Ensuring Supplier Inclusion and Diversity with Co-op

Co-op is one of the UK’s best-known providers of consumer goods and funeral care services. The organisation is well known for working with suppliers to ensure fair and inclusive ways of working. Founded on a set of principles that it describes as striving to find a “fairer and better way of doing business.” 

Co-op has been on a journey to achieve a robust Modern Work strategy that improves ways of working, streamlines collaboration and saves costs across the business, while remaining true to their values and principles. 

WM Reply has been Co-op’s Modern Work Partner since 2019. We launched and effectively embedded M365 across Co-op’s HQ, improving communication and collaboration across departments. Since then, WM has been working with Co-op to leverage M365 throughout the organisation.  

WM developed a holistic approach to Co-op’s Modern Work strategy; ensuring Co-op leveraged the tools whilst also ensuring collaborative adoption for the long-term. We didn’t aim to build just one solution, but rather to help Co-op leverage as many opportunities with the platform as possible. 

We have seen significant levels of adoption, with an average M365 return rate of 96.4%; an active M365 Champion Community of approximately 20; and a Citizen Developer Community of over 100. As a result, WM has built a positive partnership with Co-op that has allowed us to continually help Co-op leverage the tools across M365. 

Endless Inclusion and Diversity Hub: 

As we worked with Co-op to help them realise their goals, we sought further opportunities to leverage M365. Working with the Co-op Supplier team, WM created a digital strategy to help them achieve their vision of “Co-operating for a fairer world”. Co-op strives to be a leader in promoting inclusive and diverse workspaces by partnering with suppliers to help them become more inclusive places for employees and customers alike.  

WM wanted to provide Co-op with a platform that would help them reach their suppliers to share best practices for promoting inclusion and diversity within their own organisations and to ensure a partnership with Co-op. Utilising SharePoint, we built a hub site to host content and resources. WM utilised a simple workflow to allow external suppliers to request access via a Microsoft Form, which would then be approved, granting them access to the site. Also built was a self-assessment quiz for suppliers to assess where they were at on their journey to becoming more inclusive and diverse places for customers and employees alike. This project enabled Co-op to take what began as a small 10-supplier pilot to a much wider audience.