Reading this week’s assignment, I instantly thought of the company known as Shein. Anytime I need clothes for an event or simply just want to add clothes to my closet, I head straight to Shein.

Shein is a Chinese online global fast fashion retailer, founded in 2008. It is known for its affordable products, such as clothes, home decor, makeup, jewelry, accessories, and more. According to Shein’s about us page, they state, “We are a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and support the ten principles focused on human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. However, the company’s policy regarding employee labor has always been a topic of discussion. For today’s assignment, I would like to focus on their steps toward sustainability and employee relations.

Shein is globally known for their variety of trendy, cheap, and affordable clothes. But their variety and cheap clothes mean a more stressful work environment for their employees. According to Shein’s labor policy, they “provide health and wellness support, which may take the form of training, benefits, and other resources, to its employees to promote awareness. Shein also works hard to identify potential risks to the health and safety of its staff and mitigate those risks in a timely manner with consideration of respected guidance on the given matter.” Their policy sounds like they do somewhat take care of their employees, however, that in fact is not the case. Society jumped in and the company was found to have under-age, underpaid, and overworked employees. Unfortunately, Shein has yet to make public disclosures on any information on the following steps to fix these labor conditions. Instead, the company decided to distribute gifts to their manufacturers’ frontline workers and their families every spring. As well as their “Spotlight” program issuing CNY ¥1 million per year to support the education of frontline workers’ children. Their ” solutions ” do not help their laborer’s hard-working conditions. This unfortunately implements that Shein may not have any intention of changing the harsh workplace of their employees. An employee was even told to delete all her social media for trying to celebrate the success of Shein’s expansion. The lack of transparency attracted unwanted media attention, as well as society questioning whether Shein’s low prices are sustainable while maintaining high ethical standards. 

Having looked at all this information, I believe in order for Shein or any company to be a more sustainable business with a good workplace for employees, the company should not only focus on their customers but their workers as well. If workers feel safe and valued in their workplace, the company will do better in sales and products. It is important to start now than later, especially with all the attention the media is bringing forward to Shein that could possibly cause them to have to shut down. Employees should be treated as humans and shown value to the company, they should also be appreciated, so from time to time, it wouldn’t hurt to celebrate their achievements. Another important thing to note is they should be paid accordingly, so they can actually live off what they make instead of still struggling. 

I don’t usually eat at many fast food restaurants, but whenever I am out at the mall or in the city and want to grab a bite, my favorite go-to is Chick-fil-a. After this week’s unit, I automatically wanted to research Chick-fil-a because not only do I think they serve the best chicken sandwiches in the fast food chain industry, but because I heard many of the company’s values are influenced by Christian religious beliefs, thus the reason the business is closed on Sundays. The more I looked into the company, the more interesting facts I learned about what goes on behind just a fast food restaurant. 

When you go to the company’s website under their “about us” section, the first thing they cover is the reason they are closed on Sundays. The founder of Chick-fil-a believed that “he and his employees could set aside one day to rest and worship if they choose.” Most of the company’s core values included being a family-owned business, diversity, equality, and serving back to the community.

While looking more in-depth into their website, they provide their annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report. In 2021, the company donated millions of meals to local organizations and communities through the Chick-fil-A Shared Table program. The company volunteers to serve in their hometown of Atlanta in a variety of ways by helping nonprofits maximize their impact and support education and leadership development.

Like any other company, Chick-fil-A is devoted to creating a positive and supportive workplace for its employees. In 2021, they launched funds available to members for times in need. A wide range of community groups is also available to staff, such as Women in Business (WIB), Black Employee Resource Group (BERG), Young Professionals, and the Chick-fil-A Green Team.

