Social Fingerprint™Frequently Asked Questions

What is Social Fingerprint™?

Every company has a Social Fingerprint™— It’s the unique mark a company leaves on the world telling everybody how they do business.

Remember how ‘carbon footprint” was used to describe a company’s impact on the environment? Social Fingerprint™ is the term we trademarked to capture a company’s social impact. SAI has created the Social Fingerprint™ program to help companies measure and improve social performance – in their company and in their supply chain.

What are some of the components of the Social Fingerprint™ Program?

The Social Fingerprint™ Program is made up of ratings, classroom training, online training and toolkits designed to help companies understand and measure their social impact now, and then learn how to improve it. The program includes the Social Fingerprint™ Company Rating System, the Social Fingerprint™ Supply Chain Management Rating System, plus all of the components needed to help companies build capacity immediately.

What if I already have a code of conduct and a way to measure social compliance in my company and in my supply chain?
Because the Social Fingerprint™ Program focuses on processes, it can work with any credible industry or corporate code. Companies can pick and choose from the Social Fingerprint™ Program components to enhance their existing corporate code of conduct program, or they can use the program to evaluate their own social performance or that of their suppliers.

Why did SAI develop this?
We developed Social Fingerprint™ to address the needs of companies that were seeking a way to improve. Our goal was to create a program that met three critical criteria: It had to be credible, pragmatic and cost-effective.

How does this relate to SA8000?
The Social Fingerprint™ Program complements SA8000. Social Fingerprint™ takes the management systems concept and breaks it into component processes.  It allows companies to take more targeted steps towards improvement. It creates a path to improvement and breaks the journey into smaller steps. This is true whether they are following any corporate or industry code. SA8000 remains as vital as ever, especially now as companies seek ways to reduce audit duplication and seek equivalency between codes.

Does the online training (e-learning) replace SAI's classroom training?
No. SAI will continue to offer dozens of classroom trainings each year. You will come to the Social Fingerprint™ Training Center to register for all classes – classroom or online. Classroom seminars are a fantastic learning experience and there is no substitute for them. However, we see that companies need ongoing training and support to drive change. The only practical way to do this is to reinforce classroom training with e-learning.

E-learning is a way for us to reach a wider audience. It allows people to learn at their own pace and reduce their travel costs.

What courses are offered?
The first course, “Social Fingerprint™: Getting Started in Your Company”, is available now and features a cornerstone of the program – The Social Fingerprint™ Company Rating System. This rating system enables a company to assess its Social Fingerprint™ by examining its internal social performance in nine key processes. The course also allows companies to take a self-assessment online. Once the self-assessment is completed, the course immediately calculates an average score across these 9 key categories and gives the company its “Social Fingerprint™” on a scale of 1 – 5.

The course also contains 90 tips for immediate improvement.

The 9 categories being measured are:
1.    Management Systems
2.    Internal Social Compliance Team
3.    Worker Involvement & Communication
4.    Complaint Management System
5.    Level & Type of Non-Conformances
6.    Progress on Corrective Actions
7.    External Verification & Stakeholder Engagement
8.    Training & Capacity Building
9.    Management of Suppliers & Contractors

How does this help companies and supply chains improve?
Our Social Fingerprint™ program allows companies to identify where they are now. But what’s even more exciting - it defines a clear path to improvement and breaks the journey into small steps.

Companies can use the Social Fingerprint™ program in many different ways. It can be used to create a baseline rating, as well as help identify specific areas for improvement. The training and tools can be used to improve performance in any of the 9 categories regardless of whether or not a company has gone through the full initial rating.

Are there reporting capabilities included?
Yes. The Social Fingerprint™ Training Center even allows SAI to provide sophisticated reporting on one company or groups of companies. It also lets them analyze their progress as they go.

How can I learn more?
Visit www.socialfingerprint.org or contact us at socialfingerprint@sa-intl.org.