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We work to advance human rights by working to address exploitation and modern slavery risks, with an ambition of contributing to improve the livelihoods of workers in our supply chain.

 

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Our approach

 

Importance to Woolworths Group


Woolworths Group has a complex, geographically dispersed supply chain which includes over 16,000 direct suppliers, ranging from small family businesses through to multinational companies. We source products from multiple geographies with different inherent risks. No retailer is immune to the risks of modern slavery, and with an estimated 50 million people living in situations of modern slavery on any given day, this represents a significant global challenge.

As one of Australia and New Zealand’s largest employers, and with relationships that extend far beyond our direct team members, we are conscious of the welfare and workplace conditions of workers in our supply chain. We recognise business resilience is connected with ethical practices and therefore advancing human rights in our supply chain aligns with our purpose and contributes to our long term stability and success. 

Impact of prioritising this area 



Every product we sell is connected to a person, making protecting human rights in our supply chain non‐negotiable. Our ambition is to not only protect, but to contribute to improving the livelihoods of workers in our supply chain. This challenge will only be solved by partnership and collaboration at scale to lift the tide of what responsible supply chains mean across the board. Through our collaborative efforts, we want our work to address the grassroots causes of modern slavery so that we reduce our risk exposure, support our business resilience and streamline efforts to tackle a global problem.

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Our goals

 

Embed a human rights supplier scorecard to assess and track progress - strengthening transparency, accountability and rewarding performance beyond minimum compliance.
Improve visibility beyond direct (Tier 1) suppliers of our high risk supply chains to strengthen due diligence and embded respect for workers rights. 
Improve transparency and contribute towards closing the living wage gap in key high risk supply chains.
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Our story so far


Our Human Rights Program has been in place for eight years. The first phase (2018-2020) of our work focused on the development and rollout of the Responsible Sourcing Program for own brand and fresh suppliers. The current phase (2021–2025) maintains the Responsible Sourcing Program as a core operational control, whilst also expanding bespoke human rights due diligence to strategically address modern slavery risks, uplifting our human rights governance processes, and enhancing our human rights framework to reflect the growth of the Group and our changing business needs.

As we continue to learn, and our Human Rights Program matures, we have recognised that one size does not fit all in our supply chain, and that there is a need for complementary and compensating controls. Increasingly, our Human Rights Program has taken a more proactive approach to focus on mitigation (rather than simply identification) through seeking to understand grassroots drivers and piloting associated programs to redress these.

 


What we've achieved sets the stage for what's ahead.

$2.1M

returned to 1,500+ workers in our supply chain through proactive supplier remediation F21-F25

#1 ranked retailer

in the KnowTheChain Food & Beverage benchmark rankings in 2023 and 2025

1st Australian retailer

to achieve Better Cotton traceability certification, giving BIG W customers farm-to-store confidence in responsible sourcing
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Our program


Our Human Rights Program is the way in which we seek to identify, prevent and mitigate key risks to people across Woolworths Group’s operations, businesses, sellers, and all suppliers. Recognising that one size does not fit all in terms of how we manage human rights risks, our Human Rights Program comprises four operational pillars, summarised below, which are designed to act as complementary and compensating controls.

Our Responsible Sourcing Program is a key component of our approach to human rights that enables us to manage human rights risks and assess social compliance for those suppliers in scope of our Responsible Sourcing Standards. The Responsible Sourcing Program consists of two main documents – the Human Rights Policy and Responsible Sourcing Standards – with addendums on specific topics. Our Human Rights Policy applies to all suppliers of goods and services to the Group, while select categories of suppliers are also in scope of the Responsible Sourcing Standards.

For more information click here

Whilst our Responsible Sourcing Program includes ongoing due diligence of in-scope suppliers, we recognise that modern slavery risks are also present in lower supply chain tiers. These risks - including risks based on geographies or commodities - require tailored interventions to seek to better manage these risks. For these situations, we develop bespoke interventions to address modern slavery risks.

