At least Richard Turpin had the decency to wear a mask..... Sedex

[melted welly]

So for those of us lucky enough to supply either directly or indirectly into the supermarkets, the most successful "Auditing" cartel of recent years has rolled out it's new self assessment questionnaire. I've been at it an hour, still in section 1 of 3 and developing feelings of hatred I've never felt before towards these pr##ks........................

Yes, the new SEDEX self assessment questionnaire has launched. Woo-fkin-hoo!!

Questions include:

"Please explain which machines and/or vehicles may cause risk to workers' health and safety"
"Are washing facilities separated by gender? "


For those of you who aren't party to this illustrious club, basically you send £100/yr to a company who have carved out a niche deciding if you're "ethical", if you are, well then, they'll give you a big long number that can be checked by other ethical people to make sure we're all equally ethical. The clever part of the business is that they have managed to set themselves up as the standard, there is no alternative (that i'm aware of) that is acceptable to the multiples so they can up the rates as they feel fit. (did someone mention ethics???)

What used to cost £40/yr, now costs me £100/yr, there's no increased benefit to me, and it takes ages to fill out the mind-numbing questionnaire, which in my mind has questions skewed which feel like they're encouraging you to answer questions not relevant to your business. i.e. in one section you're asked if you employ foreign seasonal workers, in the next section you're asked to quantify how many foreign nationals you employ, it then takes you down a road of what support networks you have in place, how you teach them English etc......

FFS, I get 2 or 3 folk from a GLA registered ganger for about 6wks of the year. No section for this tho, I'm answering it as if i'm some sort of Mr Big in the labour market.

Feel very uneasy about this latest version, dunno if it's paranoia or what, but the more i go through it the more it feels i'm answering questions that paint our business as something it's not, we're a small farming business, not a 1700's slave laboured sugar plantation.

So i've stopped filling it in, but won't be long till customers are on wanting it done.

Anyone else going through this?

Or anyone know of alternative schemes?

 

[KennyO]

So for those of us lucky enough to supply either directly or indirectly into the supermarkets, the most successful "Auditing" cartel of recent years has rolled out it's new self assessment questionnaire. I've been at it an hour, still in section 1 of 3 and developing feelings of hatred I've never felt before towards these pr##ks........................

Yes, the new SEDEX self assessment questionnaire has launched. Woo-fkin-hoo!!

Questions include:

"Please explain which machines and/or vehicles may cause risk to workers' health and safety"
"Are washing facilities separated by gender? "


For those of you who aren't party to this illustrious club, basically you send £100/yr to a company who have carved out a niche deciding if you're "ethical", if you are, well then, they'll give you a big long number that can be checked by other ethical people to make sure we're all equally ethical. The clever part of the business is that they have managed to set themselves up as the standard, there is no alternative (that i'm aware of) that is acceptable to the multiples so they can up the rates as they feel fit. (did someone mention ethics???)

What used to cost £40/yr, now costs me £100/yr, there's no increased benefit to me, and it takes ages to fill out the mind-numbing questionnaire, which in my mind has questions skewed which feel like they're encouraging you to answer questions not relevant to your business. i.e. in one section you're asked if you employ foreign seasonal workers, in the next section you're asked to quantify how many foreign nationals you employ, it then takes you down a road of what support networks you have in place, how you teach them English etc......

FFS, I get 2 or 3 folk from a GLA registered ganger for about 6wks of the year. No section for this tho, I'm answering it as if i'm some sort of Mr Big in the labour market.

Feel very uneasy about this latest version, dunno if it's paranoia or what, but the more i go through it the more it feels i'm answering questions that paint our business as something it's not, we're a small farming business, not a 1700's slave laboured sugar plantation.

So i've stopped filling it in, but won't be long till customers are on wanting it done.

Anyone else going through this?

Or anyone know of alternative schemes?

No help to you but was glad not to have to do this any longer after we gave up growing tatties.
It is a pile of sh1te

 

[JLLM]

Paid our 100 quid a couple of weeks ago, as if you were doing something illegal you would be daft enough to fess up to it. It's just another tax to hit the smaller growers with.

 

[Yale]

Simple don’t supply anyone who insists on it.

 

[melted welly]

No help to you but was glad not to have to do this any longer after we gave up growing tatties.
It is a pile of sh1te

Oh I dunno, I imagine you’d quite enjoy filling out this latest version..........?

some of the questions feel to be of the “ when did you stop punching kittens?” type.

A. last week
B. Last year.
C. Can’t remember

feels full of little trip wires all attached to a big grenade with BLAME written on it.

