Levi Strauss launches guidebook on workers’ health

The Levi Strauss Foundation has recently launched a guidebook to help factories improve their workers’ health and manage their health activities as a basic management function. The guidebook has drawn on real experiences in factories to present a compelling business case for companies investing in the health and betterment of their workers.

The guidebook has been written in partnership with Meridian Group International, Inc. under the USAID-funded Evidence Project.‘Managing Health at the Workplace: A Guidebook’ has done research to expand the access to quality health services for women and men workers and to help companies achieve important business benefits.

This guidebook is the latest resource that Levi Strauss & Co. makes available as part of its commitment to making the ‘Worker Well-being programme’ available to others in the apparel industry. The guidebook is designed to give clear and compelling – and practical – answers. It is part of a package of tools to provide more in-depth guidance that enables managers to take ownership of the factory’s health improvements.  

It includes a scorecard and a ‘how-to’ toolkit.  The scorecard is for self-assessment that provides suggested indicators that can be integrated into a factory’s goals or key performance indicators for health. The ‘How-to’ toolkit comprises eight modules for implementing specific improvement activities related to self-assessment and action planning, health staff, clinic services and budgeting among others.

“We are a company that is always looking beyond what we can achieve alone,” said Chip Bergh, Levi Strauss & Co president and CEO, when the open-sourcing was announced. “By partnering and sharing our knowledge, we can create a larger impact. That’s our priority and it gets to the heart of how we do business,” he added.

“It is common for factory managers to think—why should I have to deal with one more non-business issue? And what more can be done about health, in any case?,” said David Wofford, vice president at Meridian and senior advisor to the Evidence Project. “In fact, health is a business issue, and workplaces could do a lot more with their existing resources than they often realise.”