New and existing employees routinely must go through trainings to help them perform better in their jobs, whilst also learning to interact professionally with fellow colleagues. Ensuring standards are being met is important to businesses, particularly when it comes to ethics.
One unique measure of performance that may not have been considered a decade ago is becoming more popular – trainings on sustainability. Sysco GB, in fact, announced this week that all of its colleagues in its British businesses will be required to undergo the comprehensive assessements to ensure they are upholding environmentally friendly practises.
“We believe we’ve created one of the most comprehensive training programmes that the sector’s seen, which reflects the growing importance of sustainability across the supply chain,” says Michael Andersen, Chief Commercial Officer at Sysco GB. “It builds on the success of our plant-based range and the work we’ve done to promote a plant-forward diet. Now, our teams will be armed with the knowledge that helps customers on their own sustainability journeys.”
That training includes a robust eight modules, including: Climate Change; Carbon Footprinting; Operational Sustainability; Healthy and Sustainable Diets; and Food Waste. Those are all important given Sysco’s drive to assure that all facets of its work within the supply chain are being held in the highest regard among customers, colleagues, and consumers.
“By far the biggest portion of our carbon footprint as a business is the food that we sell,” Andersen says. “This training aims to transform our sales teams into sustainability champions – supporting our customers to better understand the impact that they can have through their businesses and in particular their menus.”
Sysco is partnering with consultancy Knowledge Labs from Nutritics, to create this bespoke training programme, first for its frontline sales colleagues. In addition, 15 development chefs will learn about “the main challenges for a sustainable food system at every stage of the food chain and how to apply that to the latest thinking on plant-forward and healthy, sustainable dishes.”
