Closing the Gap: A Workshop on Fair Living Wages held in collaboration with SDG Leader for Goal 10, Unilever

The Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business led a workshop titled: “Closing the Gap: Reducing Inequalities in the Value Chain” in collaboration with Unilever Pakistan. In the last few years, Unilever has been a pioneer on the conversation of fair living wages and ensuring that everyone across the value chain is compensated commiserate to the economic conditions of the time. This workshop aimed to serve as a case study where Unilever shared its best practices in how it brought this change with industry experts also weighing in on how reducing inequalities leads to better workforce participation and engagement.

This conversation is crucial in today’s business landscape, where inequalities in pay and opportunities continue to exist across the globe. By adopting decent work and inclusive business practice, companies can help ensure that fair wages are paid to their employees and suppliers, and their operations and services economically empower the “bottom of the pyramid” – people and communities on the lowest rungs of wealth.

“What even is Rs 20000 total earning for a family of 6?” said Amir Paracha, CEO of Unilever Pakistan. “That is the amount we spend on a dinner with family these days. The choice to ensure fair living wages for our work force, not just permanent employees but contractual ones, makes sense not just from a business standpoint but from a moral and ethical one.” he added.

The workshop facilitated dialogue because the participants had many questions about how to make the case for decent work and fair wages when upper management cannot see beyond profitability. Syed Saghir Bukhari, (International Labour Organization) shared how companies, governments and international agencies can work together to hold each other accountable following ILO’s committee’s recommendations for fair wages.  Saira Halai Chundrigar shared insights on third party contracts and what the landscape is like in Pakistan. Finally, in a panel discussion with industry experts, Asma Ahmad (National Foods Limited), along with Sarah Beg (HBL – Habib Bank Limited), Aadil Riaz (Pakistan Cables Limited) and Shamsher Farooq (Unilever) shared different perspectives on how their companies were taking the diversity and inclusion mandate forward and fostering a positive work culture across the value chain.

Unilever’s journey on fair living wages provides a valuable case study on the challenges and benefits of adopting such practices, particularly for Pakistan.  The objective of this training was to provide industry leaders with knowledge on reducing inequalities. Through this session, participants gained insights on measuring fair wages, creating decent work environments, and progressing towards inclusive and ethical business practice. Representatives from National Foods, Shan Foods Private Limited, Roshan Packages Limited and Ogilvy Pakistan were in attendance.