 

[melted welly]

Paid our 100 quid a couple of weeks ago, as if you were doing something illegal you would be daft enough to fess up to it. It's just another tax to hit the smaller growers with.

have you attempted the latest version of the questionnaire?

got until may to complete it or the ethics police turn up or something.

 

[Fendt]

I hate Sedex with as much passion as you seem to hate them with. Utter waste of time and money, all to tick a box that says we don’t force people to work in some sort of depraved basement with no food, drink or light for sixty hours a week.
i agree with you that it has gone beyond a joke but I cannot see any way of not doing it.
we had to have an ethical audit from one of our main suppliers the other day, he spent half an hour telling me about the forthcoming new saq section which I could see was going to be a headache before I even started, and then asked me to print a poster out from some website and stick it in our restroom so that any workers who felt they were being ill treated could contact someone and report us. I had to photograph said poster in my staff canteen and send it to them as proof.
utter rubbish and nonsense.

 

[melted welly]

Simple don’t supply anyone who insists on it.

yes that is the simple answer, an easy way outof a mind numbing tick box exercise.

but currently our business is one that sells some of our produce indirectly to the large multiples. We rely, to an extent, on the higher value crops during low cereal prices. Whether this is a sustainable model long term is something I am questioning. However, until we see what (if any) government plans lie in wait for us, it is the route we will continue on in the short term.

my problem is that we have dealt with our customers for decades, they know us, we know them, but this shower have managed to shoehorn themselves between us, and are in the process of growing their empire. The information they are asking for is fairly detailed and they want various documents uploaded onto their servers now, which I don’t feel comfortable with.

the 2nd most obvious answer is that we choose a different auditing scheme, well there ain’t one.

 

[Fendt]

The problem I think as well is that the supermarkets are driving this ethical nonsense as well. They love to be able to shout that they are doing everything they possibly can to ensure that all their food is produced ethically, greenly, sustainably, etc. Long and short is, I suspect, that barely a fraction of their customers could give two sh1!s about any of it.

 

[melted welly]

I hate Sedex with as much passion as you seem to hate them with. Utter waste of time and money, all to tick a box that says we don’t force people to work in some sort of depraved basement with no food, drink or light for sixty hours a week.
i agree with you that it has gone beyond a joke but I cannot see any way of not doing it.
we had to have an ethical audit from one of our main suppliers the other day, he spent half an hour telling me about the forthcoming new saq section which I could see was going to be a headache before I even started, and then asked me to print a poster out from some website and stick it in our restroom so that any workers who felt they were being ill treated could contact someone and report us. I had to photograph said poster in my staff canteen and send it to them as proof.
utter rubbish and nonsense.

Have you completed the new SAQ? I got too cross mid way thru section 1 and had to leave the office before something was broken.

I also don’t like the “gendered“ nature of some of the questions. We have 1 male manager, no female, 1 male supervisor, no female, so presumably these answers count towards something or they wouldn’t ask. We will never be gender balanced in these areas as the manager and supervisor are 1person, me.

? maybe that’s what gender fluid is for..........

 

[melted welly]

The problem I think as well is that the supermarkets are driving this ethical nonsense as well. They love to be able to shout that they are doing everything they possibly can to ensure that all their food is produced ethically, greenly, sustainably, etc. Long and short is, I suspect, that barely a fraction of their customers could give two sh1!s about any of it.

they are, and Sedex was setup by a who’s who of ex supermarket execs.

 

[Fendt]

Not done it yet. I was given a deadline to complete it by the guy who did our ethical audit the other day, and I don’t like being told how and when I have to do things so purposefully leaving it a while.

 

[milkloss]

Have you completed the new SAQ? I got too cross mid way thru section 1 and had to leave the office before something was broken.

I also don’t like the “gendered“ nature of some of the questions. We have 1 male manager, no female, 1 male supervisor, no female, so presumably these answers count towards something or they wouldn’t ask. We will never be gender balanced in these areas as the manager and supervisor are 1person, me.

? maybe that’s what gender fluid is for..........

Are you even allowed to ask someone what BINARY gender they are? Answer with "gender not specified".......

 

[melted welly]

Are you even allowed to ask someone what BINARY gender they are? Answer with "gender not specified".......

they don’t include any other options to male or female. ?‍

 

[AndrewB]

Haven’t looked at sedex yet this year, but have had to join GLOBAL GAP, with two visits from an auditer this year!!

 

[melted welly]

Haven’t looked at sedex yet this year, but have had to join GLOBAL GAP, with two visits from an auditer this year!!

?
Empire building