For more information click here

The third pillar of our Human Rights Program reflects our commitment to providing accessible grievance mechanisms that enable workers in our supply chain to directly raise complaints with us about adverse human rights impacts in our operations and supply chain. Providing access to trusted and effective grievance channels, such as our Supplier Speak Up channel, is integral to achieving this.

For more information click here

The fourth pillar of our Human Rights Program recognises the importance of working collaboratively to create change that addresses modern slavery risks. We seek partnerships where we can collaborate to drive strategic initiatives, add value to existing approaches, leverage collective action and learn from others. We also acknowledge that the insights from our Human Rights Program can help play a role in understanding and advocating for changes or enhancements to policy settings.

For more information click here

Our team is a top priority at Woolworths Group. This is why we strive to create a supportive environment that ensures everyone can feel valued, respected and have the opportunity to thrive. 

As part of this commitment, our Team Member Speak Up service offers an independent avenue (external to Woolworths Group) where you can confidentially raise matters if you ever feel that a concern you have can’t be dealt with internally.  

To raise a team member concern online, please go to the Speak Up website.

Or via the following toll free phone numbers:

  • Australia - 1800 334 319

  • New Zealand - 0800 393 76736

To review our Speak Up policy in English, please click here.

Suppliers

At Woolworths, we are committed to open and positive relationships with all of our suppliers. 

We recognise, however, that a situation may arise where a supplier feels an important concern can’t be dealt with directly with us, and where the supplier would prefer to use an independent and confidential avenue for raising the concern. We have created the Supplier Speak Up Service for this purpose.

Suppliers (or their workers) can contact Supplier Speak Up online or by the toll-free numbers below. If required, interpreters are available in other languages in addition to those countries listed below.

To raise a supplier concern online, please go to the Speak Up website.

Or via the following toll free phone numbers:

Speak Up policies in Arabic, Vietnamese and Korean.

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Our initiatives

Identifying and Remediating Modern Slavery in our Supply Chain

Forced labour is a global challenge

Learn more
Identifying and Remediating Modern Slavery in our Supply Chain

Forced labour is a global challenge

The Ethical Recruitment Marketplace

The ethical recruitment marketplace

Learn more
The Ethical Recruitment Marketplace

The ethical recruitment marketplace

Remediating a modern slavery indicator in our electric vehicle supply chain

Remediating a modern slavery indicator in our electric vehicle supply chain

Learn more
Remediating a modern slavery indicator in our electric vehicle supply chain

Remediating a modern slavery indicator in our electric vehicle supply chain

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Our partnerships


Woolworths Group seeks to work in multi-stakeholder partnerships that both scale impact and promote a coordinated approach to tackling complex issues. We regularly engage with key external stakeholders to understand their expectations in relation to human rights. This includes civil society, government, workers and unions.

global impact
cleaning accountability framework



We also enter into multi-party agreements where we identify strategic opportunities to work towards delivery agreed objectives with different stakeholders.

international accord
ACT logo
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Accepted audit schemes


Within our Human Rights Program, third-party social compliance audit schemes continue to play a fundamental role in supplier risk management. Built on the principle of mutual recognition, we accept audits or findings from the following social compliance industry programs across our global supply chain:

LRQA
DIGNITY IN ALL FOR WORK
sedex
amfori
fair farms
global gap
LRQA
wrap
issara
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Find out more

In F23, we commenced work with third‑party human rights experts Pillar Two to conduct a Group‑wide Human Rights Saliency Assessment. Salient human rights issues are defined as the human rights that are at risk of the most severe negative impacts through a company’s activities or business relationships, based on potential impacts, scale (gravity of impact), scope (number of people impacted), irremediable character (how hard to make good the impact) and likelihood. The assessment included consultations with a number of internal and external stakeholders, including investors, a worker representative and supply chain due diligence partners.