The Chick-fil-A Green Team launched in 2021 to help encourage sustainable practices across the business and commits to decreasing environmental impact by reducing food waste. Of course, the quality of the food is what’s very important as well. Since chicken is the center of their menu, they only serve chicken raised with no antibiotics. Most of their food is raised and grown on farms, and their suppliers are verified by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In conclusion, now in the post-pandemic era, social responsibility has become significantly more important. I believe Chick-fil-A is doing a good job supporting local and global communities so far. I recommend they be more eco-conscious in the upcoming years since food waste is a big issue in this industry. For now, the only con is that I hope I don’t crave them on Sundays!

https://www.chick-fil-a.com/about/who-we-are

https://www.chick-fil-a.com/about/giving-back

Forever 21 is a family-owned brand that has approximately about 815 stores around the world. The company Forever 21 is a clothing brand that I’m fond of whenever I desire to shop for attire. It provides me and many other customers with clothing for any season for a low price.

Forever 21 is an American fast fashion retailer brand that supplies their customers with trendy clothes and low prices. However, even though customers may be satisfied with their shopping in Forever 21, there is controversy that revolves around the company due to its ethics towards social responsibility and labor conditions.

It was known that the brand wasn’t vocal about how their production practices can impact the environment leaving many costumers concerned. Forever 21 contributes significantly to the pollution in the environment and to the waste in landfills since the clothes have a short lifespan because they’re of low quality, therefore, sell at low costs. https://www.sbstatesman.com/2019/09/29/sustainable-fashion-is-on-the-rise-as-forever-21-nears-its-end/ It is not acceptable to disregard the damage your products can do to the environment and have lack of social responsibility. To put behind this issue, Forever 21 has responded by stating exactly how they establish conducting their business in an ethical manner. “Forever 21’s provides 100% recyclable and reusable plastic and paper bags in many of its stores, we will continue to transport products via sea versus airfreight in order to help reduce carbon emissions — New Forever 21 stores include energy efficient lighting systems to vastly cut down on energy usage.” https://www.forever21.com/us/socialresponsibility/socialresponsibility.html Thus, emphasizing forever 21’s need to clear any concern their customers may have to show that they’re socially responsible.

Moreover, the labor conditions and employee relations in Forever 21 is uncertain. Employees that work in factories for Forever 21 are paid below minimum wage and work in heinous and unsanitary conditions. “None of its supply chain is certified by labor standards which ensure worker health and safety, living wages, or other labor rights. It also publishes zero information about its supplier policies and audits and doesn’t disclose any policies or safeguards to protect suppliers and workers in its supply chain from the impacts of COVID-19.” https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-forever-21/ The employees are significant to a business so they must be provided with ethical working conditions. Additionally, the health and safety of their workers should be essential and a priority because it’s morally right to provide them to work in a safe and sanitary working condition. Anything opposite of safe and sanitary would be a human right violation for the workers. In addition, Forever 21 then committed to providing their workers to a safe workplace and safe environment. The brand calls attention to the fact that they cooperate with the Department of Labor and have a global ethical program to avoid exploitative, illegal or hazardous conditions and abuse in the workplace. https://www.forever21.com/us/socialresponsibility/socialresponsibility.html

All in all, in order to corporate social responsibility and have a sustainable business is to provide information on how the company’s production works and how it may affect the environment. The public has the right to know how your products are being produced and how they may affect the environment. Hiding the truth on how harmful your products can be to the environment and not doing anything to stop it is utterly immoral and unethical. Also, a company should prioritize all its workers’ health from the beginning and not realize halfway how horrible their working conditions are because behind the title “employee” that is still a human being.

Business ethics are the moral standards and principles that guide a company. The presence of moral and ethical standards can serve as a guarantee of a comfortable existence not only for people in everyday life, but also in doing business. This gives owners the ability to manage relationships within and outside the company. Compliance with ethics gives companies some advantages, for example, an advantageous position in the market, respect and understanding within the team, employee involvement, customer loyalty. Companies that adhere to ethics have a social mission and in one way or another improve the quality of their work, giving benefits and incentives not only to employees and customers, but also to the environment.

     One such company is Starbucks. Millions of people around the world know and love the drinks of this company. Starbucks has long won the hearts and trust of people by improving the quality of drinks, service and work. Starbucks believes that sticking to ethical business practices helps them stay successful in the industry. Starbucks executives set up a web page where customers leave feedback and suggestions regarding the shortcomings in the business, in turn, they improve the quality of work. Starbucks is trying its best to improve its operations and reduce the damage it does to the environment. In terms of improvements, they have invested a large amount of money ($5 million) to develop more heat-resistant cups for hot drinks.

