Making a difference through Ethical Procurement

When you buy products and services for your organisation, you have an opportunity to make responsible choices around issues like the environment, fair pay, equal opportunities and human rights. This is what we know as responsible or ethical procurement.  Your choices can help your organisation meet the promises it makes through the Triple Bottom Line; that is, People, Planet, Profit.

Your aim should be to have a positive impact. For example, if you need to buy a product choose one that is made from recycled materials and make sure that it can be disposed off safely without causing damage to the environment.

This is not always possible. In this situation, your aim should be to reduce the potential harm as far as possible. For example, can you make other changes, such as manufacturing a product in-house in a safer way, instead of buying it from outside your organisation? 

Always try to understand the potential impact of the choices you make when you buy products and services. Then you can consider the best course of action to mitigate the risk.  

Four areas are affected by procurement:

 

The following questions will help you consider the impact of your procurement choices in each of these areas.

• Human rights and ethics
  • Is there a risk of slavery or forced labour in the supply chain?
  • Are people in the supply chain working in unethical or unsafe conditions?
  • What can your organisation do to minimise this risk?

• Environmental
  • Does your organisation really need to buy a product? Are there alternatives? Apply the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle.
  • What are the impacts on the environment? Are there alternatives that will cause less damage to the environment?
  • How will you dispose of these products when they are no longer being used?
  • Is there an opportunity for a closed loop supply chain, where the manufacturer takes back all or part of the product to reuse or recycle?
  • Can you reduce or eliminate the use of products that will be sent to landfill at the end of their life cycle? 

• Economic:
  • Are all areas of the supply chain getting a fair price for the work they are doing?
  • Will your organisation’s demands mean that suppliers may have to act in an unethical or illegal manner? How can this risk be minimised?
  • Do your suppliers comply with health and safety regulations? Are employees free to organise to resolve disputes over pay or working conditions? 

• Social
  • What are the social consequences of the procurement process?
  • If your organisation is looking to reduce the number of suppliers or move its supply chain offshore, will people lose their jobs or companies be forced to close?
  • Could your procurement process have social benefits, such as creating jobs or giving people new skills? 

By adopting this approach, you will take a big step towards accepting the Triple Bottom Line in your organisational culture. In other words, you will give equal priority to People, Planet and Profit.

Benefits of ethical procurement

These are some of the potential benefits: 

• Because it is the right thing to do
• Positive reputation for your organisation
• Potential overall lower costs
• An overall more sustainable business model
• Security of supply
• Innovation resulting in better products
• Reduced waste
• Reduction in pollution
• Lower energy consumption
• Confident and engaged workforce is more productive and innovative