This process has formalised how we identify and articulate salient human rights issues across the Group, beyond our Human Rights Program. As a result, whilst some of our salient issues remain the same (such as forced labour), this assessment acknowledges that work is already being done on some salient issues by other teams across the Group. It is important to emphasise that the Group is not looking to replace existing controls but rather reflecting that these areas feature human rights risks. Importantly, the UNGPs also recognise that it may not always be possible for a business to take effective action on all its human rights impacts simultaneously, which we consider in our risk prioritisation.

The following table describes our salient human rights issues and the part of the Group primarily responsible for managing them. We provide updates on our work and progress in our Annual Reporting Suite, including the Annual Report, Sustainability Reporting and our Modern Slavery Statement

Making nutricious food more accessibleOur Health and Nutrition team partners across the business to make healthier food more affordable and acciessible to our customers
Protecting privacy and responsibly using data of customers and team membersWhile we embrace the use of new and innovative technologies, we are aware of risks to privacy, social impacts and intellectual property, as prioritised by our Data and Privacy teams, and our Cyber Security team
Creating an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplaceThrough our People team, we remain committed to respecting and celebrating inclusivity
Providing a work environment where team members and workers are safe, healthy and wellWhilst also led by our People team, at Woolworths Group health ans safety is everyone's concern, and we acknowledge our responsibilities to the physical and psychological sagfety and ehalth of our team
Combatting labour exploitation in our supply chainWe will continue to implement our HR Program to address modern slavery and labour rights issues in our supply chain, including through our RS Program and other HR Program pillars


A programmatic deeper dive on risks of modern slavery and worker exploitation in our supply chain

We partner with human rights specialists at our external advisors LRQA and Dignity in Work for All (formerly Verite South-East Asia) for strategic input. Within our Human Rights Program, third-party social compliance schemes continue to play a fundamental role in supplier risk management. Built on the principle of mutual recognition, we accept audits or findings from the following social compliance industry programs across our global supply chain:

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Our Human Rights Program sets out our Group-wide human rights framework that is operationalised in partnership with each in scope business unit. We have developed an organisational structure and programmatic  framework to embed human rights management into our business. 

Governance oversight of human rights management is provided by the Board’s Sustainability Committee (SusCo). Responsible sourcing and related human rights issues are raised to the Board through papers compiled by our Group Sustainability team, who have oversight of the Group approach to human rights. 

Our Human Rights Steering Committee comprises Executive and Senior leaders from across each of the Group’s business units. This Committee meets regularly throughout the year, and oversees our Group-wide approach for identifying key human rights risks and impacts in the supply chain, as well as setting and  monitoring our approach and progress. Senior management in each business is then responsible for managing human rights issues with their suppliers.

human rights governance

Our Group Human Rights team is responsible for developing our overarching human rights strategy and annual work plan, which includes our modern slavery work. Human Rights team members in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Thailand are supported by cross-functional working groups for specific prioritised work programs, as well as remediation of issues. Where appropriate, our team works with a number of external program partners to provide strategic advice and support in extreme risk areas.

The Human Rights Team is led by the General Manager of Human Rights and Sustainability Strategy, whose performance management is linked to the human rights policy commitments of the wider Group.

We are committed to maintaining effective systems to identify, assess, respond to and proactively manage modern slavery risks in accordance with relevant legislation, international human rights standards, regulatory obligations, shareholder expectations and good corporate governance principles.

We consider that an effective approach to modern slavery due diligence is one that enables us to identify actual or potential situations of modern slavery in our operations and supply chain, remediate these appropriately and take steps to address root causes.

Credibly tracking the effectiveness of our actions is complex, and we are committed to continuing to refine our approach to assessing effectiveness, including through collaboration with partners that enables us to tackle the root causes of modern slavery risk.

