An IKEA restaurant co-worker at a cash register and a customer that is paying are laughing together.

A fair and equal IKEA value chain

IKEA impacts many people in the world across our business and we recognise our responsibility to ensure we always respect human rights and understand the impact our business has on both the people and the communities where we operate. IKEA is a values-based business and has always strived to put caring for people at the heart of our operations.

By 2030, our ambition is to play our full part in contributing to a fair and equal society, by respecting human rights, creating a positive impact for people across our value chain and contributing to resilient societies.

The people in the IKEA value chain:

231,000 IKEA co-workers (and their families) – from product development and supply, to production, transport and retail.
More than 1 billion customers and their families in 62 markets (882 million visits to 460 IKEA stores and 4.3 billion visits to the IKEA website in the past year).
Thousands of suppliers and service providers and their families across the world. Millions of people work in the IKEA value chain to make and transport our products and components, provide food for our restaurants, and deliver essential services to IKEA companies.
The people in the communities where we operate, and in society at large.

Figures updated September 2022

A young couple, one holding an IKEA FRAKTA bag while the other holds their mobile phone, standing in an IKEA store carpark.

Our responsibility

Our responsibility includes everyone in the IKEA value chain: IKEA co-workers, co-workers at our business partners and people working in other parts of our value-chain, our customers and all the families of these people, as well as the communities where we operate. This is a large undertaking – but also an opportunity – to contribute to positive change. While growing our business to reach more of the many, we have to play our part in ensuring that people across our value chain can thrive and provide a good life for themselves and their families. Our business is built by people, and to thrive as an organisation we must ensure their well-being and that no one is left behind.

We do this by taking our full responsibility as a business to respect human rights and ensure ethical business practices, providing and supporting decent and meaningful work across the IKEA value chain, and further developing into an equal, diverse and inclusive business. This will be based on a solid understanding of our social footprint.

In addition, we use our voice to advocate for a more fair and equal society, in line with our commitments and in collaboration with policymakers and external partners.

We are committed to:

Being a responsible business and contributing to resilient societies

We are committed to respecting human rights and children’s rights by operationalizing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Children’s Rights and Business Principles, ensuring we address our most critical human rights risks and impacts across our value chain.

We also ensure that we follow ethical business practices, including combatting corruption, securing ethical data handling and digital technology, complying with both the letter and the spirit of the law when it comes to corporate tax policies, and being transparent about taxes paid.

In addition, we must secure a strong approach in relation to the climate, health, political and social justice crises of our time, to secure the safety, livelihoods and resilience of our co-workers and partners across our value chain.

Our view on human rights

Our view on children’s rights

Read about the human rights due diligence approach

A mother wearing brightly coloured traditional clothing, tends to her child who is smiling back at her.

Advocating for mandatory human rights due diligence

IKEA and 11 other companies – all members of the Nordic Business Network for Human Rights – signed a statement supporting and encouraging European Union (EU) legislation on mandatory human rights due diligence for all businesses operating in the EU. These regulations can improve human rights throughout global value chains, including for workers and communities in developing countries.

Read the NBNHR statement for human rights here (PDF, 223 KB)

A young child draws a picture while lying on a wooden parquetry floor next to a toy train set.

Respecting children’s rights at every step

What are the rights of a child? What are the responsibilities of a company? Is it only about avoiding child labour? We talked to Alinde Melin, the Global Human Rights and Children’s Rights Leader at IKEA, about what children’s rights are and why IKEA is focused on ensuring that all its business decisions promote the best interests of children.

Read how we respect children’s rights at every step

Providing and supporting decent and meaningful work across the IKEA value chain

We are committed to providing and supporting living wages and income* in IKEA operations, among our business partners and in the wider sectors of which we are a part.

We are committed to providing and supporting everyone in the IKEA value chain to make sure they have access to safe and healthy work, labour rights and social protection, as well as securing stable and predictable work. Included in this is securing a just transition to a net-zero and circular economy.

We are also committed to providing and supporting that everyone in the IKEA value chain is empowered to play an active role in their work and is recruited in a responsible way.

* Responsible Wage Practices is an IKEA programme and related framework and methodology which takes a holistic approach to the subject of wages by placing equal focus on equality at work, pay principles, competence, dialogue and living wage.

Our view on forced labour

Creating opportunities for decent and meaningful work

Two IKEA co-workers in the aisle of the self-service section of an IKEA store. One pushes a trolley loaded with flat packs.

New global framework and assessment methodology ready for rollout

The IKEA Responsible Wage Practices Framework and Assessment Methodology takes a holistic approach to the subject of wages by placing equal focus on equality at work, pay principles, competence, enabling dialogue, and a living wage. The ambition is to create a wage system that’s fair, inclusive and for the many. Our aim is to enable people and families in the IKEA value chain to live a decent life, wherever they are. This new assessment methodology was adjusted and finalised after an extensive validation exercise in spring 2021, spanning 65 units in 22 countries and four continents. During FY22, we began the work of setting a Responsible Wage Practices baseline within IKEA operations and throughout the value chain.

Being an equal, diverse and inclusive business

IKEA is committed to embracing all dimensions of human diversity and reflecting the demographics of the societies in which we operate. We actively work to prevent discrimination and ensure equality in opportunity and treatment.

One important part is creating accessible and inclusive workplaces, where people can be themselves at work and everyone’s voice is heard. Another is being a child friendly business, with focus on securing child safeguarding, family-friendly practices and inclusion and empowerment of children and youth.

We strive to develop an inclusive and socially impactful offer that mirrors the needs of society and reaches as many people as possible. To do this, we must also secure a more inclusive and diverse IKEA value chain by integrating social businesses, minority owned enterprises and small and medium sized enterprises.

An IKEA co-worker at a stand-up desk shows another IKEA co-worker something on his laptop computer.

Improving gender balance

We continue to promote gender equality in our operations through new and existing initiatives on both global and market levels. We’re committed to building a gender balanced business that offers equal opportunities to all co-workers. We have inclusion approaches that help us create work environments that are safe and welcoming for all people.

A Jordanian artisan in traditional clothing tends a loom while weaving a rug.

Expanding our work with social entrepreneurs

IKEA partners with social businesses to create global products that create job opportunities for those who need it most. We also run programmes and make investments that support social entrepreneurs around the world.

Four high-rise apartment blocks with blue tiled facades. It is evening and many of the lights in the buildings are on.

Inequality on the rise

The world economy has grown exponentially over the past hundred years, contributing to the largest reduction of poverty in the history of humanity. At the same time, there is also an ever-increasing level of inequality and social instability, with vast numbers of people being left behind.

Global challenges such as pandemics, climate change, biodiversity loss and geopolitical conflicts continue to accelerate inequality, hitting the most vulnerable the hardest. The transition to a net-zero economy brings additional challenges for livelihoods and human rights, as industries must drastically change, while the impacts of climate change are set to cause widespread disruption that will disproportionally affect vulnerable communities.

Businesses, like IKEA, have a huge opportunity and responsibility to work alongside governments to build resilient societies in which everyone’s rights are respected, basic needs are met, and equal opportunities are available for all.

An IKEA supplier co-worker wearing an orange overall stands in-between a pile of wooden pallets and a workbench in a factory.

Building a better business with IWAY

IWAY is the IKEA way for responsibly procuring products, services, materials, and components. It’s our supplier code of conduct that sets clear requirements and ways of working with environmental, social, and working conditions, as well as animal welfare, for all IKEA suppliers and service providers.

Creating a sustainable IKEA value chain with IWAY

IConduct, the Code of Conduct for our suppliers