The Human Rights Standards, Simplified

Every business touches human lives. The coffee shop sources beans from farms halfway around the world. The tech company relies on factories that employ thousands. The consulting firm shapes decisions that ripple through entire communities. In each of these connections lies both opportunity and risk: the chance to support human dignity or, inadvertently, to undermine it.

That’s the reality driving B Lab’s Human Rights Standard. These aren’t abstract principles or feel-good initiatives. They’re practical tools designed to help companies move beyond good intentions and into meaningful action, embedding human rights due diligence into the decisions business leaders make every day.

Rooted in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, these standards help you identify where your business poses the greatest risks to people, take concrete steps to prevent and address harm, and build operations that are both more ethical and more resilient.

The goal is both simple and urgent: improve outcomes for people who are suffering or at risk of harm because of how your company operates, what it produces, or whom it serves. This isn’t a one-and-done project. Just like financial reporting or quality control, human rights due diligence is an ongoing responsibility: something that should become as routine and systematic as any other critical business function.

If you’re ready for a clear, structured approach to getting started, this guide breaks down the four pillars that form the backbone of the Human Rights Standards. (Note that this overview is a simplified introduction; specific requirements can vary depending on your company’s size, sector, and industry. To understand how these standards apply to your own business, visit B Lab’s Standards page):

• HR1: Make a public commitment to human rights
• HR2: Identify your most salient human rights risks and build a strategy
• HR3: Prevent, address, and repair harm
• HR4: Partner with suppliers to meet human rights goals

Together, these pillars create the foundation for genuine accountability, reducing legal and reputational risk while building deeper trust with customers, employees, and the communities where you operate.

HR1: Make a Public Commitment to Human Rights

HR1.1: Make a public commitment

• The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (or the International Bill of Rights)
• The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (or its five core labor obligations)

Your statement should be easy to find on your website (not buried in a CSR report or tucked away in legal documents). If you operate in high-risk environments, you may need to adapt how you share this commitment for safety reasons; but the commitment itself remains non-negotiable.

Why this matters: A visible commitment builds external trust and signals internally that ethics and equity aren’t optional add-ons; they’re core to who you are as a company.

HR1.2: Publish a formal human rights policy

• Commits to respecting rights across your operations and value chains
• Describes how you’ll assess risks and respond when harm occurs
• References the same international frameworks as your public commitment
• Has been reviewed and approved by your highest governing body (board of directors, executive team, etc.)

Why this matters: A policy transforms good intentions into accountability. It defines how rights will be protected and clarifies who’s responsible for doing the protecting.

Together, HR1.1 and HR1.2 establish the credibility foundation for everything that follows. A strong public stance, backed by formal governance approval, sends an unmistakable message to your team and stakeholders: human dignity is non-negotiable here.

HR2: Identify Your Most Salient Human Rights Risks, and Build a Strategy

Once you’ve made your commitment public, the next step is figuring out where harm is most likely to occur in your business. Not all risks are created equal. Some human rights issues are more “salient” than others, meaning they’re both severe in their potential impact and likely to actually happen. HR2 helps you focus on those critical risks and build targeted strategies to address them.

HR2.1: Identify your salient human rights issues

• Combines desk research with stakeholder input (talking to workers, communities, suppliers, and experts)
• Focuses on risks to people, not just risks to your business (though the two often overlap)
• Identifies both actual harm that’s already happening and potential impacts that could occur
• Maps where risks are most relevant (specific geographies, supply chain tiers, business units)
• Prioritizes based on severity and likelihood, with severity getting more weight than probability
• Gets refreshed at least once every three years

For example, a clothing company might identify low wages and forced overtime in supplier factories as salient issues, especially in regions with weak labor protections. A food company might focus on smallholder farmer income or land rights in the areas where key ingredients are sourced.

Why this matters: Effective action requires focus. Understanding your most serious risks helps you put resources where they’ll make the biggest difference.

HR2.2: Share what you find

• Your company’s identified salient human rights issues
• The methodology you used to assess and prioritize them

HR2.3: Build a strategy to address salient issues

• Has been reviewed or approved within the past 12 months
• Is backed by your highest governing body
• Reflects how your company is connected to each issue (Do you cause it directly? Contribute to it? Or are you linked to it through business relationships?)
• Includes measurable goals, clear indicators, stakeholder input, and assigned roles

HR2.4: Evaluate effectiveness, and make improvements

• Tracking performance against your targets
• Documenting what you’ve learned
• Making necessary adjustments
• Sharing evaluation results with leadership

HR2.5: Report progress publicly

• Updates on your performance against targets
• Lessons learned and how your strategy has evolved
• Results from your internal evaluations

HR2.6: Align internal policies with your salient issues

HR2.7: Train the right people

Ensure that relevant employees receive training on how to implement your company’s policies and procedures related to your salient human rights issues.

HR2.1 through HR2.7 form a practical roadmap for turning human rights awareness into strategy, and strategy into measurable results. These requirements help you act where the risks are real, document your progress, and continuously improve in service of the people your business impacts.

HR3: Prevent, address, and repair harm

HR3.1: Establish systems to collect and escalate information

• Assign clear roles and responsibilities for gathering and acting on human rights information
• Prioritize issues by severity and likelihood
• Outline when and how to gather additional information or consult stakeholders
• Include internal “triggers” that prompt reassessment of risks or responses

HR3.2: Take action to prevent, address, and repair harm

• Preventing and reducing impacts before they occur
• Providing remediation when harm has already happened
• Considering your role in the harm (Do you cause it, contribute to it, or are you linked to it through business relationships?)
• Involving affected stakeholders in your response efforts

HR3.3: Evaluate and strengthen your response

• Monitoring whether your responses are actually working
• Capturing lessons learned
• Making adjustments based on what you discover

HR3.4: Assess risk in new client relationships and projects

• Conduct documented risk assessments
• Outline specific steps to reduce identified risks
• Report annually on your three most significant assessments
• Track outcomes and effectiveness in Years 3 and 5

HR3.5: Evaluate investments

• Formal review processes that consider human rights impacts
• Annual reporting on your three most significant investment assessments
• Tracking the actions you take and their effectiveness

HR3.6: Conduct Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIAs)

• Focuses on a high-risk context or one of your salient issues
• Involves meaningful input from stakeholders (especially affected communities)
• Is led by qualified external experts
• Covers both actual and potential harm
• Results in at least a public summary of findings and planned actions

HR3.7: Apply extra diligence in conflict-affected areas

• Identifying conflict-affected locations where you operate
• Publicly disclosing your operational role in those areas
• Taking additional steps to assess and reduce potential harm
• Engaging local experts or affected communities for guidance
• Appointing responsible internal contacts for conflict-related issues
• Establishing clear triggers for escalating concerns or reassessing your presence

Why this matters: Conflict dramatically heightens human vulnerability. Operating in these regions without enhanced due diligence can worsen instability and violence. This standard ensures companies proceed with both caution and care.

Together, HR3.1 through HR3.7 help you build strong operational safeguards that ensure harm is not just acknowledged, but actively prevented, quickly addressed, and properly repaired when it occurs.

HR4: Partner With Suppliers to Meet Human Rights Goals

HR4.1: Identify limits on supplier oversight

• Source countries with elevated human rights risks
• Raw materials with known or suspected links to harm
• Gaps in visibility or traceability (where you lose sight of your supply chain)
• Weaknesses in current audit and certification systems

HR4.2–HR4.3: Factor human rights into procurement decisions

• High spend or volume
• Known or likely human rights risks
• Connection to your salient issues (like forced labor or unsafe working conditions)

HR4.4: Collaborate with priority suppliers

• Identify which suppliers to prioritize for deeper collaboration
• Work with them to set shared goals, create action plans, and monitor progress
• Track and document improvement efforts in Years 3 and 5

HR4.5: Make sourcing documents mutual

• Supplier feedback on what you’re asking them to do
• Your responsibilities as a buyer, not just supplier obligations
• Joint commitments to human rights due diligence, providing remedy when harm occurs, and responsible exit strategies if the relationship ends

HR4.6–HR4.7: Trace high-risk raw materials

• Identify which of your raw materials carry high human rights risks
• Develop and execute a time-bound plan to trace those materials back to their source
• Document the percentage of high-risk materials you successfully trace each year

HR4.8: Act on raw material risks

• Prevent and reduce harm connected to high-risk raw materials
• Provide remedy when actual harm occurs
• Develop concrete action plans and track progress annually

HR4.9–HR4.10: Address wage gaps in service contracts

• Assess whether workers under service contracts (cleaning, security, food service, etc.) are paid living wages or wages set through collective bargaining
• Identify potential wage gaps where workers aren’t earning enough to meet basic needs
• Reference living wages in your procurement processes when you discover these gaps

HR4.11: Share a public plan to address wage, income, and bargaining gaps

• Identifies both known and suspected wage or bargaining gaps in your supply chain
• Prioritizes key areas for action based on severity and your influence
• Sets realistic three-year targets
• Involves ongoing supplier and stakeholder engagement
• Gets reviewed annually and approved at the executive level
• Includes a publicly shared progress update each year

Why this matters: Wage gaps are systemic problems, but they’re not invisible ones. Publicly tracking your progress builds momentum and accountability throughout your supply chain while demonstrating genuine commitment to economic justice.

Taken together, HR4.1 through HR4.11 represent a fundamental shift from extractive sourcing relationships to shared responsibility. By working with suppliers rather than simply watching them, you can uncover hidden risks, reduce harm, and help build a more transparent and just global economy.

Building a More Ethical Economy, One Business at a Time

Respect for human rights isn’t just a moral imperative; it’s a business necessity in our interconnected world. The Human Rights Standards provide a clear, practical pathway for companies to operationalize their values, embedding dignity, accountability, and care into the decisions they make every day.

HR1 through HR4 offer the structure you need to meet rising stakeholder expectations, navigate growing regulatory demands, and build stronger, more trusted relationships with workers, suppliers, and communities. These standards are designed for companies that take their impact seriously and want to lead with integrity.

Whether you’re building the foundation for your first human rights program or evolving an existing approach, understanding where you currently stand is the first step forward.

Ready to begin? The B Impact Assessment can help you benchmark your current practices and identify your next steps. Your human rights due diligence journey starts with a single decision: the choice to take responsibility for your impact on human lives.