Training Because they manage the commercial relationship, supply chain teams have influence with factories. It is important that they act as ambassadors for Reebok’s human rights standards. We provide human rights training for our sourcing and production teams, as well as external partners including agents and factory managers.

In 2005, we conducted 26 training sessions in 9 countries, attended by more than 75 suppliers. This training was concentrated in key source countries representing 50% of those we cover as high-risk in our supply base. Training focused on common issues, such as working hours, health and safety, as well sustainable solutions to common problems. To extend the reach of our training, we are in the process of launching an e-learning platform available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to target audiences.

Working with apparel factory agents Agents are influential in the apparel supply chain and often have exclusive rights to place orders in a number of factories. Some agents also own factories. This can be a barrier between Reebok and the factory management or potentially an additional resource for our human rights program enabling increased coverage.

In the fall of 2004, Reebok began a project to build the human rights capacity of its largest trading agent. We wanted the agent to have the ability to assess and improve working conditions. As part of the project,

the agent assumed additional responsibility for conducting factory audits, supervising corrective actions and training factories in Reebok’s Standards.

We helped train the agent’s staff to transfer the requisite knowledge and skills. All staff were assessed to establish their suitability for the new role. Following initial training in Bangkok, Thailand, in October 2004, the agent’s staff participated in hands-on training, conducting a series of joint audits with Reebok’s factory inspectors (approximately 6 to 12, depending on the ability of the trainee).

Conscious that outsourcing our monitoring in this way could erode standards, we conducted spot-checks on the agent’s assessments and remediation strategies. These demonstrated that the agents were not yet achieving consistent quality.