How to prepare for a social compliance audit

Garment exports from Bangladesh were US$38.7 billion in FY2025-26, about 81% of all exports, and almost every order depends on the factory passing buyer audits. A social audit costs the factory several thousand dollars each time. Failing one costs orders. Most failures are about records, not buildings.

What happens in an audit

1. An opening meeting and a walk of the floor, canteen, toilets, day care and dormitories if any.
2. Worker interviews, usually chosen by the auditor, some away from managers.
3. A document review, usually of the last 12 months.
4. A closing meeting with findings, each graded, and a corrective action plan with dates.

The documents reviewed

• Worker files: appointment letters, ID cards, service books, age proof and doctor certificates, nominee forms.
• Time: attendance records, overtime registers, overtime approvals and consent.
• Pay: wage sheets, payslips, payment proof, bonus and increment records, minimum wage by grade.
• Leave: registers by type, maternity files, earned leave paid on exit.
• Separations: letters and final settlement receipts.
• Policies: HR, anti-harassment, child labour, grievance, disciplinary, freedom of association.
• Committees: participation, safety and anti-harassment committees, elections and minutes.
• Grievance log, with dates and outcomes.
• Safety: licences and certificates, fire drills, equipment checks, first aid, accidents, training.

The findings that fail factories

• Two sets of books for hours and pay.
• Weeks over 60 hours, or no weekly holiday, in peak months.
• Late wages and unpaid bonuses or arrears.
• Workers below the grade minimum after an increment or a promotion was missed.
• Missing or weak age documents.
• Committees that exist on paper but have not met.
• Corrective actions from the last audit still open.

Ready every day, not the week before

The factories that pass easily do not prepare for audits; they keep records the same way every day. Concretely: one attendance record straight from the punch machine, wages paid on a known date with proof, a file checklist for every new joiner, a meeting calendar for each committee, a drill every quarter, and every finding tracked to closure with evidence. Score yourself with the audit readiness checklist.

How Ovelit Comply helps

Every check above runs every morning and feeds a readiness score per unit. When a buyer asks, you build an evidence pack for the period and unit they want, covering licences, workforce and age, files, hours, wages, leave, grievances, committees, safety, training and corrective actions, and share it by a link that expires.