Achieving social value beyond the bottom line

Many of the sceptics out there will assume that achieving social value through supply chains only comes as an added-on cost by suppliers.

This maybe the reality in financial terms, but with a social purpose at the heart of our business we need to take a step back and look at the implications beyond the bottom line.

The reality of achieving social value in procurement has to go beyond figures and instead focus on drawing out the real social and community benefits of working with others. 

This doesn’t always happen immediately – you need to utilise relationships and the life-span of contracts to maximise outcomes and return on investment.

Orbit Group has conducted research and explored good practice Communities Count…Beyond the Bottom Line around how we can make sure this happens – and how we can satisfy both the financial and social drivers of a business:

Be very clear what social value means to your organisation

Often social value takes time to see the rewards and has longer lead-in times. 

It may seem obvious, but unless you are clear about what social value and key outcomes look like for your organisation you can’t expect to get what you want from your supply chain or monitor success. 

At Orbit we have developed a couple of routes for this. 

Firstly, we look for what support a supplier could offer that fits directly with our corporate strategies, and what they can deliver better than us.

Secondly, we identify additional benefits that suppliers could provide that further enhance our work. 

Understand the full-life costs to your business

Often social value takes time to see the rewards and has longer lead-in times. 

At Orbit we don’t just focus on short-term ‘do good’ activities. We recognise that certain investment doesn’t have immediate social value, such as improving wellbeing of communities, or aiding the sustainability of a customers tenancy. 

The work that suppliers do as local employers and providers can be seen over time, for example working to improve the facilities and environment of a local neighbourhood.

The implications of this thinking are that we achieve social value differently with different suppliers dependent on size and length of contracts.  

Identify social value opportunities that can only be provided through the supply chain

ie. where they add value to your core work. Areas Orbit identified where our supply chain can add value and compliment our delivery are:  

Our supply chain interacts with our customers 100,000 time a year, internally we interact 12,000. 

● Engaging customers with our services:

Engagement can be the hardest and most costly part of our community investment programme. 

Working with our supply chain brings relevance and independence that would be difficult to buy elsewhere. Linking these interactions with referrals into our services provides huge social value.  Our supply chain interacts with our customers 100,000 time a year, internally we interact 12,000. 

This shows why we have identified  customer connections as social value to Orbit.  An example is with our gas servicing contractor, which is able to provide more relevance to energy advice referrals than cold calling.

● opening doors to funding:

Often these partnerships provide opportunities to additional external funding, either through trusts, foundations or other opportunities. 

The reach and direct intelligence from customers that the supply chain presents opens opportunities for service delivery that are very appealing to funders.  Some examples of this relate to early, preventative work whether it be tackling fuel poverty, or support for people who hoard.

● wider circle of connections and opportunities:

Often this gets condensed into apprenticeships and work placements, but Orbit believes this goes much further.

We have taken a more inclusive approach that is open to all sizes of suppliers, and starts to look at suppliers as mentors to those on employment programmes we’re running and wider opportunities through their supply chains.

Engage with procurement specialists

And make sure you are involved at every level of the procurement process. At Orbit they’re a huge part of our ability to identify and secure social value through our suppliers.