Supplier audit approach suggestions

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Hi Folks - we are on the self-assessment journey and would like to reach out to our suppliers to audit the ownership from local and diversity lens.

Does anyone have any suggestions of the best approach for a supplier survey as I don’t want to inadvertently cause any offence in the process.

Any suggestions welcome.

Ngā mihi Anna

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Hi Anna :wave: Thanks for joining and posting - welcome!

I’ve attached a doc which might be helpful.You could consider combining your supplier screening survey to look at local ownership & diversity, along with environmental screening if that is also something you want to tackle.

I encourage clients to have a little explanation about how we can drive impact through the supply chain and why diversity and local ownership is therefore important, as a prelude to the survey so they understand why you are asking.

The main questions are fairly straight-forward, here are mine as an example.

  1. Is your company a a B-Corp a certified business for good with accompanying workplace, environmental and social impact policies?
  2. If you’re company is not a B-Corp have you considered becoming certified? (I do also ask if they meet any other specific standard or certifications, eg fair-trade.)
  3. Is your company a locally owned, independent business? (It’s worth defining what you mean by local, it may be national.)
  4. Is your company majority owned or operated by women?
  5. Is your company majority owned or operated by Indigenous Australians
  6. Is your company majority owned or operated by people from another ethnic (non Australian Indigenous) minority?
  7. Is your company majority owned or operated by people with disabilities

B Resources - Conducting a Supplier Survey.pdf (533.3 KB)

I hope that helps, sing out with questions. There’s also the Knowledge Base but it doesn’t have a lot on supplier screening that I could find.

I’m not sure if you know @Clare but she is NZ-based and was talking about supplier policies in another thread.

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Brilliant, thanks @alisonmichalk - this is exactly the help/push I needed!

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Hi @anna.bayliss! Here are some more resources that should be helpful as you decide what’s going to work best for your company and significant suppliers. I also encourage clients to accompany the survey with a statement or letter stating the purpose and importance of conducting a supplier survey. A Supplier Code of Conduct and engagement strategy that informs and supports suppliers to improve their impact can also be great tools for building strong relationships with mission-aligned suppliers. You never know what asking a few questions can turn into!

SURVEY EXAMPLES:

B LAB BEST PRACTICE GUIDE:

P.S. @alisonmichalk you are the rockstar!

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Thanks everyone! This is really helpful. This is my big project for 2021- supply chain survey… oh and having a baby :wink:

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