Ethical and CSR policies are almost a standard requirement when selecting partners, suppliers and even customers. Yet how many organisations can truly say that all practices adhere to these policies? Especially when operations fall to an external company.  

IKEA came under scrutiny recently when ethical standards group The Future is in our Hands (FIOH) discovered poor health and safety conditions at one of their suppliers’ sites. The Turkish-based textile vendor had already been investigated by IKEA and a third-party auditor, where no evidence of safety violations had previously been found. 

IKEA have of course responded quickly and will be looking into these claims further, but it is unfortunate timing for the Swedish-based furniture giant who recently made public statements about positive ethical sourcing, having joined the Global Social Compliance Programme which aims to tackle labour standard issues throughout the supply chain. 

Although purchase-to-pay systems provide levels of control, a commitment toward ethical practices requires the ‘buy-in’ of everyone in the organisation to support such policies. 

IKEA’s plight does go to show that when making such ethical claims, having the controls and measures in place to validate them along with knowledge of and confidence in your supply chain is essential; or those ethical policies won’t be worth the recycled paper they’re written on.