We are also committed to improving the transparency of our supply chain as a critical step in enhancing our due diligence and the overall effectiveness of our modern slavery risk management framework. Our BIG W business does this by publishing the details of factories that directly produce their own brand apparel and general merchandise quarterly on our website. The latest list is available here (as at July 2025) and represents 100 percent of our direct suppliers in these categories. Further information on direct suppliers in Bangladesh is available here in CSV format (note when the CSV file is downloaded this information is uncontrolled). This represents 100% of direct suppliers in Bangladesh as at July 2025.

Similarly, Woolworths Supermarket publishes the list of factories that directly produce our apparel and textile products here (as at July 2025).

We are working to map our suppliers beyond tier one (that is, our direct suppliers who produce the final product) to include tier two and three suppliers where possible. Tier two and three suppliers are our indirect suppliers who produce the components of a final product e.g. fabric suppliers.

Performance

Woolworths has been recognised by external benchmarks for our performance in human rights. 

In  the World Benchmarking Alliance’s 2022 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, which assessed 127 of the world’s most influential companies from the food and agricultural products, ICT and automotive manufacturing sectors on their human rights performance, we ranked 3rd of all companies assessed. When reassessed against a significantly changed methodology, we ranked 5th compared to our peers in the food and agriculture sector in 2025. 

In the 2023 and 2025 KnowTheChain Food & Beverage Benchmark, we were ranked 1st out of 45 global companies for our human rights program. Whilst we are incredibly proud of these achievements as indicators of our progress, we know there is much more to do.

Educating our teams and our suppliers is part of our approach to continuous improvement. We take a targeted approach to training and capacity building to ensure that our teams and suppliers receive the information that is relevant to their roles.

Team

Woolworths Group's approach to human rights and modern slavery training is that relevant team members are aware of the risks and their responsibilities as appropriate to their role. In this way our training program is based on policies and procedures and our team's exposure to these. Examples of our bespoke training include: 

  • Team members: Woolworths Group’s team members are required to undergo training during onboarding including familiarising themselves with the Woolworths Group Code of Conduct. In this Code of Conduct team members are directed to, and required to familiarise themselves with, Woolworths Group’s policy commitments to responsible sourcing including the Human Rights Policy and Responsible Sourcing Standards. Both policies are available in Mandarin for the benefit of our team members based in China. Our Procurement Policy also references the need to source in line with the Human Rights Policy.

For more information on team training of specific business partners please see our latest Modern Slavery Statement. 

 

Suppliers

Woolworths Group communicates its Human Rights Policy and related Standards, and performance expectations to its supply chain and other business partners in a number of ways:  

  • Established and documented specific Policy and Standards (including anti-slavery standards) are communicated to all suppliers and since 2018.

  • Published guidance for suppliers to assist them in implementing the Human Rights Policy and Standards, including Guidance on Addressing Overtime Hours and Guidance on Developing Grievance Mechanisms.

  • Targeted training and capacity building of suppliers related to human rights and modern slavery is carried out through annual supplier Roadshows, targeted capacity building sessions and an online supplier academy.

  • Supplier training is available and recommended by Woolworths Group's Responsible Sourcing team through third party audit scheme platforms to educate suppliers and factory managers.

  • Suppliers are regularly engaged on key human rights and modern slavery risk topics through newsletters and supplier updates.

  • Current and potential suppliers can also access training, resources and guidelines on Responsible Sourcing through the Group’s online Supplier Academy portal.

 

Assessing the effectiveness of our actions

We are committed to maintaining effective systems to identify, assess, respond to and proactively manage modern slavery risks in accordance with relevant legislation, international human rights standards, regulatory obligations, shareholder expectations and good corporate governance principles. 

The below table outlines how we assess our effectiveness of our Human Rights program pillars.

