do we monitor working conditions at suppliers question

This asks about supplier control, not about own staff

Yes, this question specifically concerns what the company itself does to monitor working conditions at its own suppliers — further down the chain, not on its own shop floor. That is a different subject from questions about the company's own sick leave or safety policy. A buyer or auditor of the customer wants to know here whether there is steering of the chain: does a code of conduct exist that suppliers must sign, are audits carried out, and is there a way to report misconduct.

If no code of conduct or control mechanism exists, 'no' is the factually correct answer here — do not enter what does not yet exist. Evidence often requested: the code of conduct itself, a supplier list showing who has signed it, and any audit reports. If that evidence is missing, this should appear in the chain file as an outstanding item, not as a confirmed answer. Anyone encountering this for the first time will find the basis of this question at how do I answer questions about working conditions further in my supply chain. If the company already has a code it imposes on its own suppliers, the follow-up question is whether that code on paper is sufficient or whether it is also monitored — that assessment is at customer wants to see our supplier code of conduct, do we need one.

Basic module of the VSME asks this under the chain theme

The EFRAG VSME standard addresses this within the basic module, in the section on the value chain: in addition to own personnel policy, it also asks whether there is a policy for human rights and working conditions at suppliers, and whether there is a complaints mechanism that is also open to chain partners. The latter relates to the question can employees and chain partners report misconduct via a fixed channel, and also the company applies a code of conduct for its own suppliers falls under the same module. The CSRD (Directive 2022/2464) is the underlying reason larger buyers pass on this kind of chain questions to their suppliers: they themselves must report on their value chain, and the VSME basic module is designed to gather that information in a uniform way from SMEs.