The Walt Disney Company Funds Good World Solutions
Leveraging Mobile Technology to Promote Worker Engagement in China
OAKLAND, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 /3BL Media/ – With project funding from The Walt Disney Company, Good World Solutions will utilize its cutting-edge Labor Link platform to capture half a million new data points from up to 100,000 workers on job satisfaction, working hours, and worker-management communications in up to 70 factories in China. The anonymous worker feedback will be captured via mobile technology and begin to connect the dots between labor-related issues like working hours and real business issues like job satisfaction and worker retention.
With 6.8 billion mobile subscriptions globally, brands have a new tool to empower workers and connect directly with them in real-time. In China, the world’s manufacturing hub, there are 1.2 billion mobiles and 89% mobile penetration. Labor Link is the first tool to leverage the transformative power of mobile technology to give workers voice through a direct and anonymous reporting channel, and give factories and brands actionable, real-time data on specific working conditions issues to drive change.
“We believe technology can be a key enabler to help drive lasting and large-scale improvements in factory working conditions,” said Michael J. Widman, Vice President, International Labor Standards at The Walt Disney Company. “Labor Link specializes in building worker engagement through an anonymous mobile tool. The worker insights they obtain can help foster safe, inclusive and respectful workplaces.”
“We are thrilled to have Disney fund this new program,” said Executive Director Heather Franzese. “With the support, we will offer a new resource for factory workers in China to provide direct feedback on labor-related issues that affect their lives day to day. This investment will prove a new model for meaningful worker engagement at scale and a new model for partnership with factory management to track progress over time on key indicators of worker satisfaction.”
Labor Link has already reached more than 125,000 workers and farmers in 13 countries and counting. The tool is expected to reach a million people globally in five years.
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About Good World Solutions
Good World Solutions, the nonprofit social enterprise behind Labor Link, develops innovative technology solutions to serve millions of vulnerable workers, farmers and artisans in global supply chains. Good World’s award-winning Labor Link platform has been recognized by Ashoka Changemakers/Feedback Labs, GSMA Global Mobile Awards, the Global Social Benefit Institute at Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society, and the Gratitude Network. By increasing transparency in global supply chains, Good World Solutions drives systemic change in company buying practices and catalyzes economic empowerment for the people that make popular consumer products.
Contact:
Heather Franzese, Good World Solutions
heather@goodworldsolutions.org
510.844.1693
@GoodWorldTech
