Artistic Milliners workers step into others' shoes via VR
Karachi denim manufacturer Artistic Milliners has implemented Better Work’s Factory Improvement Toolset in a bid to “promote recognition, prevention and response to unacceptable behaviours in an environment where men and women [feel] comfortable sharing.”
Better Work is the fruit of a tie-up between the United Nations’ International Labour Organization and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation. It aims to help improve labour rights and working conditions along clothing supply chains in Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Haiti, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Indonesia and Jordan. Artistic Milliners is one of the first to pilot the project in Pakistan, it said.
The programme, called ‘A holistic intervention towards building healthy, safe and respectful factory floors’, uses tools based on “virtual reality (VR)-based behavioural learning, role playing and games” to encourage qualities such as empathy and critical thinking among workers, exploring topics like gender-based violence and harassment. Crucially, participants wore VR headsets to effectively step into their peers’ shoes, allowing them the opportunity to experience the workplace through each other's eyes.
“Artistic Milliners has done extremely well,” shared country programme manager for Better Work Pakistan, Caroline Bates. “One of the things we’ve found to be very successful is [its] very active management team.”
The mill was also first to embrace Better Work’s inaugural Gender Initiative in Pakistan, Ms Bates added.
Image: Artistic Milliners.
