10 Simple Steps To Ethical Trading

Where do you begin when you want to create an Ethical Trading Policy for your Company? Here are 10 easy steps to help you get started

1. Create an ethical trading policy. Within any corporate structure this is no simple matter especially in very large organisations that trade globally. It requires a commitment to change that must start in the boardroom and be driven through the entire supply chain right down to the point of sale.

2. Accept that this is not a label sticking exercise. A company who believes that all they need to do to trade ethically is pay a subscription for a logo that can be printed on their headed paper and product packaging is doomed to failure.

3. Accept that costs may be incurred. It is an undisputable fact that is that the process does incur extra costs especially in the initial stages. But this is no different to investing in staff training on new systems or machinery.

4. Don't expect this to take just a few days to implement. Depending upon the size of an organisation the implementation can take anything from a few weeks to many months to complete and will almost certainly need to be driven by a senior member of the management team with full backing of the ultimate decision makers within the company.

5. Plan for some possible disruption in your supply chain. For example it may be the case that a company currently purchases certain products based entirely upon the lowest price offered in an on-line tender with no consideration given to the methods of manufacturing that the winning supplier employs. Once the new policy is in place tenderers would have to first demonstrate that their production plants comply with the new policy. It can take some weeks to organise the necessary audits so this lead-time needs to be taken into consideration.

6. Involve the key company decision makers. You must make sure that the Board of Directors fully support an ethical trading policy. A proper commitment cannot be taken lightly as it can mean changes in the way that a procurement department operates.

7.Select and empower the right member of staff to instigate the policy. Whoever is going to be in charge of delivering this project must have access to and the backing of the senior management team.

8. Give the instigator time and budget to do the job properly. They will need to have the time to research the project, create an implementation plan and present the facts and figure to the senior management.They will then have to hold a series of presentations to the entire company explaining why the new policy is being adopted and how it will impact upon them.

9. Get the buy in from every person in the company. It is essential that everyone within the organisation buys into why the new policy is being incorporated into the supply chain. Just one weak link in the chain can cause the entire process to fail.

10. Get the right information to implement the new policy. At the outset is vital that the person heading up the project learns as much as possible about the subject and whilst there is not a massive number of sources available on the internet a good place to start would be at the website of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI).

This is a relatively new subject and there are no set rules and regulations. However I hope this article will give you some help in instigating an Ethical Trading Policy within your company.