ITLS6202 Chap.4 Due Diligence, Leverage and Remediation
Due Diligence, Leverage and Remediation
Due diligence is a cycle of commitment, planning, responsible sourcing, supplier management, remedy, reporting and improvement. This chapter explains how governance, grievance access, monitoring and commercial leverage work together. It rejects the reflex that supplier exit always solves the problem and instead asks what affected people need, what the buyer can influence and what harm withdrawal could create.
Commitment assigns authority and sets expectations, but planning must translate those expectations into prioritised risks, resources and decision rights. Responsible sourcing brings risk into market analysis, specifications and evaluation before a supplier is chosen. Supplier management then combines information, engagement and contract levers rather than relying on periodic declarations.
Monitoring should distinguish activities, such as training sessions or audits completed, from outcomes, such as reduced recruitment fees, restored wages or safer access to complaint channels. Grievance mechanisms require accessibility, confidentiality, non-retaliation and a credible response; merely providing an email address does not make a channel safe for vulnerable workers.
When harm is identified, the buyer asks whether it caused, contributed to or is linked to the problem, because that relationship shapes responsibility and the appropriate use of leverage. Corrective action may include immediate protection, repayment, changed recruitment practices, supplier support and verification with affected people.
Exit can be necessary when risk cannot be controlled, but an abrupt withdrawal may remove income, conceal evidence or push harmful practice elsewhere. The procurement record should therefore explain the chosen response, affected-person perspective, owner, timetable, effectiveness measure and escalation threshold.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Governance and modern slavery policy
- 02
Risk mapping and sourcing strategy
- 03
Supplier monitoring and capability
- 04
Grievance access and worker safety
- 05
Leverage and corrective action
- 06
Remedy, reporting and improvement
Worked example · free
Respond to evidence of recruitment fees
- +1Identify affected workers and immediate protection needs.
- +1Establish the fee, debt and recruitment pathway.
- +1Use leverage for reimbursement and practice change.
- +1Monitor worker outcomes independently.
- +1Plan responsible escalation or withdrawal if cooperation fails.
Key terms
- Due Diligence
- An ongoing process for identifying and addressing adverse impacts.
- Leverage
- The ability to influence another entity's conduct.
- Remediation
- Action that restores affected people as far as possible and prevents recurrence.
- Grievance Mechanism
- A safe channel for concerns, response and access to remedy.
Due Diligence, Leverage and Remediation FAQ
Why is due diligence a loop?
Monitoring, remedy and reporting reveal whether assumptions and controls worked. Those lessons should change the next commitment, risk plan, market approach and contract rather than closing the file permanently.
When should a buyer leave a supplier?
Withdrawal may be needed when harm cannot be controlled or cooperation fails, but the buyer should consider worker consequences, leverage, unpaid entitlements and specialist support so exit does not deepen harm.
What makes a grievance channel credible?
It should be understandable, accessible, safe from retaliation, available beyond direct employees and connected to a response process that protects confidentiality and communicates outcomes. Effectiveness also depends on whether affected people trust the channel, can obtain support and see that substantiated concerns lead to timely protection and remedy.
Assessment move
Memorise the due diligence stages as distinct jobs, then apply them to one case. Test every proposed KPI by asking whether it measures an activity or an outcome. Include buyer purchasing practices in root-cause analysis. Build a case file with seven headings: commitment, planning, sourcing, management, remedy, reporting and improvement.
Under each heading, write one concrete action, evidence item, accountable role and failure trigger. Use a different colour for worker-facing evidence so that management-system documents do not crowd out the experience of affected people. For grievance questions, test accessibility, safety, independence, response time and non-retaliation rather than simply checking whether a channel exists.
Compare three response options—supportive improvement, commercial escalation and responsible exit—and state how each could help or harm workers. When reviewing KPIs, pair activity measures with outcome measures and specify the baseline. End every practice answer with a timed plan for verification and a decision threshold. This makes due diligence visible as an ongoing operating process rather than a one-off supplier audit.
To test remedy reasoning, separate stopping ongoing harm, restoring affected people and preventing recurrence. A corrective action plan that contains only future training may address prevention while leaving unpaid wages or recruitment fees unresolved. Identify who must be consulted, who funds the action and how effectiveness will be checked without retaliation. Then ask what the buyer will do if milestones are missed.
The answer should preserve leverage while keeping the needs of affected people ahead of reputational convenience.
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