The Financial Services Corporate Responsibility (FSCR) Working Group brings together representatives from over 30 major financial companies across the UK on a quarterly basis to discuss challenges, hear about new trends and compare best practice. The FSCR was a finalist for the 2009 Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Awards "Best Contribution to Corporate Social Responsibility". Recognising that there were a limited number of tools available to purchasing professionals within financial services, the group developed a number of buyers' guides to provide background information and potential questions that could be included in tenders. Currently, these guides cover:
The group's goal is to continue to update the existing guides and develop new ones on a regular basis. Companies can then adapt these guides to fit within their own purchasing processes. As one member of the FSCR working group put it, "Even though we have a full-time CR resource within purchasing, there's no way one person can understand all the issues across such a variety of spend. The FSCR Buyers' Guides provide a foundation upon which we are able to build a more robust programme within our purchasing function." In collaboration with the City of London Corporation, the guides have recently been updated to include local procurement; which fits into both the environment and diversity agenda. To download copies of these guides, please click here.