Supplier Engagement HE Tool

Businesses are encouraged to explore issues and challenges relating to Modern Slavery and embed meaningful responses within their existing process and practice. These should be communicated to customers to provide appropriate assurances. This could be a code of conduct or similar approach. You are encouraged to link to your own activity in this area in the evidence box provided. Here is an example of a Code of Conduct which covers Modern Slavery considerations

Those rescued from Modern Slavery often need help to rebuild their lives. Some employers have developed schemes to support these individuals to re-join the workforce. Your organisation may be in a position to provide similar access routes to employment. Have a look at this Co-op initiative

Provide your own suppliers with modern slavery information or guidance and ask them about their own approach and any assurances they can provide. A good starting point for resources and best practice is the Ethical Trading Initiative website

Modern slavery issues could be highlighted in your own operations or you could become aware of something concerning in your supply chain. You should have a response that is appropriate to the nature and size of your business and recognises the need to act swiftly (best practice is to inform stakeholders within 48 hours). Complex international businesses may need a dedicated incident plan but individuals should know how to access information, guidance or report Modern Slavery concerns

Training staff about issues relating to Modern Slavery including how to identify the signs of slavery and human trafficking will help reduce the risk of modern slavery occurring in your business. You may be the entire workforce in which case access some training yourself! A free, online course is offered by the Open University which might be helpful.

A responsible business is transparent and understands that Modern Slavery is more than a compliance issue. Legislation has driven rapid progress in this area and best practice is developing quickly. Businesses obliged to produce a transparency statement are encouraged to provide evidence of their commitments including appropriate governance and reporting mechanisms

Consider if your recruitment process and practice could be improved to help you employ more people from disadvantaged groups. You may be able to provide support that improves the chances of care-leavers, ex-offenders or long-term unemployed to access opportunities.

Inviting an expert speaker into your workplace can be an easy way to keep yourself up-to-date on what is important with regards to diversity. These can be linked to your industry and also support staff cohesion more generally.

Create a workplace culture that supports good mental health benefits for everyone. The human cost of poor mental health is considerable but there are also business costs associated with poor performance. The Stevenson Review provides a comprehensive starting point with many no-cost or low-cost options that can be introduced to help support a thriving workforce.

Providing mental health resources in the workplace could save a life. The NHS signposts to a range of support and resources you could make accessible to staff or visitors.

Low-carbon skills across the whole of society are essential to meet the ambition of a zero-carbon future. A significant social value contribution your organisation can make is via outreach programmes and partnering locally to support skills development around carbon literacy. Consider if this is relevant to your organisation and how you could provide access to low-carbon training and/or development for the communities where you operate.

Your business might be able to make a real difference locally by participating in work-experience schemes with more challenging audiences. These might equip young people, ex-offenders or other disadvantaged groups with new skills at the same time as improving the local area. Both the Princes Trust and the Career Transition Partnership have information to explore this.

From careers fairs to work experience placements there are likely to be a range of ways you can support skills developments in conjunction with local schools and colleges. The Young Enterprise Scheme is a well-established example.

Businesses can ensure payments are met by a specified date, and offer compensation or another gesture if this deadline is not met. Guaranteeing suppliers a date of payment builds trust across your supply chain as suppliers feel they will suffer less financial risk when carrying out business with you.

Businesses should make an effort to seek out new innovations within their sector, especially in relation to resource or process efficiency. Are there new options that can future-proof your company from rising costs? Are your customers keen that you offer new and improved products and services. Keeping up-to-date can be crucial.

Your staff are often at the front-line when it comes to communicating with your customers. Make sure that communications messages are disseminated clearly and effectively so that messages are consistent no matter which messenger is used. Training for front-line staff is likely to be essential to ensure this happens consistently.

Find ways to ensure your customers can communicate with you and respond to the stories you are sharing with them. Social media can be a great way to establish dialigue with your clients but an old-fashioned feedback form can be just as effective. Think about what will work for you and your customers.