     Just like many businesses, Starbucks respects nature and natural resources and tries its best to save it. For example, they have already introduced reusable cups and plan to build on this by cutting disposable cups completely and using recycled or reusable cups instead. This company wants to reduce waste and also use recycled materials. Another important point is food waste. It’s not a secret that after a shift closes, there’s a lot of unsold food left at the end of the day. Previously, this food was simply thrown away, which would certainly incur great losses and waste of products. But Starbucks teamed up with Feeding America in 2016 to donate their unsold food, which they are very proud of. Because they not only benefit themselves but also help starving people. 

Starbucks also:

– invests in farms that grow and supply coffee beans. They want to provide 100 million coffee trees for farmers to develop and participate in the Sustainable Coffee Challenge.

-supports the LGBTQ+ community by donating money and actively participating in pride events.

-reducing the amount of water consumed.

– work with dairy farmers and The Nature Conservancy to improve their conditions.

-they have developed strawless lids for cups, which on their part will help to avoid environmental pollution.

     The guarantee of success for doing business is the quality of work, it depends on the situation in the team.  Accordingly, the quality of work and the success of the business will depend on how the manager distributes priorities and provides working conditions. Starbucks also cares about its employees, giving them many privileges. For example, it covers paid off time (vacation, holidays), work-related expenses, in store discount(30%), and even health coverage. If employees are satisfied with their job position and conditions, they will work better and more productively, which will lead to greater customer satisfaction.

     Starbucks participates in many organizations that help the environment in one way or another, and this deserves the love and trust of customers. After all, you will agree that buying goods in a friendly and supportive place is much more pleasant. Moreover, with our purchase, we each time participate in the development of the business and all the organizations supported by that business. 

https://livingourvalues.starbucks.com/en-us/living-our-values

https://www.starbucks.com/about-us/business-ethics-and-compliance/

https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2022/starbucks-innovates-tests-and-learns-from-store-partners-to-achieve-waste-goals/

Starbucks has been part of my life for a while now. I go there daily to get my morning coffee and get greeted by amazing baristas. I also used to work there, so I know how hard it sometimes gets. However, Starbucks always supported us to get through tough times.

Starbucks is mainly known for its excellent customer service, and its slogan is “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.” When I first got hired, I had to complete a training module about sexual assault and how to prevent that. While training, the main thing they taught us was customer connection. Another thing my manager told me was Starbucks tries to help its employees in every way possible. For example, employees had healthcare, free Lyft depending on the store’s location, free therapy, and many more. Before, Starbucks used to get many reports on employee relations issues. To fix this, they encourage employees to speak up and educate them on what is right and wrong in the work environment. Starbucks also commits to access and disability inclusion; you can work at Starbucks even if you have a physical disability. In addition, Starbucks doesn’t discriminate if you are a felon.

Starbucks cares about its Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR). CSR’s primary goal is to have a positive impact on communities. Starbucks partners up with community stores to help nonprofit organizations. “The nonprofits these stores work with offer services aimed to meet the needs of the communities they’re located in. Starbucks in turn donates $0.05 to $0.15 per transaction to the nonprofit partner.” In 2004, Starbucks launched an ethical sourcing approach called Coffee Farmer and Equity (C.A.F.E) practices. “C.A.F.E. Practices is a verification program that measures farms against economic, social and environmental criteria, all designed to promote transparent, profitable and sustainable coffee growing practices while also protecting the well-being of coffee farmers and workers their families and their communities.” (C.A.F.E) ensures their coffee and tea are dependably and ethically produced.

