Greencore Group

Case Study Details

Client : Greencore Group

Sector: Food production

Services: Strategic engagement, Human Rights Strategy roll out, Lived experience internal engagements, events, meetings, advice

Functions: C suite, Sustainability, Human Resources, General managers

Duration: 24 months

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

The emotions generated by meeting a survivor helped us cut through the multiple priorities
our teams face and elevate the Human Rights Agenda. We wanted to remind our senior
leaders of the dangers of complacency. Lived Experience has inspired and helped renew our
vigour to work locally with Operations leaders and colleagues.

Allyson Russell- Director HR Operations

Challenge

Maintaining momentum in a mature human rights programme

Greencore has long upheld strong standards of human rights due diligence. However, with well-established systems in place, the leadership team recognised the potential risk of complacency. They sought a way to reinvigorate attention to labour exploitation and deepen engagement around emerging risks, particularly within complex, high-volume food production environments.

Senior stakeholders wanted a fresh approach that would reconnect operational teams with the human realities behind compliance frameworks, ensuring human rights awareness remained both meaningful and actionable.

Our Approach

Grounding strategy in lived experience to drive cultural change

In 2023, Greencore partnered with Align Ltd to launch an enhanced Human Rights Strategy that would embed lived experience in its dissemination. Align identified a Lived Experience Consultant with first-hand knowledge of exploitation in the food processing sector, ensuring the initiative reflected authentic workplace realities.

Align worked closely with Greencore’s Human Rights and Sustainability teams to:

Present the new strategy to senior leadership and secure their commitment.
Integrate survivor testimony into key leadership meetings and internal communications.
Support site and business unit events to align people managers with the strategy’s goals.

Align also helped design impactful sessions for the Quarterly Senior Leader Human Rights Forum and the General Managers Conference, where a survivor’s story brought policy commitments to life. These sessions became powerful moments of reflection and renewed
purpose for leaders responsible for implementation across multiple sites.

The Impact

Inspiring action and reinforcing ethical commitment

The introduction of lived experience had a transformative effect across the organisation. It connected leaders emotionally to the issue, helping translate policy into daily practice and shared accountability.

The sessions inspired HR and Operations teams to:

Increase vigilance at site level and recognise potential warning signs early.
Expand training and communication efforts throughout their teams.
Prioritise human rights within competing business demands.

Greencore’s partnership with Align ultimately demonstrated the power of ethical engagement in driving sustained leadership focus on human rights. By integrating lived experience into strategy, the company strengthened its culture of responsibility and modelled a best-practice approach that can be replicated across industry sectors.