Axel Butterweck
Head of Corporate Procurement

What does sustainable procurement mean for Swiss Post?

Wherever possible, we ensure that we use products and services with little impact on people and the environment: from production to recycling, along the entire supply chain.

What does that mean in concrete terms?

For example that our clothing suppliers must be a member of the Fair Wear Foundation, which sets out particularly high requirements in terms of social sustainability, that all electricity must come from renewable energy sources, and that one third of our vehicles are already powered by alternative drives.

What course has Swiss Post set for the future?

We have stipulated that from 2017, all service tenders must include sustainability criteria: this is our contribution towards achieving global sustainability.

Fair procurement of clothing

Better pay for seamstresses

Globalized value chains with many subcontractors and different regional labour laws are a growing challenge for Swiss Post’s procurement unit, a challenge it has met since 2006 with its Code of Ethics and Social Responsibility, which sets out minimum requirements for suppliers for the protection of people and the environment. As a member of the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF), it has also undertaken to implement high social standards at the producers of the roughly 300,000 items of Swiss Post clothing procured each year. In summer 2016, it was awarded Leader status for the third time by the FWF, with the report praising in particular its supplier training and the manner in which Swiss Post ensures that human rights are respected.

To give an example: in 2016, Swiss Post audited a clothing supplier in Eastern Europe. In the course of the audit, the supplier disclosed the wages it paid. On this basis, the supplier and Swiss Post worked together to draw up a development plan with improvement measures. One of the consequences of this was that the supplier was able to improve capacity utilization based on a long-term contract award from Swiss Post. This commitment allowed the wages of the seamstresses to be increased – they are now around 30 percent above the statutory minimum wage.