As for environmental sustainability, by 2030, Starbucks is committed to reducing carbon, water, and waste footprints by half. They will expand plant-based menus, switch to reusable cups, and invest in regenerative agriculture, reforestation, forest conservation, and water replenishment. Starbucks is also investing about $97 million in new community solar projects. It will supply solar energy to 24,000+ households, small businesses, nonprofits, churches, universities, and Starbucks Stores. Starbucks doesn’t only serve coffee but also helps its planet.

https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-solidifies-pathway-to-a-planet-positive-future/

https://www.whywhisper.co/the-blog/2015/9/24/corporate-social-responsibility-how-starbucks-is-making-an-impact

https://stories.starbucks.com/uploads/2022/04/Starbucks-2021-Global-Environmental-and-Social-Impact-Report-1.pdf

https://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/reporting-hub/

https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/cafe-practices-starbucks-approach-to-ethically-sourcing-coffee/

A company in which I will discuss is Nike as it is a company that I regularly shop and interact with. When it comes down to Nike it is a titan in the world of fashion and has been around for about six decades. In regards to social responsibility and their ability to pursue sustainable business practices Nike has done a lot recently in this regard. In the year 2020 with their community approach program, the company spent around upwards of almost $90 million to help 17 million kids get active and engaged with many different sports. In part with this initiative was also the hiring of about 100,000 coaches to help communities that were in need as well.

After doing more and more research I realized that Nike was pushing out gender equality and they devoted around $100 million to their Girl Effect program in the five year span of 2015-2020. This helped millions of young girls across 20 countries between Africa and Asia. There were tools also created to help those same girls engage in sports and have fun with them as well. Nike has definitely made strides which their business practices in all regards and that is a reason to why they continue to find success.

As of recent they also had a 10 year $140 Commitment to support social equality with Converse and Jordan as this was for African Americans. The goal here is to help and bring awareness to getting equal right regardless of the color of one’s skin. About $40 million was devoted to supporting many organizations and nonprofits.

Nike has been it clear that they are trying to reduce waste and due to this they have stated that they will use more sustainable materials as well as using more recyclable products. As for all the good with Nike, they have also been under scrutiny for some human right violations. In the year 2020, it was reported that Nike had been subjecting a Muslim minority in China to religious discrimination, they released a statement stating that they were concerned about the allegations but they did not source anything from that particular region.

Nike was also under fire for stopping payments for female athletes who were expecting while under contract. The controversy led to them eventually ending this rule but they are still being ridiculed for the amount of density the rule had and rightfully so.

To conclude I believe that even though Nike has done a lot of good things for the community and continue to find ways to initiate positivity within these communities, they still have certain things in which they need to work on to ensure that they can continue to be as big as they are. After doing research they definitely seem to be on the right path.

Source : https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/other/nike-csr/

