The difference between SEARS and K-MART factory inspections and regular factory inspections

1. Differences between SEARS and K-MART factory inspections:
We all know that SEARS and K-MART have merged. We often come into contact with SEARS factory inspections and are very familiar with the special requirements of SEARS factory inspections. We often think that K-MART factory inspections use the same factory inspection standards as SEARS factory inspections. In fact, they are really different. The audit standards and audit results used by the two are quite different.

K-MART's social responsibility audit is called ESC audit (ETHICAL SOURCING CODE OF CONDUCT), which is the ethical purchasing code of conduct.

K-MART factory inspection results are usually divided into four categories: red, orange, yellow, and green. If you get a red light, it will be troublesome and you will definitely not pass. It is basically impossible to get a green light.

The SEARS factory inspection results are divided into several types: passed, passed with problems, trial, needs improvement, terminated, etc.

The following are the main contents of K-MART factory inspection for reference:

Kmart is committed to operating and managing our business in a manner that reflects our high ethics and values. We expect our suppliers to respect and abide by the same philosophy as Kmart in their business operations and management, and we also reserve the right to terminate cooperation with suppliers who are unwilling to share and accept responsibility.

Our Ethical Sourcing Code (hereinafter referred to as the "Code") sets out our minimum requirements and expectations: All suppliers, including subcontractors employed by suppliers, must comply with the Code as the basis for cooperation with Kmart and its subsidiaries. In addition to complying with local laws and regulations, suppliers and their subcontractors (hereinafter referred to as "factories") must continuously improve the requirements in the following standards.

1. Labor
1.1 Child Labor Suppliers need to comply with national laws or International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 138 regarding the minimum age for domestic employment, whichever is higher. The minimum age for domestic employment stipulated in ILO Convention No. 138 is the local compulsory education age and is not less than 15 years old, except as permitted by the ILO and national laws.
1.2 Wages, Benefits, Working Hours and Transparent Records Suppliers must comply with local laws and regulations regarding wages, overtime compensation and benefits. Wage and benefits policies must meet all applicable laws and regulations. In general, employees should not be required to work excessive hours per week (including overtime) and employees have the right to at least one day off every seven days. We expect all records to be accurate and transparent at all times.
1.3 Forced/Debt-Backed Labor Factories must not use any form of forced labor. Forced labor means that employees perform involuntary work or services under threat of personal injury or other penalties (such as serving a prison sentence, contract, or paying off debts with labor). In addition, factories should respect workers' freedom to resign and should not use the seizure of ID cards, deposits, or other means to prevent employees from resigning.
1.4 Discrimination All employment decisions must be based on an individual’s ability to do the job and not on other personal factors such as gender, race, religion or personal beliefs. Factories must ensure that employees are able to work without harassment, discrimination or other inappropriate behavior interference or harassment.
1.5 Harassment and Abuse Workers should be treated with dignity and respect. In particular, factories should provide a harassment-free work environment. Harassment can take many forms, including physical, sexual, verbal or visual harassment that creates an annoying, offensive or intimidating work environment.
1.6 Freedom of Association Suppliers shall respect the rights of employees to associate or not in accordance with the law, as long as association is legal in the country where the products are produced. Suppliers shall not interfere with, hinder, or prevent legal related activities.
1.7 Health and Safety All production and accommodation environments must be safe and clean and comply with all applicable laws and regulations as well as industry best practices, whichever is higher, to avoid preventable accidents and injuries.
2. Environmental Factories must at least comply with the relevant environmental protection laws of all countries where production takes place and strive to meet the goal of meeting international environmental standards.
3. Business Integrity Suppliers must have a high degree of professionalism and have a close relationship with our business ethics. In particular, honesty, fair dealing and proper treatment of their employees must be observed in all circumstances. Bribery, favoritism, benefits or other similar illegal or improper compensation in cash or other types, whether for the purpose of obtaining business or otherwise, are strictly prohibited.
4. Comply with legal provisions
Kmart requires all suppliers and factories to fully comply with the legal requirements of the country in which they operate and to comply with the requirements of this Code on the basis of complying with applicable local laws.
5. Management System To the extent relevant to the content of this Code, Suppliers shall adopt or establish a management system to manage all factories or suppliers that provide materials or labor for the production of Kmart products. The management system is established to ensure:
1. The factory complies with applicable laws and regulations;
(ii) the factory complies with these Guidelines;
(iii) The factory identifies and mitigates operational risks related to this principle. This system should also promote continuous improvement.

6. Follow our ethical purchasing guidelines
Kmart will monitor compliance with this Code and we, or our representatives, will visit factories to ensure compliance. Any violations of this Code will be communicated to the supplier for follow-up and corrective action. Suppliers are required to fully cooperate throughout the process. Kmart reserves the right to stop working with suppliers/factories when zero tolerance violations occur and/or suppliers/factories do not demonstrate their willingness to comply.

2. What are the differences between Sears/K-Mart factory inspection and regular factory inspection?

We often receive inquiries from customers about the human rights factory audit of SEARS/K-MART. In particular, many customers have repeatedly encountered major problems in the SEARS/K-MART audit, such as attendance records not matching on-site production records, etc., which require re-audit. Moreover, if such opaque problems occur three times in a row, they will be frozen by the customer and will not be allowed to accept new orders. In fact, these factories have not figured out the special requirements of the customer at all:

1. The client particularly emphasized the transparency of salary and attendance records. Many factories were completely unaware of this requirement and worked behind closed doors, providing documents that were obviously too watered down. As a result, the auditors immediately saw through the problem and there were serious problems with inconsistent records.
2. The client is very lenient with regard to working hours, and the factory often makes attendance records that fully meet the requirements, which is obviously different from the transparency emphasized by the client;
3. Regarding wages and benefits, customers’ requirements are also very loose. For example, regarding minimum wage and overtime pay, many factories produced perfect wage records, but ended up making things worse.
4. Many factories also make repeated mistakes on other issues such as subcontracting and integrity and ethics.

We believe that the most important thing for a customer's factory inspection is to study the customer's standards. If you use the same method to deal with each customer, the result will definitely be tragic.