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British Brands Lose with Chinese Workers

British brands are at risk due to the conditions of Chinese workers who make the products the British corporate world is buying. The workers` health, safety and welfare were recorded in a recent report called `Changing Over Time` conducted by Impact Limited. This company is an ethical trading consultancy which revealed that China provides a growing number of consumer goods to the international market. Many factory workers often put in up to 400 hours a month (12/13 hours a day or 80-90 hours per week), almost twice the legal limit.

Chinese workers are often forced to work overtime and minimal days off a month, leading to reduced efficiency, increased accidents, worker dissatisfaction and high staff turnover. Factors that include the buying practices of purchasing companies, which, as well as tight lead times and late sample approval, can include purchasers insisting that factories bear air freight costs of late shipments.

Also, internal issues had an effect on the excessive overtime, including inefficient internal production systems, poor human resource management, and inadequate internal communications. The report challenges purchasing companies to work with suppliers over time to provide support for changes and to develop more responsible buying practices. It signals the importance that a new approach to tackling labor practices can have a positive impact even in the most difficult areas and challenges companies to incorporate the changes throughout their supply chains.