Speed is a key element of the value proposition and value chain in many business models. For some, speed is “transformative for how a business operates”, as “in today’s business environment, companies have to see value and quickly.” Speed in product innovation, speed to market, speed in delivery, speed in the preparation of targeted marketing campaigns that react to cultural events: the importance of speed as a competitive advantage is said to be increasing, with commentators stating that “with the pace at which society progresses, companies have to do whatever it takes to stay relevant.”

Demands for speed in the business model become problematic from a rights perspective when they are absorbed in ways that place undue pressure on vulnerable people in the company’s operations and value chain. Demands for speed can have effects across the value chain, often on the most vulnerable people – such as young workers; factory workers, including migrant workers and women workers; and small-holder farmers. Some examples of impacts are below, with impacts on workers’ right to health, right to just and favorable conditions of work (including rest, leisure and adequate limitation of working hours), right to a family life, and in some cases where excessive hours are demanded, right to fair wages or right to a living wage for hours worked.

• For production line jobs, intense pressure to keep up with production can risk injury and debilitating illness.

  • In 2019, Human Rights Watch reported high rates of serious injury and chronic illness among workers at chicken, hog, and cattle slaughtering and processing plants; interviews with workers found that “nearly all the interviewed workers identified production speed as the factor that made their job dangerous.” Advocacy organizations in the US have expressed concern about risks increasing as the “government has also proposed regulations that would bring in new inspection systems and eliminate caps on slaughter line speeds.”

• Client Services and Financial Firms may promise delivery of services to clients in ways that place undue pressure on workers, often at a junior level, in the organization, leading to excessive hours and/or round-the-clock availability with, resulting risks to physical and mental health. This is exacerbated when factors such as the high price of services and/or representations by partners in the firm to clients create an understanding that the firm will respond to client demands immediately at all hours.

• Tech Companies for which providing the “latest” updates or functionality is a key part of the value proposition, or tech start-ups with a “grow fast or die” mindset, pursuing “hockey-stick growth”, can “burn through employees” as workers become mentally or physically unable to maintain the work levels expected.

• For apparel companies or FMCG companies, speed of product innovation and delivery may be a key element of the value proposition and be reflected in purchasing practices. If not addressed through effective mitigation measures, this can adversely impact the health, safety and/or income of workers at various tiers of the supply chain as the pressure ripples throughout the value chain, for example:

  • Supply chain factories given short lead times can feel obliged to require workers to work unreasonable hours, or to discriminate against pregnant workers on the basis that they cannot meet such demands. (See also red flag 1). In female-dominated sectors – such as electronics or apparel manufacturing – gender discrimination, violence, abuse and harassment are often by-products of speed-driven environments.

  • Logistics providers and fulfillment centers can impose unreasonable deadlines or schedules (See also red flag 2), while disregarding health and safety considerations of workers.

  • Factories producing seasonal products, such as Christmas toys, can result in excessive overtime and poor working conditions for workers.

  • Farmers or others working at the level of cultivating raw materials can face sudden and unmeetable demands for increased supply.

• The climate crisis can be expected to further exacerbate such issues where value chain workers are susceptible to climate conditions, such as heat, water availability or extreme weather events. This can create impacts, for example, to agricultural workers in the supply chains of fast-moving consumer goods companies. Already between 2000 and 2015, there has been a loss in productivity related to outdoor work due to increasing incidence of heat stress. Failure to adapt speed expectations to increasing global temperatures and other physical climate impacts can have detrimental health and safety impacts for supply chain workers and small-holder farmers, as well as productivity.

• In the construction industry, “one of the most concerning consequences of prioritizing speed is the increased risk to worker safety”. Rushing through tasks often results in overlooked safety protocols, insufficient site inspections, and incomplete hazard assessments. Workers are more likely to skip essential safety measures or use improper tools and equipment when deadlines are looming. There are several contexts in which this construction phenomenon has been observed, perhaps most notably with respect to the “extreme pressure that often characterizes the construction phase prior to mega sporting events”. For example, in 2016, the Guardian reported that the Chief Inspector of Labor Conditions for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games had criticized the organizers of the Rio Olympics at a memorial service for 11 workers killed on construction projects, stating that “rushed construction caused by delays and poor planning was the primary factor in the high number of fatalities on Games-related infrastructure projects.”

• Other examples in the construction industry include ambitious timelines for renewable energy development and deployment in response to global or national climate change objectives, which have knock-on implications for the working and living conditions of workers. For example, Gulf Cooperation Council countries have committed to at least partial reliance on renewables by 2030, requiring a rapid expansion of renewable energy projects. A recent report has highlighted that migrant workers are particularly at risk as a result of this rapid expansion. Cases of “egregious recruitment, working and living conditions” have been reported by construction workers, as well as emerging evidence of forced labor, withholding of worker identity documents and prohibition on changing employers.

• Mining companies looking to get critical minerals to market as quickly as possible to satisfy market demand for the clean energy transition and digital transformation risk severe environmental, health, and social consequences for workers and communities. In places where artisanal mining is widespread and/or labor standards are low, working conditions can be harsh and exploitative – low wages and excessive working hours in dangerous work environments – and there is often widespread child labor, such as cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo or lithium mining in Nigeria. Further, the race to secure these minerals is also driving unchecked toxic pollution with severe health repercussions for communities living near mine sites.