3.0 FAQ
1. What is the main difference between FLA 2.0 and 3.0?
2. What are the differences between an Audit and an Assessment?
4. How much time do I have to put a solution in place?
5. Will this mean more work to the FLA-affiliated company at the regional level?
6. Will 3.0 cost more than 2.0 for the Participating Companies/Factories?
7. Do the factories have to use FLA materials for Capacity Building?
9. I have two buyers in my factory – do I have to do double work or will my two buyers cooperate?
10. What kind of factory should an FLA-affiliated company include in 3.0?
11. Who decides if a factory takes part or not?
12. How do I find a local service provider?
13. Where can I find more information on 3.0?
14. My company is not yet accredited - can I still participate in 3.0 if I want to?
What is the main difference between FLA 2.0 and 3.0?
2.0 is audit-based. This means that under FLA 2.0, compliance is checked for all areas of the code in a yes/no (complies/does not comply) kind of way. It’s black or white - you are compliant or not – there is no gray area.
FLA 3.0 is a capacity building process in which a factory first undergoes a needs assessment and later on an impact assessment. The answers reflect the actual status of the factory, not whether it passed or failed a compliance test. The factory and the FLA-affiliated company it works with together do an analysis of the results and come up with a capacity-building plan to fill the gaps identified. During the capacity building the factory continues to measure its own progress and at the end an external impact assessment takes place which allows comparison of the results with those gathered in the original needs assessment.
What are the differences between an Audit and an Assessment?
An Assessment asks broader questions and gives a score as a result; an audit asks yes/no questions and only gives a “compliant” or “not compliant” result. There are two types of assessment – needs and impact. A needs assessment establishes what form a non-compliance takes at a factory and what the factory needs in order to resolve that non-compliance in a sustainable way. An impact assessment measures the actual change as a result of that resolution.
The initial self-assessment is completed by the factory on the FLA's web-based Assessment Portal. The Impact Assessment after the capacity building is finished is done by an Independent External Assessor.
How much time do I have to put a solution in place?
Normally, a factory will have around 12 months after the needs assessment to build capacity before the FLA conducts an impact assessment. We appreciate that capacity building is a process, especially when attitudinal or cultural change is required. We want factories to address the root causes of non-compliance to avoid the problem coming back. However, given that it may take up to three months to mount a capacity building program, a factory may only have nine months in which to implement the improvements.
Will this mean more work to the FLA-affiliated company at the regional level? The role of the local compliance officer will change. FLA 2.0 involved local staff monitoring factories and following-up corrective actions. FLA 3.0 involves the supplier as an active partner to a greater extent and so the local compliance staff will need to provide more facilitation and support to suppliers as they complete self-assessments and undertake capacity building programs.
Will 3.0 cost more than 2.0 for the Participating Companies/Factories?
No. The self-assessments completed by suppliers will not cost the FLA-affiliated company anything. The capacity building process will cost money and this cost could be borne by the supplier (on a fee for service basis) or shared between the supplier and their buyers. The cost of an impact assessment (Independent External Assessment or IEA) will be similar to that of the Independent External Monitoring (IEM) it replaces so it should be budget neutral to the FLA-affiliated company.
Do the factories have to use FLA materials for Capacity Building?
No. The FLA has training materials and courses available for sale if the factories choose to use them, but they are not forced to do so. The FLA also provides a list of local service providers that are accredited by us to train in those areas. However, if the factory knows of a local consultant, NGO or other service provider that they wish to use they are free to do so.
If one of my factories takes part in 3.0 are they only going to focus on a few priority areas or do they still have to work on all the other areas in the code? The FLA-affiliated companies that participate in 3.0 have years of code implementation in their factories behind them. Given that broad foundation of compliance work 3.0 focuses in on specific areas and concentrates on capacity building in those areas. This is not to say that the participating company and the factory can forget about everything else but most factories have already had several audits and work on non-compliance issues is on-going. A certain leeway can be given to other areas unless they present a safety hazard. Anything that can have dangerous consequences (fire risk, chemical hazards, and similar issues) must be handled immediately. The advantage with 3.0 is that the focus is on finding the root causes of non-compliance. Once those have been identified and capacity built up we will have a sustainable solution will be in place –if the problem has been dealt with at the source it is more likely to stay solved.
I have two buyers in my factory – do I have to do double work or will my two buyers cooperate?
We encourage sharing of resources and solutions. The two buyers can, and hopefully will, cooperate to improve the conditions at the factory. A factory should not have to undergo duplicate audits and then put in place two different solutions to the same problem. The factory should try to get everyone together around a table to agree to protocols and benchmarks for internal monitoring, sharing of results and joint remediation. If problems arise, the FLA is available to facilitate.
What kind of factory should an FLA-affiliated company include in 3.0?
- Factories you know well, that you have worked with (and plan to continue working with) mid- to-long term.
- Factories that have already gone through at least a part of a code-implementation program
- Factories where the management is committed to code compliance
- Factories that have the management capacity to participate (i.e. professional managers in key positions relevant to the areas to be worked on)
- Factories in which your brand accounts for a large part of the production capacity. The FLA can help identify factories shared with other FLA-affiliated companies.
- Some of you have asked about factories that are particularly problematic. If they have big problems in the chosen priority area it is a good factory to include. However, if the factory has problems in all code areas it may not be ready for 3.0 yet.
Who decides if a factory takes part or not?
The FLA-affiliated company nominates the factories they would like to include in 3.0. If a factory is against participating we would encourage further discussion to explain the advantages of 3.0 to the factory.
How do I find a local service provider?
You can check with local NGOs or universities or you can turn to your FLA Regional Coordinator as they have local service providers to recommend. We emphasize that we do not force factories to choose the service providers we have trained.
Where can I find more information on 3.0?
You are in the right place! The FLA web-site has a section on 3.0 and you can also visit our Assessment and Training Portals (add URL). Some of the information is restricted but if you are a FLA-participant or one of their nominated factories you will be provided with a username/password.
My company is not yet accredited - can I still participate in 3.0 if I want to?
Yes, we encourage all FLA-affiliated companies to use 3.0 methodology. However, only accredited companies can receive credit against their monitoring quota for Independent External Assessments conducted under 3.0. If you are not yet accredited, but interested, then ask us! If you have already done a substantial amount of code implementation work the Executive Director has the discretion to let you participate in 3.0 if you satisfy certain conditions.
If you have additional questions about FLA 3.0, please click here.