     I fly with Delta frequently, I am part of their loyalty program as well as an AMEX holder through them. The biggest reason for this is because the consistent service I receive from them. From their app platform, gat agents and their flight attendant my expectation is always met, as well there are many moments it is exceeded. I  correlate this mainly to the idea ”happy employees, happy service”. Ethics falls under moral compass and for companies to hold high ethical standards that begins with the people they employee then secondly how those individuals are treated.
     Looking a bit into their standard of work environment, along side policy’s in place in relation to how customers are treated Delta Airlines finds ways to balance their choices.
     One of the topics that sticks out is the fact that Delta Airlines being one of the largest airlines in the Unites States is actually one of the few to not have their flight attendants, baggage handlers in a union. Pilots are unionized but this has been revisited by the company a few times over the year. The question is ”why are they not unionized? & why do they decide to stay with Delta and give great service?”
     On their website they show some of the awards they currently hold including Delta was recognized as the “No. 1 airline in customer satisfaction in North America by the J.D. Power 2021 North America Airline Satisfaction Study” https://news.delta.com/delta-named-best-overall-customer-service-airline-business-traveler-usa showing how my experience with Delta is something that many other customers are feeling. Traditionally the output an employee produces weighs heavily on how they are feeling. For an individual to create a satisfactory product they not only need the proper tools, but also the knowledge as well as the want to accomplish this outcome.
     The lack of union is being outweighed at Delta because alot of their other benefits given to their employees. Wages, benifits as well as a culture of backing their employees is part of their culture. In the previous years Delta faced discrimination charges around three Muslim customers that were asked to be taken off the plan and rebook for another flight. Even though the reasons behind this decision falls under other ethical reasonings the one that sticks out is that Delta backs their employees decision. ”According to the order, flight attendants and other passengers complained about the Muslim passenger, but the captain decided to continue with the flight after his co-pilot walked through the cabin and observed nothing remarkable.” https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2020/01/27/delta-air-lines-fined-50000-discrimination-against-muslim-flyers/4587180002/ Employee safety should always be the companies first priority but in business money at times outweighs this. Delta looked into the situation further but in the moment took their employees safety into reasoning, assuming that there must be rules in place that allow this to happen.
     The previous example does still raise a concern that discrimination  should not be allowed even if someone uses their lack of feeling safe as a reason. Giving employees courses as well as outlets [therapy] to be able to learn more of other peoples culture and views could benefit the companies customer service and ethical standings with the community. This could also be another moment Delta allows its self to have a birds eye view on decision and world issues.
     In 2021 Delta announced they will be charging their employees a higher health insurance premium is they aren't vaccinated. The issue here that I see they are falling short is that the decision is not one that effects everyone equally. “Employers now get to basically fine you for doing things that are bad for somebody's health," says Professor Mukherjea https://www.ktvu.com/news/delta-airlines-new-vaccine-policy-for-employees-raises-ethical-questions When major changes like this happen is something that has to be fair across the company for it to be fair discipline. If the company feels they need certain standard of health practices from their employees it needs to be one that all can stand behind.
     Overall I do believe that the great customer service Delta Airlines is known from comes from a safe and fair work environment where employees are given the chance to perform to their best abilities. With this said Delta could still do things to improve this to make it better for some smaller groups within their own company as well as outside of it.

I chose the brand Uniqlo for this weeks’ assignment because it is my favorite clothing brand and I thought it was a good opportunity to learn more about Uniqlo’s’ ethical behavior as a company and what goals they have for the future regarding sustainability and policies.

I started by checking on the official website what news they had published recently, and I found the recent “PEACE FOR ALL” charity campaign. The campaign shirts were launched this past June and up to this September they raised a little more than $1 million. These funds were donated to three non-profit organizations: UNHCR-UN Refugee agency, Save the Children, Plan International. I also read that they had formed an alliance with the UN Women in 2019, which I thought it was something good but apparently there is a hidden motive for it. I will be talking more about it later in this paper so do not forget this fact.

After that, a simple google search brought up reviews and articles about the company’s ethical behavior and sustainability. According to the article “Is Uniqlo Ethical and Sustainable?” written by Daisy Jordan this earlier this year, Uniqlo has a ‘repair and reuse’ program in which they use their own garments, reuse them, and avoid contributing with the large amount of cloth that go to waste every year. In addition, they also utilize the Blue Cycle program, which is a process that reduces the use of water by 99% when making jeans. And even though it is recent, they claimed that is just the beginning.

Uniqlo also claims that by 2030, 50% of its products will be recyclable and that all of its offices use renewable energy. But is important to know that while these campaigns and environmentally friendly policies are being implemented in the company, the majority of Uniqlo’s’ garments are not made of sustainable materials yet. And here is where I began to get more information about how the company is producing its articles at the moment.

When I found out that his percentage for the Fashion Transparency Index is not more than 40%, I started digging information as to why. The reason is that they do not disclose the methods for implementing those policies and do not list the suppliers for production. This could lead to hidden bad working condition issue. And turns out there is an ongoing case involving $5 million and unpaid workers.

Let me tell you how the story goes, and we will see how ethical Uniqlo actions were: The factories Jaba Garmindo located in Indonesia were the major suppliers for Uniqlo until 2015 when they shut down. These factories had been under investigation for poor labor conditions and work abuses, such as harassment and the firing of pregnant workers and this is important because the majority of workers were women. What Uniqlo did was stop buying from those factories to separate themselves from this investigation causing the factories to go to bankruptcy. After that, they failed to pay severance payment for almost 2,000 individuals denying responsibility for the unpaid wages.

