At Kognic, we build tools for machine learning development in an industry where a single autonomous vehicle can generate up to 4TB of data per day. Our customers expect precision, scalability, and efficiency in everything we do. Central to our operations is our network of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) partners, whose annotators and technical contributors process this massive volume of data. How we structure these partnerships and treat this extended workforce directly impacts the quality and efficiency of our data pipelines.
That's why we've developed a comprehensive Code of Conduct that governs our operations and our relationships with BPO partners. These are not PR gestures. They are operational standards based on international labor conventions and Lean manufacturing principles that we require all our data annotation partners to follow. With over 70 million vehicles expected to have self-driving capabilities by 2030, our focus is on delivering high-quality outputs while protecting the dignity and rights of every contributor in our extended workforce.
Through our BPO partnerships, we ensure workers are paid fairly for every aspect of their contribution — annotation, onboarding, meetings, corrections, and even reading guidelines. We do not allow our partners to use performance-only pay models that undercut labor value. While we support performance-based incentives, they must come on top of a reliable base wage that meets living wage standards.
This is a strategic choice. Fair wages across our partner network reduce turnover. They help workers plan financially. They reduce rework caused by burnout or disengagement. In Lean terms, they reduce waste. You can't optimize a process when your extended workforce is constantly changing.
We require our BPO partners to limit working hours to prevent fatigue. This includes respecting rest periods and keeping overtime voluntary and rare. Even with advanced monitoring tools on our platform, we treat these insights as a path to improvement, not surveillance.
Data workers are not machines. Productivity is highest when people are healthy, rested, and treated with respect. This is not just an ethical stance. It's a productivity boost that benefits our entire ecosystem.
Too many outsourcing setups assume annotators can become productive instantly. We require our BPO partners to budget and pay for training and onboarding because we understand the cost of poor instructions: errors, rework, and delay.
We also work with our partners to set clear, achievable targets and adjust them over time. This ensures continuous improvement without overburdening anyone. Again, this is not a moral compromise. It's a business reality: sustainable productivity beats burnout cycles.
We hold all our BPO partners to these expectations and require them to extend these standards to their subcontractors as well. This includes compliance with ILO conventions on pay equity, non-discrimination, and freedom of association.
If our partners can't or won't meet these standards, they can't work with us.
Lean isn't about squeezing people. It's about eliminating waste, empowering workers, and building systems that improve over time. As we move towards a future where annotation becomes more about curating high-value data than labeling everything, having engaged, skilled workers throughout our partner network becomes even more critical. Exploited labor is a form of waste, one with serious long-term costs.
We've built our Code of Conduct to align with Lean thinking. By ensuring fair treatment across our entire data workforce, we build a better product for our customers. It's that simple.
We're proud to announce that our dedication to fair wages has been officially recognised with a Living Wage Certificate from the Fair Wage Network. This certification validates that both our direct employees and workers through our BPO partnerships receive compensation at or above the living wage threshold, as defined by Fair Wage Network's comprehensive standards. This isn't just a milestone for us, it's a confirmation that our approach to ethical partnerships and fair compensation is working as intended, benefiting our entire ecosystem.