Tepmare, a company specializing in sea and air transport, recently took the initiative of adopting a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach, involving all the company's stakeholders. This may seem an unusual decision, given that Tepmare's partners and service providers are often located thousands of kilometers away. For this ambitious initiative, Tepmare turned to the expertise of Rate A Company.
In a world of ever-increasing international trade, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the impact of these global flows. Every year, hundreds of thousands of containers transit between ports around the world, logistics that Tepmare manages with precision despite the challenges of time zones and multiple tools.
After 38 years in business, Tepmare has set itself the challenge of committing to a sustainable approach and promoting cultural change within the company. A real challenge, especially when its partners and service providers are geographically remote. This is where Rate A Company's approach and its digital tool proved invaluable.
The simplicity, transparency and speed of Rate A Company's methodology convinced Tepmare to embark on a CSR strategy with their stakeholders. Following a training session, management identified several areas for improvement, which will be examined and re-evaluated by customers, employees, partners and service providers during a 100% digital audit, anonymized for participants.
In addition to evaluation criteria based on ISO 26000 and 20400 (responsible purchasing) standards and the Sustainable Development Goals, all employees were given the opportunity to contribute to the development of the company's sustainable roadmap. More than just a survey, this was an opportunity to inform, raise awareness and enable people affected by Tepmare's activities to take a stand on what they are prepared to do.
"CSR became an important issue for TEPMARE, both for the ecological approach shared by all the company's employees, and for the image and continuous improvement of our services and tools. In this respect, RATE A COMPANY provided us with the methodology and tools we needed. The audit enabled us to measure our sustainable impact and achieve a good score on the CSR label. The personalized criteria gave us the answers we needed to implement our roadmap aimed at reducing CO2 emissions and furthering our commitment to society".
- Willy Martinez, CEO of Tepmare
Although 91% of respondents consider sustainable development to be a priority, the audit reveals that the majority of companies have not yet implemented concrete measures. However, customers and service providers are ready to support certain measures. Among the priorities identified by stakeholders: digitizing processes and sharing information on CO2 emissions. These are initiatives that Tepmare would like to implement as soon as possible. On the employee side, the company's involvement with environmental associations is also attracting attention.
"Throughout the training course, which was aimed at a small team, I was surprised to learn just how far CSR can go: the attention to detail we can bring to every part of our business. It can even be a little frightening, but we've found the right balance for Tepmare, keeping the common sense and responsiveness of the SME we are. This label is the concrete expression of our good practices and the opportunity to go even further in the services we have developed for our customers, web portal, carbon index calculation per shipment and for our service providers with a new EDM that will definitively bring Tepmare into the world of digitalization."
- Willy Martinez, CEO of Tepmare
This sustainable and ethical approach, initiated by an SME during the festive season, was a pleasant surprise. Some international service providers took the opportunity to express their affection for the Tepmare team and to send their best wishes from their corner of the world.
