Checklist Helps Nintendo Contractors Assess Employee Versus Independent Contractor Status

World Benchmarking Alliance scored Nintendo’s procurement rules B.1.5 = 0, D.4.5.d = 1 and D.4.6.b = 1 based on wording in Nintendo’s CSR Procurement Guidelines dated 28/09/2018. The WBA assessment cites specific Nintendo language while also noting missing details and unanswered questions about cascade, monitoring and trend analysis that affect contractors, QA technicians and localization freelancers working for production partners.

The WBA excerpt reproduces Nintendo’s call to suppliers to notify partners: "ask our production partners to notify all business partners and labor-outsourcing partners (including temporary employment agencies and independent contractors) about the Guidelines". WBA then flags a key ambiguity: "Not clear, however, if supplies cascade down commercial contracts or binding arrangements to the supplier code." That tension matters because the Guidelines, as quoted, instruct notification but the independent assessment says it could not confirm contractual cascade to subcontractors or agencies.

On forced labour, WBA recorded a score of 1 for indicator D.4.5.d and cites Nintendo’s text that "production partners will implement appropriate and effective policies and procedures to ensure that all workers are employed of their own free will and will not force workers to work, and will request the same of temporary employment agencies and independent contractors". The Guidelines explicitly list "requiring a worker to deposit identification, passports or work permits with the employer" as an example of forced labour. Despite that language, WBA marked "Not met: How these practices are implemented and monitored for agencies, labour brokers or recruiters" and found the score-2 conditions and trend-analysis requirements absent.

For freedom of association, WBA scored D.4.6.b = 1 and quoted Nintendo: "production partners will respect workers’ right to organize as a means to realize agreement between labor and management on issues such as the work environment and wage standards. Respecting the right of workers to organize refers the freedom of association without retaliation, intimidation or" — a passage that is truncated in the excerpt but which WBA used to mark a baseline rule in codes or contracts. WBA’s notes record that further score-2 elements and progress reporting were not present in the material it reviewed.

WBA’s assessment also lists B.1.5 Training on Human Rights as scoring 0. The asset records a partial Nintendo statement: "at Nintendo, we conduct the following training to inform employees about human rights topics: we conduct online and/or face-to-face training for employees to ensure a [...]" but WBA marked "Not met: Trains all workers on HR policy commitments" and "Not met: Provide analysis of trends in progress made," producing the overall 0/2 result for that indicator.

Together these findings leave a narrow but important picture for anyone doing contract work that touches Nintendo’s supply chain: the 28/09/2018 CSR Procurement Guidelines contain explicit language asking production partners to extend rules to temporary employment agencies and independent contractors and list concrete forced-labour examples, yet the independent WBA scoring highlights missing implementation details, absent monitoring commitments and a lack of trend reporting. Until Nintendo publishes clarifying language or updated guidelines, contractors should confirm at the contract level whether a production partner’s obligations are binding on subcontractors and whether the partner provides the trainings the Guidelines reference.