Belgian retailer Colruyt has announced that it is auditing its suppliers' working conditions regularly, and has seen gradual improvements in the last year.
The group has completed a €200,000 company wide audit to assess the conditions at 154 of its suppliers, as well as receiving audit reports from other retailers, for a total of 582 suppliers.
It reported that 95% of suppliers, 10% more than in 2015, said their working conditions were considered 'average', and improvements were required. These groups received an improvement plan and will be checked on in three to 24 months, depending on the gravity of the issues at hand.
Continuous Audits
Most issues were found in areas such as working hours, pay, safety and health. Daniel Bral, Colruyt audit manager, said, "When we check again after the first audit, we usually notice an improvement".
“During the re-audit all suppliers submit to, we see that working conditions usually stay at a better level. There are big differences between companies. Non-food suppliers score quite well on average, because we have been auditing them for 14 years now.”
In the food sector, however, audits showed that conditions were less well on average. Bral said that this is “logical”, as the group only started carrying out audits in this area in 2013.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
