Five steps to make living wages and living incomes a reality

The question we hear most often is how to make living wages and living incomes real in practice.

Across global value chains, the intent is increasingly there. Companies recognise the link to resilience, regulation, risk management, investor pressure and long-term value creation. But implementation remains uneven. Many organisations know where they want to go, but are still working out what to do next.

That is why we have developed two practical roadmaps — one for living wage and one for living income. Each set out five steps to move from ambition to action.

They are not designed to simplify the journey. They are designed to make it navigable.

They are more than a guide. They bring companies together to tackle bottlenecks, develop solutions, learn from one another and accelerate progress. Whether used by a single company or a coalition of organisations, the Roadmaps are designed to turn shared challenges into shared solutions.

 And importantly, they reflect what we have learned from companies already on this path: progress rarely follows a straight line, but it does follow a pattern. 

Practice

At the recent Living Wage & Living Income Summit, this became very clear. More than 500 participants from over 300 organisations came together to share one thing: practical experience. The conversation has shifted from why living wages and living incomes matter to how to make them part of everyday business.

Participants shared concrete examples of how they are embedding living wages and living incomes into procurement, working with suppliers, measuring progress, closing gaps and scaling action across value chains.

The most important insight was this: organisations do not move forward by waiting for perfect clarity. They move forward by taking the next step, learning as they go, and adapting along the way.

The roadmaps reflect that reality.

Laying the groundwork

This is the step that is often overlooked because it does not immediately feel like progress.

There is no headline metric yet. No public announcement. But this is where the foundation is built: internal mandate, policy alignment, supplier relationships, and clarity on roles and responsibilities.

It is also where companies start to understand their due diligence obligations and what meaningful stakeholder engagement looks like in practice.

Without this step, everything that follows becomes harder.

Measuring

This is where organisations begin to understand the reality of their supply chains.

Measurement is often treated as a technical exercise. In practice, it is also a trust exercise — with suppliers, with workers and/or farmers, and within organisations themselves.

It requires transparency about gaps, and honesty about what the numbers show before decisions can be made.

Building the business case

This is often the most difficult step.

By this stage, the data is available. The gap is visible. The challenge is no longer analytical — it is organisational.

Companies want to know what the return will be. What does every euro invested in living wages or living incomes deliver? The answer will differ by company and context. Different stakeholders require different arguments and numbers. For some, it is resilience.  For others, consumer and investor demands or regulation. For others, still, values and responsibility.

There is no single business case. The skill is knowing which one matters in which context.

Implementing solutions

Implementing solutions means addressing the root causes of living wage and living income gaps and taking targeted action to close them. This can include setting clear commitments and measurable targets, prioritising specific suppliers, regions or production sites, and adapting procurement practices that influence how value is distributed across supply chains.

It also involves strengthening human resource and wage systems, improving operational practices, and ensuring that workers have a stronger voice through effective social dialogue. In many cases, it requires rethinking long-standing commercial relationships and the incentives embedded within them.

For living income specifically, implementation requires identifying priority regions, commodities or household segments, and designing a smart mix of interventions that strengthen income drivers, including productivity, pricing, diversification and access to markets.

Because living wages and living incomes depend on shared responsibility across the value chain, and for both the private and public sector, collaboration is essential.

Reporting and sharing insights

Reporting is often seen as the final step, but in practice it is part of an ongoing accountability and learning process.

As companies implement changes, they also begin to track progress, assess impact and refine their approach. Increasingly, reporting is also about improving decision-making and strengthening transparency across value chains.

Just as importantly, sharing insights helps accelerate collective progress. No organisation is starting from zero, and no organisation is finished. By making experiences visible, including what worked, what did not, and what was adapted along the way, companies contribute to a broader shift in practice.

Step five is therefore not an endpoint. It is part of how the system learns and evolves over time.

Progress is not linear

What becomes clear across all five steps is that no organisation starts at step five. They start where they are. They make decisions with incomplete information. They learn by doing. And they move forward through iteration, not perfection.

The roadmaps are not about prescribing a single pathway. They are about making the journey visible and helping organisations identify their next step.

Because that is where progress actually happens.