Building better lives for workers through the ethical production of toys and more

Read the branded version of the case study here.‍

The LEGO Group has been part of the Ethical Supply Chain Program (ESCP) for two decades, and became one of the first companies to sign up to our Buyer Membership after its launch in 2016. Since its launch 1000’s of brands, retailers and licensors of all sizes have come on board, across multiple sectors – from children’s entertainment and toys to publishing and logistics.

Driven by a desire to enrich child development, the LEGO Group has played a trailblazing role in supporting families, parents and caregivers across its supply chain.

We speak with Amanda Lockley, Senior Manager, Human Rights, Reporting & Responsible Sourcing at the LEGO Group to hear how the company is supporting ESCP’s Family-Friendly Factory program which aims to benefit 30,000 children of workers in factories both external and internal to the LEGO Group operations; And why investing in worker well-being is beneficial for factories as well as families.

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The challenge: Making the case for improved work-life balance

 The LEGO Group is committed to ensuring that all those involved inmaking its products have fair, decent and safe working conditions. It is determined to promote strong management systems, and places huge emphasis on safeguarding the best interests of children.

“By supporting families, parents and carers in the workplace, we can really help child development, particularly in the early years, while also improving life for workers and factory managers worldwide” says Amanda, who leads on human rights awareness & capability building for the LEGO Group’s value chain.

“We have clear expectations of suppliers and partners that workplaces promote family-friendly policies. A lot of the factories in our supply chain might have very good health and safety policies, and strong ethical practices that try to ensure working hours aren’t excessivelyl ong. But, despite this, there remains a systemic issue around workers not being able to get much time to spend with their families.

“For example, factories often won’t have best practice principles in place for parents who’ve just had a baby and would benefit enormously from being able to come back under more flexible conditions, so they can balance work with caring for their child.

“Beyond our own supplier community, we want to help others to create family-friendly work environments and that is why we are proud to participate and promote the ESCP Family-Friendly Factory program.  

“Childcare is a huge challenge for working parents and caregivers globally.  For production workers this challenge is extreme. The ESCP Family-Friendly Factory program is now supporting factories and their workers in China, Vietnam and Mexico, key sourcing countries to buyers. Workers very often have to leave their children behind with grandparents or other family members in their hometown, to start a job in a faraway city – or quit their jobs altogether when they start a family, because of childcare expense or unavailability. 

“Imagine being faced with this choice: earning money to provide for your family but not being able to see your children for weeks or months on end; or being able to look after your children, but struggling to afford to provide for them. Nobody should have to make that decision.”

“Our challenge at the LEGO Group is identifying where family-friendly policies are absent, and then engaging with the factories to help them understand the hurdles their workers face. And, crucially, to show suppliers that parents and caregivers who are supported will be more motivated, efficient, reliable and happier at work.”

The solution: A people-oriented workplace culture

The stark reality is that childcare is one of the main reasons workers leave factory jobs globally. Worker shortages negatively impact companies performance, impacting their ability to succeed and ultimately their bottom line. ESCP’s Family-Friendly Factory program tackles the issue head on, designed specifically to improve the lives of working parents and their children, while producing measurable benefits for suppliers.

The Family-Friendly Factory program ensures the needs of workers are considered and responded to. This can include the provision of childcare – encompassing interesting activities and excursions that help enhance children’s emotional intelligence and social skills – as well as the development of new policies offering flexible working, enhanced parental leave, or breastfeeding rooms for new mothers.

ESCP’s 2024 Worker Well-Being Impact Report shows that family-friendly policies and facilities are good for business and people. 81% of workers said they felt closer to their child and 95% of factories would recommend implementing family-friendly policies and facilities to other factories.

Thanks to the LEGO Group, the Family-Friendly Factory (FFF) program’s primary funder, and other generous supporters, ESCP was able to help more than 8,000 workers in 2024 through theFFF program, and since launching their ambition in 2023, to benefit 30,000children by the end of 2025, 20,703 children have benefitted through the FFF program, meaning it is well on its way to achieving its ambition.

“The program adds incredible value to the LEGO Group,” says Amanda. “Creating those fun, safe and playful spaces for children is perfectly aligned to our vision of being a global force for ‘learning through play’ and child development.

“And, on top of improving personal well-being, the Family-Friendly Factory program has a wider positive impact on the community, reducing poverty and improving gender equality and the economic participation of women.” This is achieved by supporting factories to implement policies developed in conjunction with UNICEF’sFamily-Friendly Policies guidance and expert advice.  The program has been developed to improve the lives of workers, especially  women whos houlder twice as much unpaid household work as men.

The program can also provide parental training for workers, enabling them to confidently support their child’s development. “This is really able to help families during children’s transition into becoming teenagers, when things can get a bit difficult,” says Amanda. “There can be a great benefit for parents in receiving guidance on how to communicate productively with their children, how to tackle difficult conversations, and how to work with them when they get frustrated or if they're unhappy.”

The benefits: Improved financial performance and worker retention levels

An incredible 81% of factory management said the program reduces turnover rate with 93% of workers citing their childcare facility as a reason to continue working in the factory.

But the benefits are also seen beyond the statistics, in the feedback we receive from people like the mother inChina who told us, “without the program, either my husband or I would have had to quit our job to look after our son… It has enabled us to stay together as a family, so we wouldn’t even contemplate working elsewhere.”

It’s win-win for everyone. As Amanda notes, “Factories involved in the program report improved financial performance, as their recruitment costs are lower, especially over the summer months, and there’s a marked decline in absenteeism.”

Due to the success of the expanding Family-Friendly Factory program, the LEGO Group and ESCP are introducing the program as a first in Mexico, in the Nuevo León region: “There’s a lack of affordable formal childcare here, so workers depend on grandparents, there are lots of shift work patterns, and lengthy journeys to work. The result is that many parents spend very little time with their children. So, there’s areal opportunity to build on some very good policies already in place to support working parents, and make a big impact.”

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To discuss opportunities to participate in the Family-Friendly Factory program, which has global ambitions and addresses challenges across all industries, contact Anita Lo here.