Pillar 1: Responsible Sourcing Program

How we assess our effectiveness:

  • Identifying instances of modern slavery, or otherforms of worker exploitation, in our supply chain and where possible working with supplier to remediate those issues
  • Monitoring trends in audit results to identify where there have been changes and whether our interventions led to those changes
  • Periodic reviews of the RS Program, including reviews by third parties, to assess whether the RS Program remains fit for purpose
  • Examining findings to determine what root causes are controbuting to repeated issues
Pillar 2: Bespoke Interventions

How we assess our effectiveness:

  • Periodical review of risk identification tools to make sure we are considering the dynamic nature of human rights risks
  • Ongoing review of whether our frameworks to manage bespoke areas of risk are fit for purpose
  • Incorporating worker perspectives into our HR Program
Pillar 3: Grievance Mehcanisms

How we assess our effectiveness:

  • Monitoring the number of human rights complaints received to understand if grievance mechanisms are trusted and accessible
  • Reviewing the operation of Supplier Speak Up, including through testing the hotline and provided feedback to third-part host
Pillar 4: Partnerhsips

How we assess our effectiveness:

  • Considering feedback from suppliers, investors and other stakeholders to identify opportunities for improvement

Respecting the human rights of our team members

People are the core of our business, and our commitment to respect the human rights of all workers starts in our own operations. We work across the diverse entities that undertake our retail operations, e-commerce, supply chain and logistics and property development to create better experiences for a better tomorrow. 

Paying our team correctly and on time

Australia’s national minimum wage is set each year by an expert panel of the Fair Work Commission (FWC). The panel invites submissions from a wide range of organisations and also commissions research to inform its decision. In addition to the national minimum wage, there are also higher minimum wage rates and significant penalty rates and allowances contained in the 121 Modern Awards that cover specific industries and occupations.

Woolworths Group follows the law and applies the required minimum wage benchmarks as required, however in the majority of cases our enterprise agreements and employment contracts provide for higher wage rates than the national minimum wage or Award minimum rates (plus penalty rates and allowances).

Woolworths Group has controls and processes in place to ensure that any changes or updates that have occurred in the pay period are captured to ensure accuracy of pay so that we can pay on time and in full. We pay our team on a weekly or monthly basis depending on the nature of the role. The pay period is in line with our obligations under the applicable Industrial Instrument/Award and/or Contract as well as our obligations, which include providing team members with payslip and ensuring pay slips have required information (including the amount paid and tax withheld), under the Fair Work Act. Further, we comply with the applicable legislation in relation to withholding tax and superannuation.

Protecting young team members

At Woolworths Group, we have a commitment to ensure that we are not using child labour in our operations or supply chain. 

In our own operations, we have controls in place during the recruitment process (including verifying age of candidates) to ensure that we are compliant with legislative requirements regarding the legal age of employment in each territory and state. Equally, we comply with all applicable licensing requirements, where we ensure team members who operate machinery that requires a license must provide proof that they are 18 years or older as well as be licensed to operate the Machinery (i.e. Forklift).

Young workers in our supply chain have similar protections such as our Child Labour Addendum. This is detailed more in our Responsible Sourcing Program. 

Communicating our human rights commitments to our team

Woolworths Group communicates its commitment to respecting human rights through our Human Rights Policy and Standards, and associated supporting documents. To reflect these commitments to our team members, team members are required to complete the Code of Conduct training upon commencing in the workplace. 

Further, Woolworths Group clearly defines expectations through policies, of creating a respectful workplace that is free from unlawful discrimination and protecting workers rights, including those team members who are part of a union, as prescribed under the Fair Work Act. Our Line Managers are required to monitor the workplace and raise and address any behaviour that is deemed to be inappropriate, equally our team members are made aware of their obligations and avenues to raise any behaviours that they have witnessed or have experienced, including but not limited to raising concerns in line with our Complaints Handling framework and/or raising an anonymous complaint through SpeakUp. Team Members may also choose to raise concerns through their union which is addressed in accordance with our Complaints Handling Standards.

We publish information about our grievance process in terms of the Speak Up process on our Woolworths Group website, which includes details on how team members and suppliers contact the service to raise any concerns. The business reports on the nature of complaints to the board of directors on a quarterly basis.

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For progress against our goals, see our annual Reporting Suite.