The GSCP working plan represents a staged approach with 6 distinct steps, complemented by one additional project.
This slices the task into manageable actions around which to build consensus step by step and move towards convergence of ideas and actions.

Steps 1 to 6

Steps 1 to 4 together aim at developing reference tools and processes based on best practices from existing social compliance and site-specific environmental management systems. The purpose is to progressively allow retailers and brand manufacturers to reach mutual recognition of audit results. This will in turn lead to more efficient processes for all concerned and ultimately reduce audit fatigue.
By reducing the number of audits in their shared supply bases, companies will be in a position to free up resources so as to concentrate efforts on remediation.
Step 5 aims at further building understanding, comparability and transfer of information between the different systems through developing protocols for data and information sharing, ultimately for audit reports sharing and data mining
Companies will then be better placed to work collaboratively on step 6, remediation (through continuous improvement methods, training and capacity building). Suppliers will be able to focus better, in partnership with buying companies, on developing their own systems to deliver fair labour and environmental conditions.

Equivalence Process

A process to help build transparency and comparability between existing schemes.