Remember when I told you about the alliance with the UN Women, it seems to me that these two actions contradict themselves. On one side, supporting the rights of women and equality of gender and the other side, them not paying the severance to the workers who lost their jobs from one day to another. I would start by paying that debt to the workers who got the company to the place it is right now because I believe it is the ethical thing to do, being grateful and compensating for arduous work.

The website “Good on You” rates the work environment for Uniqlo at ‘not good enough’ and up to a certain point I agree. While it is true that Uniqlo might be lacking in the labor area, it has projects for the future and set policies that they claimed to be following, having begun already with some of them, like animal policies and not using fur and non-mulesed wool. Let us not forget that this brand has been gaining popularity on these recent years, so I believe that are still in the process of finding the best ways for developing and staying ethical.

Sources:

https://www.uniqlo.com/jp/en/contents/sustainability/planet/products/bluecyclejeans/

https://cleanclothes.org/news/2020/uniqlo-and-the-women-owed-55-million

https://www.fastretailing.com/eng/group/news/2209291100.html

Uniqlo – Sustainability Rating – Good On You

Is Uniqlo Ethical and Sustainable?

How Ethical Is Uniqlo?

A business decision is guided by business ethics, which consider moral principles. An enterprise’s performance is evaluated by its ethical standards, which serve as a foundation for decision-making. Businesses with high ethical standards are able to attract new customers, boost customer loyalty, build good morals within their organizations, and cope with the negative news they might face. Businesses that adhere to high ethical standards can attract new customers, increase loyalty from existing customers, cultivate good morals within their organizations, and protect themselves from bad news. In order to develop strong business ethics, one must be honest, possess high integrity, be accountable to oneself and others, be polite, loyal, follow the law, strive for excellence, and be leaders. 

A company’s ability to succeed depends on both the quality of its goods and its moral fiber. One such example is Coca-Cola. The beverage sector is dominated by the well-known and well recognized brand Coca-Cola. The company has been in business for more than 130 years and has a solid reputation. All employees of the Coca-Cola Company are subject to the Code of Business Conduct (the “Code”), which provides guidelines for conducting business in an ethical and responsible manner. All directors, executives, and workers must abide by the Code, which outlines the values that underlie business operations. Choosing Passion, Diversity, Integrity, Accountability, and Quality serve as the Code’s guiding principles. Always acting in line with their corporate principles.

Producing goods that are safe for both humans and the environment is essential. The Coca-Cola Company is one example of this, which cut the amount of sugar in Coca-Cola since it is bad for individuals. By 2030, Coca-Cola aims to prevent environmental damage so there is no more packaging trash.  By creating recyclable packaging. To decrease our use of environmentally hazardous plastic.

The communities in which they operate are important to them, so they work hard to be responsible members of those communities.  By conducting business ethically, donating to charity, and participating in public policy discussions, they do their part to help.  They are also responsible for the manufacture, packaging and sale of Coca-Cola and other commodities, in accordance with their articles of incorporation. 

 They follow these values ​​daily, which are values ​​that are rooted in their culture and guide them in daily behavior:

• Leadership and courage in creating a better future.
• Use collective intelligence to collaborate
• Being truthful is integral to integrity.
• Keeping our commitments requires accountability
• Celebrate diversity and individuality

Further, their identity and way of doing things are founded on a set of guiding principles.

• Protect what they have by staying alert.
• Responsible
• Demonstrate justice toward others.
• Contribute to quality and value
• Respecte.

They put these values at the core of all they do. If they wish to succeed, they must conduct themselves morally and properly. The Coca-Cola Company seeks to promote a moral and accountable culture. Participating in political activities and dialogue is equally vital. The Coca-Cola Company’s main goals are to preserve morals and behave ethically in business. Since they have a long history of operating honestly, they expect the same of their employees. To ensure that staff members uphold the Code of Business Conduct, a Chief Compliance Officer and the Global Ethics Office have been established. Everyone in the community is accountable for their deeds and is expected to know and follow the Code.