The participants were given a homework assignment in advance to prepare them for our workshop: Completing a short questionnaire helped them to determine their level of maturity and the workshop in person enabled a comparison with other companies.
The maturity model makes it possible to take a closer look at the current level of implementation and need for implementation with regard to the LkSG. From this, possible tasks and optimization potentials can be derived and the company’s own level of due diligence obligations can be checked.
All of this can be easily determined without great effort. The maturity model was developed by a former NIRO student trainee who worked intensively on the LkSG as part of his master’s thesis. The basis of his work was the conception of a maturity model that enables companies to determine the implementation status of the LkSG in their organization. The model contains six dimensions covering key areas of the LkSG: policy statement, risk management, risk analysis, action management, complaints mechanisms, documentation and reporting, thus covering a holistic view of the implementation of the LkSG. At the beginning, the participating companies presented their results, discussed them and compared them in order to determine, among other things, whether they had assessed themselves correctly. For each of the six dimensions, specific measures were identified that could be implemented to achieve the next level of maturity.
The participants were very satisfied with the benchmarking: the workshop showed whether the self-assessment was correct, how the target/actual status can be described and which measures could be useful to improve their own level of maturity. The good mix of companies that are already required to report and those that are not yet obliged to do so made the exchange of experiences particularly valuable.
The LkSG is also of interest to companies that are not yet subject to the law. Small and medium-sized enterprises (non-scope companies) are involved in the entire supply chain and are coming under increasing pressure, for example as suppliers to larger companies, to meet their due diligence obligations. The LkSG is therefore also highly relevant for companies outside the scope of application and it can be advantageous to prepare for the requirements of the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act at an early stage.
