that is where we come in.

SUSTINARO helps your business achieve sustainability. And we begin doing that by optimising your sustainability communication.

We have specialised expertise in sustainability communication, how to present the right information and to whom it must be presented, and more. Contact us now, and take your next step in optimising your business sustainability efforts.