When HR Meets Human Rights

Last year, I reflected on Martin Luther King Jr.'s words: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." This January—Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month—I'm asking you to sit with a harder truth: 28 million people are trafficked worldwide right now. And Human Resources leaders have both responsibility and leverage to disrupt the systems that make this possible.

I spent eight years as Chief People Officer at Polaris Project, the organization behind the National Human Trafficking Hotline. I learned that trafficking isn't what most people imagine. It's rarely kidnapping or violent force. It's psychological manipulation—fraud, coercion, exploitation of desperation. It's a romantic partner. A family member. An employer.

And it's intimately connected to the workplace vulnerabilities we claim to care about: poverty, lack of education, unstable housing, criminal records, trauma responses misread as "performance issues."

The business case is clear. 

Survivors of trafficking bring extraordinary resilience, creative problem-solving, and perseverance. In their 2023 report, In Harm’s Way, Polaris Project shared that 43% of surveyed survivors earn under $25,000 annually—despite working multiple jobs. They face barriers we can remove: lack of trauma-informed interview processes, inflexible background check policies, absence of mental health support, and workplace cultures that punish trauma responses instead of accommodating them.

Here's where HR becomes human rights work:

• Expand your talent pool with trauma-informed hiring practices that recognize interrupted work histories and provide pathways for people with criminal records (often a direct result of their trafficking).

• Reduce turnover by implementing psychological safety protocols and partnering with workforce development programs that understand exploitation.

• Meet compliance obligations under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to prevent and combat human trafficking, while building cultures where disclosure feels safe.

  
  

This isn't charity. It's strategic capacity-building that addresses the $1.45 billion the United States has spent on anti-trafficking efforts—while survivors still can't access sustainable employment.

Your invitation

1. Donate to Polaris Project this month. They're not just serving survivors—they're mapping the systems that enable trafficking and disrupting them at scale.

2. Audit your HR systems. Are your policies accidentally screening out the talent you say you want to include?

3. Expand your training for leadership and all staff. Including human trafficking training increases awareness of the signs. Polaris Project offers free training.

4. Partner with us. AllProfit HR's People-Powered Workshops and HR Systems & Strategy Builder help you build trauma-conscious recruitment, psychologically safe onboarding, and retention strategies that don't just accommodate differences—they leverage it.

Dr. King reminded us we're tied in "a single garment of destiny.” When Human Resources expands access to dignified work, we don't just hire individuals—we dismantle trafficking's economic foundation.

People-Powered. Purpose-Driven. Profit for All.