CHALLENGE: GAP INC. PARTNERED WITH ARTICLE ONE TO UPDATE ITS HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY TO BETTER ALIGN WITH EVOLVING STANDARDS AND EXPECTATIONS PUT FORTH BY THE UN GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON BUSINESS & HUMAN RIGHTS.

Our work with Article One helped us evolve our Human Rights policy and approach in a thorough and focused way. We appreciated their deep expertise and ability to move this important work forward quickly and effectively.

— Dan Henkle, Senior Vice President, Global Sustainability

APPROACH

In order to focus Gap Inc.’s human rights commitments on the company’s most salient human rights issues, Article One first conducted a corporate Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA). Following a desk review of existing policies, processes, and industry-wide risks, we interviewed over 20 internal and external expert stakeholders to determine Gap Inc.’s most salient human rights risks and opportunities.

After a cross-functional workshop to prioritize the identified salient issues, Article One drafted a revised policy to detail Gap Inc.’s key commitments, oversight of human rights issues, grievance mechanisms to report human rights violations, and policy implementation channels.

IMPACT

Gap Inc. published its revised Human Rights Policy in July 2016. Key benefits and impacts of the updated policy included:

  • A shared understanding across functions of Gap Inc.’s key human rights risks.
  • Increased leverage to advance respect for human rights with key business partners, including suppliers.
  • Improved scores on public rankings of company human rights performance, notably KnowTheChain and the forthcoming Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB).