Better conditions – on the factory floor and beyond

ON THE FACTORY FLOOR

More than 500,000 people work for companies that are direct suppliers to IKEA. We want to make sure that we have a positive impact both on our suppliers, and the societies in which they operate. That’s why we follow our supplier code of conduct.

We actively support our suppliers in improving their employees’ working conditions and everyday lives, for example by ensuring that working hours are not too long and that workers can maintain their family life. Sometimes, a change on the factory floor, such as modernizing equipment, can impact entire industries and societies.

Our supplier code of conduct (IWAY)
Mutual understanding and sharing fundamental values is the basis for all good relationships. This goes for our supplier relationships as well. IWAY specifies our minimum requirements relating to the environment, social impact and working conditions. Each year, auditors make around 2000 checks at suppliers and sub-suppliers, to make sure our code of conduct is followed.

Download the supplier code of conduct

Learn more about IWAY at People & Communities

Building a better business

We want to make sure that everyone involved in making our products enjoys going to work, and we believe that satisfied co-workers are good for business. Through our long-term partnerships, we have taken many important steps towards supporting better working conditions in our supply chain.

Reuniting migrant workers with their families. The MYS Dongguan factory have found a way to reunite migrant workers with their children. After all, employees are their most valuable asset. IKEA supports this important mission and encourages all our Chinese suppliers to follow. It’s not only the right thing to do, it’s better for business.

A pioneer for decent working hours. One of the big issues we have faced is making sure that people at our suppliers are not working too many hours a week. In China, where long hours are common in some industries, in 2015, we reached working hour limits of 40 hours per week and 36 overtime hours per month, while maintaining wage levels.
#SHEMADEIT. Get to know Saroj, Craft Manager, at the social enterprise Rangsutra in India, and learn more about how working and earning her own income has improved her life.
Enabling social change

By partnering with social entrepreneurs and other progressive partners, we can help create life-changing opportunities: reduce poverty, encourage social development and female empowerment.

Weaving a better future. Hand-made rugs are popular for their craftsmanship and rich history, with each rug carrying unique signs of the weavers’ skills. Unfortunately, carpet weaving industry is associated with poor conditions, low wages and exploitation by middlemen – something we’ve decided to change. Together with suppliers in India and Bangladesh, IKEA has established regulated weaving centers to secure decent working conditions, a regular income and a fair salary.

IKEA has gone even further by modernizing the punja loom used in the production of handmade rugs in India,  so it’s more ergonomic and 40 percent more efficient. The new loom, that we haven’t patent protected so that it hopefully can improve working conditions in the entire industry, have made it possible for more women to work at the weaving mills.

Empowering people and communities. SOARÉ placemat is popular among our customers and loved by people who made it too. It’s woven from water hyacinth that grows in the Mekong River in Vietnam. The process of harvesting, drying and weaving the plant is important to people living along the river banks. It keeps the waterway passable, it preserves handicraft tradition and it earns the weavers extra money to pay for schooling.

Redefining craftsmanship. Our NORDRANA series has benefited local women in the Vietnamese countryside. At local handicraft centres, many women now enjoy a formal job for the first time, earning a salary outside of the home.

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