Exertis chief: We have a role to play upstream and downstream in both sustainability and DEI

CRN caught up with CEO Tim Griffin and chief people and inclusion officer Jo Lawrence to talk all things sustainability and DEI

Distributors like Exertis have a key role to play in ensuring the channel is hitting all the required goals and milestones for sustainability and DEI, its CEO Tim Griffin says.

On the sustainability side, the firm is working hard to achieve ISO 14001 accreditation and is also collaborating closely with global platform EcoVadis to achieve its top-level ESG rating.

It is also investing heavily on the DEI side through dedicated employee resource groups created to focus on a range of themes including gender, ethnicity, and mental health, plus many more.

“Sustainability and DEI are both areas that we are passionate about, not just because there is a legal compliance element to it, but actually because we believe it is the right thing to do and it is the thing that people care about so it creates emotional connections,” Griffin says. “We have driven it very hard as a top-down piece of work, but our ERGs have been really key to that.”

He adds that distributors like Exertis have a role to play in the industry, to help both upstream and downstream with hitting Net Zero goals.

“We can start by helping to influence,” Griffin says.

“For example, we are part of the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC) and we’ve been a key activist in that space to try and influence creating a standard on products, which is very difficult to do.

“All the vendors want to be able to say that they are doing X or Y in terms of recycled product or mushroom packaging or whatever, but there isn’t a common standard, and that makes it difficult to get that Scope 3 journey going.

“We’re working hard in that space, but we've also been working hard in our own product information management systems to be able to capture all of the information that we can then play back to our customers so downstream, they can make those choices,” he explained.

“I would say on our sustainability agenda, we're operating at a whole series of levels, but fundamentally, we're looking to try and engage our communities, both internally and to get their bottom-up journey going.”

Chief people and inclusion officer Jo Lawrence (pictured) says that from a DEI side, the distributor had worked hard to improve its [employee] engagement scores and the fact that it is getting external recognition for its efforts is heartening.

“Our engagement scores have gone up 16 points and I have no doubt that it is due to some of the stuff we have been doing around DEI and culture,” she says. “It has been brilliant to get external recognition as well.

“Whether someone has put themselves forward to be a chair of an ERG or be part of a committee and do something beyond their day job or has been part of our inclusive pathways mentoring - it is amazing to see them grow and have that opportunity and exposure,” Lawrence concludes.

“Seeing people stand up in a room who would not normally have had the opportunity or bravery to do so before and share their story, and talk about their journey, those are the things that really make me smile and feel very proud of how far we have come.

“We have also enjoyed being able to connect with partners and share best practice at both internal and external events.”