As a company operating across more than 30 countries, partnering with myriad global suppliers, Bunzl must ensure rigorous protocols and standards are in place to support and monitor safe workplace conditions, ethical sourcing, and quality control. With mandates governing supply chain and workplace conditions, improving practices and standards becomes a matter of accountability for everyone involved.
For Bunzl, that means establishing long-term relationships with suppliers based on trust, collaboration and education. Dialogue is important; a key way Bunzl ensures two-way conversations are happening is by conducting training on the organisation’s Supplier Code of Conduct at the manufacturing companies of its global suppliers.
The training covers standards set out by the Code, specifically prohibiting forced labour i.e. slavery, as well as human trafficking, unfair wages and working hours, discrimination and denying freedom of association, that Bunzl suppliers are expected to adhere to as a condition of partnership. The training also explains that the living and working conditions of suppliers’ employees must meet local laws and international standards, such as those set by the International Labour Organisation and the Ethical Trading Initiative.
This work is also carried out on the ground. Paul Stoker, Bunzl’s Global Sourcing Director, cites an example where Bunzl worked with a supplier to eradicate forced labour. “When visiting one of our suppliers, my team noticed that brokerage fees were being paid. These types of fees are considered forced labour because there’s a risk of the fees being passed on to workers, resulting in the workers being exploited.”
In this instance, Bunzl’s factory auditor flagged the issue with the supplier and created a timeline for them to stop paying brokerage fees and refund workers. Bunzl senior leadership was then called in to encourage the supplier to change its practices more rapidly. Stoker notes that in such circumstances, there is an appreciation that each country has different cultural expectations around practices like this, as well as laws governing them.
“There is also an expectation that suppliers meet or exceed both local laws and international standards, and that Bunzl works with suppliers to support them in exceeding those standards,” he says. In another example – this time of child labour – an auditor discovered an employee’s child, who was a teenager at the time, was also working at the factory. When this was identified, Bunzl ensured the supplier ceased employing the youth, but certified that they had been paid wages and transportation expenses for the time of employment, and provided them with a health check.
“The respect and diligence built into Bunzl’s relationships with its suppliers means that occurrences like these are rare, and when they occur, they’re resolved quickly and effectively,” says Stoker.
In 2020, of the 700 audits carried out, 60 suppliers were flagged against Bunzl’s Supplier Code of Conduct. Of those 60 suppliers, 80% of issues were resolved within two months. After 2020, the pandemic restricted Bunzl’s ability to audit suppliers, which has since resumed with a commitment to audit over 98% of audit spend across Asia, ensuring quality control of workers’ conditions, as well as the products Bunzl customers receive. All Bunzl products sent to Australia and New Zealand are first quality controlled in Asia before arriving at safety warehouses in Sydney or Perth. There, they receive additional levels of testing and checks before being sent to their locations.
As Bunzl does business around the world, a main goal of the organisation is to benefit local communities. Workers’ rights and fair labour are at the forefront of this, which is why Bunzl’s Code of Conduct supports workplace training and supplier education, ultimately assisting in the overall development of the community.
