HOMEWORKERS POLICY
Barbour acknowledges that homeworking is a necessary option for specific workers whose circumstances
compromise their ability to integrate with a manufacturing employer’s workforce, and would otherwise not gain
access to essential wages. All Business Partners are required to uphold local employment laws, and assure fair, safe
and dignified working conditions for all workers, including workers employed within their own homes, meeting the
Barbour Supply Chain Code of Conduct. Homeworkers are a vulnerable group of workers, and their rights and
conditions are to be equally upheld. Barbour does not prohibit homeworkers from the Supply Chain. Our
commitments to Transparency require all manufacturing partners to openly state the locations of manufacture of
all goods, and permit periodical assessments of homeworking conditions.
Requirements from Supply Chain Business Partners:
Requirements from Supply Chain Business Partners:
1. Transparency – all manufacturing units are required to declare how many homeworkers they employ:
a. in the SEDEX Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ);
b. to auditors when scheduling the social audit, to allow for sufficient audit time to include
homeworkers assessment, with the assignment of extra days, suggested as
i. 0.5 auditor day extra for 1-2 homeworkers assessment;
ii. 1 auditor day extra for up to 5 homeworkers assessment;
iii. an additional auditor day for every 5 homeworkers assessment;
iv. to 100% homeworkers assessment for the initial audit;
v. specific homeworkers audit, if more than 10% employers work from home;
unless audit standards state alternative guidance;
c. providing the map of homeworkers throughout the Tiers, when requested, with an employee list
(names, verified age, address, social insurance number, contact number, working patterns);
d. to Barbour and other clients at onboarding stage, and at any requested time.
2. Homeworker Management – working conditions are to be communicated to:
a. assure employer commitments via written/communicated contract, with specified pay timelines;
b. local labour department/authorities to help register homeworkers for relevant welfare schemes
and social insurances, and to establish an external grievance channel;
c. homeworkers via an employers training of workplace rights, including how to access employer
tools and how to negotiate reasonable targets, and record piecework tracking and working hours
correctly, together with advice for safety protections for safeguarding others within the home
from any homework activities’ potential impacts undertaken at the declared home site;
d. family members and the surrounding community via easy-read leaflets, highlighting that
homeworkers cannot subcontract to family members, including children, and others (as a
gangmaster), as a means of completing production targets.
3. Brand protection – all branded goods parts and commercial design information is to be assured
confidentiality, and factory management shall not grant homeworking activity to workers/locations that
may place brand protections at risk.
4. Raw materials bundles management - raw materials in and bundles out are to be accounted for and no
branded parts or information are to remain in the home or to be placed in the hands of others. Means of
transportation of parts and raw materials are to be arranged by the employer with assurances of brand
protections.
5. Equipment used in the homeworking or offsite setting are to be employer-paid or provided, or promptly
reimbursed at the next pay period if agreed upon, and adequate to the task.
USEFUL REFERENCES
• ILO Homeworking Convention (1996, C177)
• UK National Group on Homeworking: www.ngh.org.uk
• Homeworkers Worldwide www.homeworkersww.org.uk
February 2024