Corporate Responsibility (CR)
shouldn’t be a stranger to your company. What might be news to you is that
there is a benchmarking index. It’s operated by Business in the Community and gives all businesses access to
information on the Corporate
Responsibility Index.
The index is based from information sourced using an annual
survey of members through self-assessment; however, all submissions must be
signed at board level ensuring there is director-level involvement and
commitment.
Even if you aren’t using the CRI for benchmarking, it’s
vital that CR forms part of your internal policies and that those carry over to
external partners without conflicts.
That’s when things can get tricky.
Responsibility should always be aimed at the highest level
in order to trickle down and take affect across the organisation.
The most important aspects in CR Policies
Sustainability
At the heart of CR should always be sustainability across
your supply chain. Everything you buy in and all waste going out. Many spend
significant amounts of overheads on waste management,
yet, not all corporations have criteria and codes of conduct in place for
partnering with service providers.
For sustainability to be practiced, it needs traceability as
part of your supply chain controls. What comes in and goes out is best managed
with partners in agreement to corporate sustainability policies. This can be
done effectively by supplying written materials at the tendering process to all
suppliers. Audits can form part of
agreements to keep your company true to its internal policies.
Of course, waste is only used as an example as there are
multiple external suppliers covering everything from telecommunications to
print management services.
There’s little point implementing policies internally if
partners are brought in doing their own thing.
Today’s consumers are increasingly concerned about
sustainability and in particular with larger organisations as those have a
major impact on all resources.
At the very minimum, there are ten guiding principles that
should apply to sustainability policies.
Sustainable-Environment.org.uk
summarise those below:
“…
1.
Putting people at the centre;
2.
Taking a long term perspective;
3.
Taking account of costs and benefits;
4.
Creating an open and supportive economic system;
5.
Combating poverty and social exclusion;
6.
Respecting environmental limits;
7.
The precautionary principle;
8.
Using scientific knowledge;
9.
Transparency, information, participation and access to justice;
10. Making the polluter pay.”
There are companies that have heard the consumer voice loud
and clear and steered policies directly addressing consumer concerns. One
example (of a few) of this is Lush; a company manufacturing beauty products with only natural ingredients. Every product
created is accompanied with the employee name that made it, introducing
traceability to the process. The policies apply to all partners, so the
policies of the brand are the same for external partner policies, ensuring no
conflict with internal policies.
Packaging Initiatives
Amazon began to take this issue seriously back in 2008 when
they first launched the Amazon Certified Frustration-Free Packaging. Today it’s
proudly promoted with the slogan “Eliminating
Wrap Rage Since 2008”. We’ve all experienced the “wrap rage” at some point
with a product, when you can’t get the thing open. This is perfectly captured
in the cartoon video.
If you’re unsure about exactly the roles that each team
member involved in packaging initiatives should be doing, scout around job
search websites.
A sneaky way to discover how big brands handle packaging…
Go to LinkedIn Jobs
and run a job search for Product Engineer in the United Kingdom and you’ll be
presented with pages of information all filled with core roles,
responsibilities and duties you can use for research to determine how your
company has their packaging divisions structured, in comparison to other
organisations.
Ethics
Corporations operating without a code of ethics are a
disaster waiting to happen. In 1995, Lord Nolan had to spell out The
7 principles of public life:
1.
Selflessness
2.
Integrity
3.
Objectivity
4.
Accountability
5.
Openness
6.
Honesty
7.
Leadership
Naturally, this was set out for the public sector, but it
applies equally to the private sector.
With services and products often offered at a global level, many
organisations apply the minimum ethical standards in accordance with the International
Base Code of the Ethical
Trading Initiative.
The aim of the ATI is to promote workers rights,
establishing fair pay and trade. Organisations don’t have to be trading
globally to implement ETI best practices.
For more information on ethical trading, the Trade Union
Congress produced a quick-read Guide
to Ethical Trade.
Quality Assurances
In many industries, there are bodies that set out clear
guidelines to provide consumers with quality assurances. Some are a legal
requirement to be associated with, such as the Financial Conduct Authority or
any of the many Care Regulators. For many large sectors though, there are other
assurance bodies.
·
Timber Trade Federation
·
Forest Stewardship Council
·
British Toy and Hobby
Association
·
The Lion Mark
·
The Chartered Institute of
Procurement and Supply - The Procurement Group is affiliated with the CIPS.
·
British Standards Institution
·
Woolmark
As part of Corporate Responsibility, it certainly helps to
bring in outside assistance from organisations leading the way in enhancing
industry best practices, applicable directly to your organisation, and helping
your policies have weight in the eyes of consumers, partners, and suppliers.
The easiest part is having your procurement team create your
Corporate Responsibility Policies. The difficult part is maintaining them as
they should be reviewed at annual intervals to ensure partners to your company
are in sync and not going to cause embarrassment in the event they’re
discovered to be operating in a way that may conflict with your policies.
Responsibility applies equally through association.
Image courtesy of 1stcall-ltd.com.
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