ESRS S2 Workers in the Value Chain
Six sub-topic areas, four assessment types and a complete due diligence cycle: preeco | sustainability maps supplier assessments, findings, corrective actions and complaint cases audit-ready. Risk levels are calculated automatically and severity-weighted, and status histories remain immutably documented.
ESRS S2 Value Chain Workers
Due diligence along the entire value chain
The S2 module covers the disclosure requirements on workers in the value chain — from the materiality assessment through supplier assessments and due diligence documentation to engagement, grievance mechanisms, policies and targets. Regulatory references to the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the UN Guiding Principles, the ILO core conventions, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act and the EU Forced Labour Regulation are built in throughout. Aligned with the amended version of ESRS S2: engagement, grievance channels and the remediation approach form a joint disclosure; human rights incidents are limited to confirmed, verified cases; estimates – such as target values or the resources behind an action – are flagged as such and documented with basis, methodology and the approximation value used.
Double materiality assessment
Six sub-topic areas as in the own workforce, for workers at suppliers, service providers and customers; other labour-related human rights here also include water and sanitation. Each impact and the risk or opportunity it creates is one IRO, assessed from both sides – impact on people and the environment and financial effect – scored against the materiality threshold of the reporting period (default 12.5 of 25) or decided by written reasoning. "Discover IROs with AI" suggests entries from your own records but does not score them. Sub-topic areas that clearly do not apply are defined not material, with reasoning. A materiality matrix with chart export, a completeness check and activation, which switches on the disclosures of the material areas, are included; a finalised CSRD reporting boundary is the prerequisite. On each IRO you flag forced or child labour with the types of operation or countries at higher risk. For potential negative human rights impacts, severity alone counts.
Supplier assessments
Four assessment types are available: self-assessment, on-site audit, document review and third-party audit. Findings carry a type (non-conformity, observation, good practice), four severity levels, an assignment to the ten labour rights sub-topics and a regulatory reference — including the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the UN Guiding Principles, the ILO core conventions, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act and the EU Forced Labour Regulation. Corrective actions are standalone records with priority, due date, overdue flag and their own lifecycle up to verified status, including completion date, evidence and verification notes; the status of a finding is derived from them automatically. Open non-conformities feed an automatic, severity-weighted risk assessment together with a classification of the risk level according to the highest severity level encountered.
Due diligence documentation
Due diligence processes are documented with six process types — including risk identification, prevention and mitigation, remediation, effectiveness monitoring and stakeholder engagement — plus scope, geographic coverage, affected parties, responsible role, frequency, regulatory basis and review dates. Risk identification records carry severity, sub-topic, value chain tier and affected worker category through a mitigation lifecycle from identified to mitigated or accepted. Remedial actions are typed as corrective, preventive, compensatory or systemic and run through to verification. Effectiveness monitoring works with metric definitions of baseline, target and actual value plus a series of measurements from which the trend is recalculated automatically: improving, stable, deteriorating or insufficient data.
Engagement along the value chain
Engagement records capture eight activity types — one-on-one meeting, focus group, survey, workshop, joint audit, third-party audit, consultation meeting and other — with stakeholder groups including homeworkers, platform workers and smallholders, value chain tier and effectiveness assessment. Complaint cases receive an automatically assigned reference number and are tracked across eight intake channels, eleven categories, four severity levels and a complainant category including anonymous. Status tracking runs from received through under review, under investigation and escalated to closed, supplemented by withdrawn and inadmissible — with enforced transition rules and an immutable status history; complaints cannot be deleted. Closure covers the resolution description, notification of the reporting person, satisfaction rating and lessons learned; for anonymous reports, the notification date and satisfaction rating are not recorded by the system.
Policies, engagement and grievance mechanisms
Policies are maintained in six types, among them supplier code of conduct, modern slavery and forced labour, and prevention of child labour — each flagged as a standalone document or as part of a parent document with section reference, complemented by indicators for the respect of human and labour rights, for enabling engagement and remediation, and for forced labour, child labour and human trafficking. Engagement processes are described with responsible function and hierarchical level, global framework agreements and measures to involve vulnerable groups. Grievance and remediation channels add the remediation approach, available channels, availability at the supplier workplace, follow-up, standard alignment, awareness-raising measures and an indicator for an existing anti-retaliation policy. Where no process or channel exists, that can be stated with a reason and a planned time horizon.
Targets and actions
Actions are available in six types, and targets carry details of the assurance provider and assurance standard; both can be linked to one another and optionally coupled to material sub-topics. The material financial resources per action are captured in structured form – type of resources, preconditions, amount with the assigned line item of the annual financial statements and an indicative range for future periods; targets can be flagged as legally required. The statement on the absence of targets is provided automatically per organisation for all organisations within the reporting boundary — with a justification and a mandatory description of effectiveness tracking. As soon as a target is activated, it is removed automatically.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
There are four assessment types: self-assessment, on-site audit, document review and third-party audit. Findings are recorded as non-conformity, observation or good practice with four severity levels and assigned to one of the ten labor rights sub-topics. From open non-conformities the software calculates a severity-weighted risk score; without open non-conformities the risk counts as low.
Yes. Every finding carries a regulatory reference, among others to the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the UN Guiding Principles, the ILO core conventions, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) and the EU Forced Labour Regulation. Due diligence processes also record their regulatory basis. For every finding you can see which frameworks it touches. The supplier of an assessment is taken directly from the supplier register.
Corrective actions are separate records with priority, due date and an overdue flag. They follow their own lifecycle up to the status verified, with completion date, evidence and verification notes, and can be reopened with a justification. The status of the related finding is derived automatically. A notice flags critical non-conformities that have no corrective action.
Yes. Grievance cases receive an automatically assigned reference number and can be created with the reporter category anonymous; in that case the software keeps neither a notification date nor a satisfaction rating. The status follows fixed transition rules from received to closed, the status history is immutable, and grievances cannot be deleted.
Target values, the resources behind an action and the number of reported human rights incidents can be marked as estimates. The software then asks for the information the standard requires: basis, methodology and assumptions, the proxy used, a plan to improve data quality and, for partial coverage, a note on scope. If this information is missing, the report treats the estimate as a data gap.
For effectiveness monitoring you define metrics with baseline, target and actual value and maintain a measurement series. From this the software recalculates the trend automatically: improving, stable, deteriorating or insufficient data. Risk identifications and remediation actions have their own lifecycles up to mitigation or verification and can be linked to supplier assessments.
Ensure CSRD Compliance
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