Improving Worker-Manager Relations

Project

In southern China, the world’s largest light manufacturing hub, worker- management relations are a significant challenge. In 2008 alone, unhappy workers filed 70,000 labor dispute cases. In this context, improving worker- management relations holds significant business value for factories participating in HERproject. To glean insight from factory managers and workers, HERproject’s He Zheng distributed anonymous surveys to three factories, two Timberland suppliers, and one shared Timberland and LS & Co. supplier. She received responses from 29 management staff and 71 workers, and she conducted in-depth interviews with two managers.

Impact

What Zheng found spoke volumes about the business value of HERproject: All managers and all but one of the workers felt that HERproject had the potential to improve worker-management relations. Workers felt that HERproject represented an investment by management in workers’ personal needs and in their communications skills. This investment made workers feel grateful to management, whom they felt were making an effort to meet their personal needs. One worker’s sentiments illustrate the positive outcome of this feeling: “Each time I feel the management really cares about us, I get happier and make a greater effort in my work.” Management was impressed with the potential and capacity demonstrated by workers through the program, remarking on peer educators’ communications and project-management skills, and their ability to analyze and tackle obstacles. The progress and potential demonstrated by workers increased management’s trust of workers, which likewise improved workers’ trust of management. According to one worker: “Now I have confidence in talking to a group... and I know that my supervisor thinks highly of me.”\ The communications around women’s health has also brought workers and managers closer together through sharing personal health experiences. For example, one manager remarked that Chinese women are typically too shy to explain necessary leave due to menstrual pain or gynecological infections, instead offering unclear reasons to management. As a result, managers often become confused or angry, which weakens relations. HERproject helps break this embarrassment, and makes managers more understanding. According to one manager in Zhongshan City: “It is a managers’ responsibility to understand workers’ needs, and HERproject provides me with an opportunity to learn about their needs.” Timberland shares the workers’ and management perceptions. “Programs like HERproject create platforms for trust-building between workers and management in factories, which is absolutely critical for us and for our suppliers in China,” said Colleen Von Haden, code of conduct senior manager at Timberland. “What’s more, that trust will form the foundation for improved working conditions and better quality of life for workers in Timberland supply chains and beyond.”

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