JOG SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

JOG stands for Join Our Game. We are a team first and foremost and our very name underscores teamwork and inclusivity. Each member of the JOG Athletics team is expected to contribute to an environment where every employee feels respected and valued.

JOG Athletics has taken the further step of developing its own Social Charter in order to provide greater definition around our ethics and standards. The Charter details points for inspection that the JOG Athletics Team endeavors to respect and enforce, whether as the owner of our own production or through the sub-contracting of our production.

This charter acts as a complement to the national legal provisions of the countries in which it manufactures and/or orders the manufacture of products it designs and distributes under its own trade names. In the event of a contradiction between national legal provisions and/or the provisions of its present Charter, the JOG Athletics Team will enforce the most favorable provisions with regards to employees.

Health and Safety

We take the health and safety of our team members seriously and we aim to create a positive and supportive work environment. New team members receive training in how to safely operate machinery. We employ a full-time Safety Inspector in order to evaluate our facilities and equipment ensuring a safe and healthy workplace. During the pandemic additional precautions were put in place to protect employees and minimize transmission. The facility is also cleaned and sanitized daily.
  • The JOG Athletics Group will have a representative of the management appointed to be responsible for the health and safety of all staff and for the introduction of health and safety measures within its companies and/or production units.
  • The JOG Athletics Group will ensure that its staff receives regular and recommended training in regards to maintaining health and safety requirements and that this training will be required for new or reassigned staff.
  • The JOG Athletics Group shall introduce, or have introduced, systems to detect, avoid or combat potential threats to the health and safety of all staff.
  • The JOG Athletics Group will not use or allow the use of corporal punishment, mental or physical coercion or verbal insults.
  • JOG Athletics Group fully complies with all applicable laws of the countries in which it operates including all laws, regulations, and rules relating to wages, hours, employment, labor, health and safety, the environment, immigration, the apparel industry and complies with all United States’ laws including those relating to child and prison labor and country of origin labeling, among others.

Child and Forced Labor

The textile and garment industry continues to experience significant issues with both forced and child labor and is a very real problem globally. While there is greater awareness surrounding this issue, there are still millions of children who are working in these factories. The problem is compounded with forced labor.

Forced labor takes many forms such as physical constraint, direct or indirect, threats, intimidation, and/or other methods of constraint.

JOG Athletics vehemently opposes the use of both forced and child labor and supports the work of such organizations that are seeking to end these practices.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

At JOG we believe in the old adage, “the strength of the pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.” We only do well when all team members do well. While we have always felt a responsibility to ensure an equitable workplace for our team members we recognize that we need to be mindful of opportunities to improve.
  • The JOG Athletics Group shall not discriminate, or allow discrimination, in regards to hiring, pay levels, entitlement to training, promotion, dismissal or retirement on the grounds of race, caste, national origin, religion, handicap, sex, sexual orientation, membership of a trade union or political sympathies.
  • The JOG Athletics Group shall not interfere with, and will demand that the exercising of employees’ entitlement to observe tenets or practices, or to meet requirements as regards their race, caste, national origin, religion, handicap, gender, sexual orientation, membership of a trade union or political sympathies, will not be interfered with.
  • The JOG Athletics Group will not allow behavior, including gestures, language, and physical contact, which is sexually coercive, threatening, abusive or exploitative.

Supplier Code of Conduct

The JOG Athletics Supplier Code of Conduct reflects core ILO conventions, sets forth expectations for the protection of workers and seeks to mitigate risks including forced labor/slavery, human trafficking and any risks inherent to the production process or work environment.

  • Employers will be monitored to ensure compliance with the JOG Athletics Code of Conduct. JOG Athletics reserves the right to terminate its business relationship with any employer who violates the JOG athletics Code of Conduct.
  • Bearing in mind through the knowledge of the sector, and all of the specific risks, the JOG Athletics Group requests the subcontractor and/or the supplier to warrant that work environments are safe and salubrious and has taken sufficient measures to avoid accidents and physical injury occurring during working hours, by reducing, insofar as this is possible, the causes of danger which are inherent to work environments, in accordance with national social legislation.
  • The JOG Athletics Group will ensure that subcontractors and/or suppliers provide clean toilets, washbasins and showers, access to drinking water and, as applicable, sanitary facilities for the storage of food, for all staff.
  • The JOG Athletics Group will demand that subcontractors and/or suppliers ensure that any or all dormitories provided for staff are clean, safe, and comply with the staff’s basic needs.
  • The JOG Athletics Group shall demand that subcontractors and/or suppliers ensure that manufacturing areas comply with effective legislation and regulations and that standards and procedures are introduced so as to protect staff against the risks of fire, accidents and toxic substances. Lighting, ventilation and heating systems should be adapted accordingly.

Worker Environment

We work with our team members to create a positive, stable and rewarding work environment. Employees receive 13 paid public holidays which meets or exceeds industry averages. We are mindful of mental health as well allowing for up to 6 days of personal time off for our factory team members. As an added bonus JOG provides a food allowance/day as well as incentives for above average output.
The JOG Athletics Group will comply with the effective legislation and standards applicable in the sector in regards to working hours, and should ensure that legislation and standards are complied with. In all cases, staff shall not be obliged to regularly work more than 48 hours per week and are entitled to at least one day-off per 7-days period.
  • The JOG Athletics Group will ensure that overtime (over and above 48 hours per week) does not exceed 12 hours per employee per week, and that overtime only be requested in exceptional business circumstance and shall be short-term, and that it always be paid at a higher rate than normal working hours.
  • The JOG Athletics Group will ensure that salaries paid directly to employees for a normal business week be at least equal to the legal minimum or to the minimum for the sector and that they are always sufficient to meet the staff’s basic needs.
  • The JOG Athletics Group will ensure that deductions from salaries are not made on disciplinary grounds and that the salary and benefits be clearly and regularly explained to workers. The JOG Athletics Group also ensures that salaries and benefits are paid in full compliance with any or all applicable laws and that payment is made in cash or by cheque, in a manner which is convenient for the workers.
  • The JOG Athletics Group shall ensure that no labor-only contracting system or false apprenticeship scheme be used in order to avoid fulfilling obligations vis-a’-vis staff under the effective legislation and regulations as regards labor and social security.
  • JOG Athletics Group recognizes and respects the right of employees to freedom and association and collective bargaining in accordance with the laws of the countries in which they are located.

Philanthropy

Think global, act local. Human trafficking is a pervasive issue in South East Asia. Those that are at highest risk are the street children in Bangkok’s slums. JOG is committed to supporting the Mercy Centre both financially and with clothing donations. JOG supports the Mercy Centre’s Mission to help the children and communities of the many slums of Bangkok. They have created simple-but-progressive solutions that touch the lives of thousands of the poor every day. The Centre builds and operates schools, improves family health and welfare, protects street children’s rights, combats the AIDS crisis, responds to daily emergencies, and offers shelter to orphans, to street children, and to children and adults with AIDS. Learn more here.