Factories in Vietnam that are a part of the Better Work program have better working conditions for employees are up to eight per cent more profitable than their counterparts. The Better Work program works to improve working conditions and promote competitiveness in global garment supply chains.

The average firm enrolled in the program, which focuses on preventing the use of insecure or unprotected contracts that leave workers in a precarious employment situation, increases its revenue to cost ratio by 25 per cent after four years of involvement.

The proportion of Better Work factories operating excessive overtime fell from 90 per cent at the outset to 50 per cent by the fifth year. Employees in Vietnam reported working 55 hours a week by the fifth year of their factory’s participation in Better Work, down four hours a week from the baseline.

Workers at Better Work factories in Vietnam have seen rising weekly pay (independent of the minimum wage) and are now less concerned with excessive overtime and poor wages than they were five years ago. Moreover some 15 per cent of garment factories covered by Better Work did not comply with minimum wage requirements at the beginning but this fell to just three per cent by their fifth year into the program.