Doing unto others

Business integrity, ethical trading and respect for the individual are part of what we do every day. They’re fundamental to our strategy, and inextricable from our mission to deliver quality services, opportunity for our people, and sustainable growth – and to do all that in a responsible way.

We want mutual beneficial trading relationships with our stakeholders that are based on trust, ethical business practices and co-operation. These values are in-line with the basic principles of the UN Global Compact.

MITIE also endorses the International Labour Organisation’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the Ethical Trading Initiative ‘Base Code’. We ensure that employment with us is always freely chosen, freedom of association is respected, working conditions are safe and hygienic, child labour is not used, pay is not lower than the minimum wage, working hours are not excessive, discrimination, regular employment is provided, and no harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed.

Supplier Improvement Programme
We know that selecting the right suppliers and sub-contractors is a key way to reduce business risk and improve performance. In fact we see our suppliers as partners in our own success, and we demand the same standards from those partners that we observe ourselves.

In 2007 we set up a new Supplier Improvement Programme to ensure that our main suppliers are aligned with our CR principles and apply ‘downstream accountability’ in their own supply chains. Our partnering relationship with national building products supplier Wolseley has proven to be particularly rewarding. We don’t view each other just as trading partners but make sure we exchange CR knowledge and practice by participating in each other’s CR and environment forums. Wolseley generously support our Construction Skills Centres by providing materials and employment opportunities for the student apprentices. Wolseley also participate in our employee volunteering events.

As part of our Supplier Improvement Programme we perform a CR audit to assess a supplier’s accreditations, policies, community investment and environmental initiatives. We aimed to do ten of these audits last year, but actually completed 18. This proved to be a very useful exercise and of mutual benefit to our suppliers, which is why we will continue our audits during 2008. Although we were generally impressed with their high standard of compliance, we had to serve a ‘notice of improvement’ to two of the 18 suppliers. The notices identified further improvements in respect of reporting CO₂ emissions and in providing assurances that their products are ethically produced.

Sharing the benefits
We’re constantly looking for new ways to manage our procurement in a responsible, sustainable and efficient manner.

When we’re faced with challenges we always work with our clients to find an approach that maximises good health, well-being and value for money, and minimises waste and energy use, while contributing to local economies by using locally sourced and sustainable products.

It doesn’t stop there though: in our catering business, over 70% of our 57,000 black waste sacks are now made from bio-degradable materials as are the 4.5m napkins we use in our restaurants, and the 50,000 disposable takeaway bags we give out with our deli-food. Additionally, our 160,000 fruit and yoghurt pots are now packaged in plastic cups made from polylactic acid.

Fairtrade
We’re piloting a new scheme that bags up the coffee grinds from our Starbucks and Costa Coffee lounges and offers them to customers for their home compost heaps or wormeries. This is currently operating in a quarter of our sites and we hope to be able to expand it further over the coming year. Our spend on Fairtrade products such as smoothies, fruit juices, chocolate, snacks, coffee and sugar sticks has increased by 142% from 2006 to over £25,000.

We’re always looking for new and innovative ways to improve our services, and it’s often our own people who have the best ideas.