Buyer Principles

One of the key success criteria for Better Work is the ongoing support and participation of international buyers. Lessons learned to date point to the critical need for buyers to be committed to the overarching objectives of the programme, actively engaged in the programme and vocal in their support of it to other stakeholders.

To promote success in the Better Work programme, international buyers support the following set of guidelines.

1. Participate consistently in the Buyers’ Forum:
1. Send staff to in-country meetings, including compliance and sourcing representatives when possible
2. Send decision-makers to the annual global buyers forum meetings (either in the US or the EU)
3. Ensure communication between headquarter and operational staff to ensure consistency of message and approach;

2. Actively work toward strategic monitoring:
1. Stop company auditing in areas being covered by the programme and focus efforts on supporting collaborative improvement planning (1)
2. Access supplier compliance information via the STAR system
3. Target internal alignment between compliance and procurement departments;

3. Actively encourage engagement by suppliers and agents (where applicable) in Better Work programmes, including cost sharing for enterprise-level advisory services and training;

4. Focus on improvement processes:
1. Commit to not terminating or significantly reducing orders based on non-compliance (2) provided that suppliers are transparent on problems and showing significant and continuous progress according to Better Work improvement plans
2. Support and actively use the Better Work single improvement planning process
3. Stay actively engaged in working with suppliers and the Better Work team on continuous improvement, and recognize that improvements may in many cases require a longer-term approach
4. Consider internal buying practices that may be influencing non-compliance at supplier facilities.

(1) This does not restrict company auditors from having access to their supplier facilities at any time.

(2) With the exception of critical or zero tolerance issues.