Getting Started on Rights and Wellbeing at Work

January 20, 2026 · By Mahroo Shahbaz and Stephanie Bertels

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In this blog, we share insights from our series of Getting Started Guides that address issues related to rights and wellbeing at work. These guides form part of a larger series of issue-based Getting Started Guides that aim to support the development of an embedded sustainability strategy.

We recommend that you start with our broad guide introducing human rights: Human Rights: A Getting Started Guide.

What are human rights?

Human rights ensure that everyone can live a life of dignity and respect, without discrimination or deprivation. They are established in the International Bill of Human Rights and its guiding declarations and treaties. In the context of work, human rights aim to prevent worker exploitation, as well as prevent discrimination, unfair treatment, and unsafe work.

Companies can both positively and adversely affect human rights across their operations and decision-making, from human resources and community relations efforts, to procurement, logistics, data management, environmental management, and many other functions. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work is an expression of commitment by governments and employers’ and workers’ organisations to uphold basic human values including:

Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining
The elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour
The effective abolition of child labour
The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupationA safe and healthy working environment

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) outline states’ obligations to respect, protect, and fulfil human rights and fundamental freedoms, the responsibility of all business enterprises to respect human rights, and the need for appropriate and effective remedies when rights are breached.

Three pillars of the UN guiding principles

Companies, no matter their size or where they operate, are required to respect human rights, ensure the equitable treatment of workers in their operations and in their supply chain, and prevent impacts on the human rights of people in the communities where they (and their business partners) operate. Whether in your direct operations or your value chain, worker health and safety, compensation, freedom of association, workplace culture, and more are all related to the human rights of workers. Companies are increasingly expected to conduct due diligence to understand their operational and value chain human rights impacts, take preventative or corrective action where needed, and transparently disclose their commitments and performance.

Getting Started Guides - Key Topics

Our remaining seven Getting Started Guides on Rights and Wellbeing at Work help to further explain key concepts and outline the work required to address:

Anchored in research, these seven topic focused guides (outlined in the table below) tackle specific sustainability sub-issues to help you (and others in your business) understand the work ahead. We explain each sub-issue along with relevant trends, system thresholds, key concepts, and actors, and pair this with resources to help you along the journey. We also outline common corporate goals and interim targets to show how companies are working to address the impacts of their operational and value chain activities.

To give you a sense of what each guide covers, we outline the range of topics addressed below.

For detailed guidance related to any of the key topics, we encourage you to explore the relevant Getting Started Guide on Rights and Wellbeing at Work.

For more information on how to embed sustainability into your operations and decision-making, visit our website or join our mailing list to be notified about the release of our next set of Getting Started Guides.