The benefits of sustainable and responsible workplace practices

The joint venture started in March 2012 with Coop – which operates 800 supermarkets and mega-stores throughout Switzerland plus a variety of other manufacturing companies and non-food retailers. It was created to train a pilot group of its suppliers to improve their productivity, product quality and business practices, while ensuring cleaner production and compliance with international labour standards.

Coop, already a member of the UN Global Compact, is organized as a cooperative of over two million Swiss members. It selected the Chinese industrial and agricultural suppliers to be trained through SCORE, and funded half of the USD 3,000 training fees per factory, each participating supplier factory paying the other half.

SCORE training combines classroom sessions and on-the-job learning on workplace cooperation and quality management. SCORE’s role in the PPP is to identify qualified trainers, provide training materials and coordinate with the Coop suppliers the organization of the training and of three follow-up factory visits.

The impact of the SCORE training on the pilot Coop supplier factories was measured through before-and-after comparison of a series of indicators, including number of employees, costs savings, defect rates, energy consumption, and waste produced. Results of this evaluation became available in May. Coop found the demonstrated improvements in performance and workplace cooperation very encouraging, and said it would like to see more of its buyers receive the SCORE training.

SCORE has decided to expand the training initiative to other suppliers China and to other countries, such as India, where Coop has many suppliers.

SCORE’s strategy is to replicate the PPP to disseminate responsible workplace practices throughout China by concluding similar agreements with other multinational enterprises (MNEs). It will reach out to MNEs through the Chinese Employers’ Association (CEC) and the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), a platform of businesses and associations committed to improving working conditions worldwide.

Like Coop, a number of MNEs already have an interest in developing their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to pre-empt any reputational threats to their brands that could arise from their suppliers’ workplace practices. They thus want to encourage compliance with national and international labour standards and minimal environmental impact.

SCORE’s aim is to engage other MNEs to co-fund the training and give more suppliers and buyers along the supply chain access to world-class management consulting they otherwise would not even consider given its prohibitive price.