Share examples of social innovation in practice to both raise the profile of your activity and provide inspiration to others. Leaders continue to push the boundaries of excellent practice and share their approaches for community benefit.

Social innovation that benefits people, communities and the wider society are highly sought by customers and especially those in the public sector. Develop plans and embed practice that supports innovation in your business model.

An efficient and responsible business will be striving to reduce dependence on polluting vehicles, exploring low carbon options and sourcing goods and services locally where possible. This will have environmental benefits, promotes health and wellbeing as well as impacting on your bottom line. Start by considering if the need for travel is business critical and then explore the most sustainable options that meet your needs. Useful starting points for your planning include Sustrans and the Energy Saving Trust.

Whether updating your fleet, encouraging lift sharing or remote working for your staff or incentivising certain kinds of travel there are ways to make travelling sustainably part of your culture. Highlighting public transport options for your visitors, having somewhere for staff to store bikes securely or considering a government-supported cycle-to-work scheme might all be ways you can support sustainable travel. Try to extend the range of sustainable travel options you promote over time and think about linking to regional plans where possible.

Sharing positive stories helps create a positive culture either among your staff or with your customers. You can use them to demonstrate how new behaviours are being encouraged and report on benefits. Even the smallest initiatives can be an excuse to tell a positive story about your business.

Determine what moves from A to B as part of your business operations and exactly how things are transported. This will help you develop a baseline for your sustainable travel plan or simply help you make the most obvious changes to your business practice. Even if road travel is critical to your business efficiencies are possible. Read about efficient-driving or explore energy efficient products.

At least one of your customers has encouraged you to use this tool to generate an Action Plan. The simplest way to keep them informed is to update it regularly with your progress. You can also use the 'EXPORT PLAN' button at the bottom of the page to send it directly to individuals, such as potential new customers. You could also add it to your website, if you have one, to make a more public statement.

It may be appropriate for your organisation to obtain certification that provides assurance in relation to your carbon reduction activities. Organisations, operations and products can all be certificated, consider which might be relevant to your context. The Carbon Trust might be a good place to start this exploration.

Important! It is best to look at carbon offsetting after you have reduced your carbon footprint as much as you can first. Carbon offset schemes allow individuals and companies to invest in environmental projects around the world in order to balance out their own carbon footprints. The projects are usually based in developing countries and often designed to reduce future emissions. However there are also options around offsetting projects locally to support the communities where you are based. For a fuller overview please see this briefing note NETpositive Futures has produced.

A carbon reduction plan will enable you to demonstrate your commitment to de-carbonisation and evidence that you are responding to the climate challenges in a focussed way. It will detail your key impact areas and detail your plans to reduce them. Use this editable template to get you started.

An increasing number of larger organisations are making commitments either to source 100% of their energy from renewables or to generate their own. Consider the feasibility of generating your own renewable energy

Changing staff behaviours is at the heart of reducing carbon emissions (particularly in the short-term). Providing meaningful training and support for staff so they can become carbon literate and understand carbon impacts as they relate to your organisation will help them take action. Many organisations are exploring the carbon literacy project as a way forward.

The food we consume comes with a large carbon impact across the whole life cycle of our food, from ground to plate. Whilst we should not try to control the diet of our staff we can reduce the carbon footprint of the events we might host or on-site catering facilities. This might be as simple as providing meat free options or plant based meals. Have a look here for more information on the carbon impact of food The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) has developed a free tool to calculate the greenhouse gas footprint of your menu choices.

Regular reporting of progress against carbon reduction commitments is recognised as good practice. This could include a mixture of progress against specific targets and case studies and examples of projects.

Understanding the carbon impacts of your business operations is an important first step in developing an action plan to help you manage and reduce them. Broadly this means looking at the energy you consume, travel and transport, waste production the type of catering you provide and the impact of the products you purchase. This activity is the first step in developing a carbon action plan. This survey developed by the University of Leicester is a useful way to identify the types of data you will need to gather and You can also use a carbon calculator tool such as this one from the Carbon trust