Social audits have persisted as the go-to supplier responsibility intervention since the early 2000s, despite the limitations of their effectiveness and credibility. COVID-19 forced innovation in the remote assessment of supply chain workplaces.  Now in 2021, the components of a technologically-facilitated, comprehensive approach to assessing and improving working conditions is possible. Workers, employers, and buyers can use technology in mutually reinforcing ways that could replace the social audit and provide a reliable, real-time, worker-centric approach to understanding — and improving — labor issues in supply chains.

Supply chain opacity and the absence of reliable data about working conditions have been obstacles to protecting employees from adverse outcomes. Innovation in areas like the Internet of Things and wearables offer the promise of capturing important worker- and workplace-derived data and visual analytics. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning can then be used to evaluate these large data sets to predict labor risks. While these emerging technologies present new opportunities for monitoring working conditions in a cost-effective manner at scale, they also bring a new and unique set of challenges. In cases where workers engage or are engaged by new technologies, surveillance and data privacy concerns emerge that will require careful intervention. This discussion will evaluate opportunities and threats that result from greater transparency as work settings are more closely monitored.

There has been a broad-based increase in ESG investing in recent years, with a proliferation of ESG products, funds, and metrics. According to Morningstar, 256 funds repurposed or rebranded as ‘sustainable’ in 2020, and in Q1 of 2021, the total is already over half of the previous year’s increase. Part of the rebranding is to attract and invigorate fund flows. But something remains to be answered: how do we differentiate between meaningful and ‘ESG light’ investing? Complicating this new wave of socially conscious investing is the fact that the SEC does not regulate how the ESG label is applied. Independent measurement and rating companies are trying to fill the gap. In this dialogue, we will evaluate the complexities and opportunities in bringing rigor to ESG investing, with a focus on S.