Suppliers

We have thousands of suppliers around the world. We expect them to meet the same high standards we set for ourselves, being fair and responsible employers, respecting labor rights and the environment, and doing business ethically.

All suppliers must comply with our robust Supplier Requirements. We conduct regular audits to identify risks, assess compliance and share best practices. We also work with suppliers to improve corporate responsibility (CR) capability in our supply chain. See monitoring compliance and building capability.

Our audits and engagement are focused on direct suppliers – those providing products and services that we sell to our customers – because they represent the majority of our purchasing spend and the highest risk to our business.

We run workshops for suppliers in high-risk countries to improve awareness of our requirements and build CR competency. We also work with suppliers on specific issues such as energy efficiency to share best practices and promote target setting. Health and safety is a particular focus for contractors working in our growing Global Services business which support telecoms operators in the implementation, management and maintenance of their networks.

Our procurement staff are trained to ensure they understand the CR elements of our requirements and can communicate them effectively to suppliers.

To promote sustainable improvements throughout the supply chain, we ask our suppliers to put in place similar CR requirements for their own suppliers. We also collaborate with others in our industry to improve standards in the ICT supply chain through groups such as the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (see working with industry).