Transparency in our audit process allows auditors to properly review wages, benefits, insurance and working hours to ensure the factory is following legal and A&F Co. Vendor Code of Conduct requirements. A&F Co.’s commitment to global human and labor rights is aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals 1, 3, 8 and 17.
A&F Co. Strategy
Through the A&F Co. social audit program, facilities throughout our supply chain are assessed to ensure labor and social commitments are adhered to by all parties involved. A&F Co. partners closely with our vendors to assess and remedy findings found during the audit. For more information see Supplier Assessment.
Programs & Partnerships
Fair Labor Association (FLA)
In 2023, A&F began using the Fair Labor Association (FLA) Fair Compensation Toolkit to analyze workers’ net wages in 30 factories in Cambodia and Bangladesh against the living wage benchmark from the Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC).
To support workers who received wages below the GLWC benchmark, A&F nominated eight factories in Cambodia for the RISE Financial Health program in 2024 and 2025. This program helps workers build financial capability and enhance their financial health and resilience. We plan to enroll factories in Bangladesh in the RISE program in 2026.
Addressing Non-Compliance
If there are findings within the social audit pertaining to labor and/or social issues, the A&F Co. teams partners with Agents and Vendors to remedy those matters.
For example, if a factory is not in compliance with legal regulations concerning overtime hours, A&F Co. and the Vendor will partner to:
- Identify the root causes of the issue, such as insufficient workers during peak seasons and a lack of skilled workers;
- Develop a plan to reduce excessive overtime on regular or rest days. (A&F Co. will review order status and distribute orders if needed); and
- Ensure that the HR team will recruit more workers during peak seasons to meet production demands and provide proper training to increase worker efficiency.
A&F Co. will then monitor the overtime hours over time against the plan to gradually reduce them.
If an issue is found related to social insurance and paid leave, A&F Co. will use a similar methodology to work with the Vendor to:
- Identify the root causes such as lack of training or sufficient knowledge on related regulations on social insurance and payment;
- Develop a work plan to correct the issues with detailed actions and reasonable timeline;
- Have the factory communicate the corrections to the workers; and
- Monitor that the HR and/or CSR teams will track progress to make sure implementation is in place
Our Progress
In 2024, the most common findings for the categories with the highest percentages were:
Working Hours
- Overtime hours not compliant with legal regulations
Wages and Benefits
- Social insurance provided
- Paid leave
The chart below shows the percentage of factories with findings of non-compliance in each category.
To help address these issues, A&F Co. partners with Better Work to strengthen the factories’ monitoring and management system, knowledge of legal requirement and sharing industry best practices. Factories in the Better Work program implement 15 to 25 training days (depending on the country). Based on the specific needs, each factory will develop their training plan under Better Work enterprise advisors’ guidance. In addition, Better Work will conduct 3 to 5 advisory visits to factories to develop an improvement plan and assist factories to correct the issues.