Companies new to ethical trade are to benefit from an enhanced 'Foundation stage' membership scheme designed to help them put in place the basic building blocks of an ethical trade strategy.

ETI is introducing a new ‘Foundation stage' of membership, which has been created to provide structured support and direction to newcomers during the critical formative phase of their membership.

Says ETI Director Dan Rees, "For companies taking their first steps into ethical trade, the learning curve can be steep. We have created this new corporate membership status in response to new members' requests for greater clarity about what ETI's expectations of them are, and to give them more support in getting started on their ethical trade journey.

"From now on, when a company joins ETI, they will have a clear roadmap that details exactly what they need to do to make the transition to full membership."

The ETI Secretariat will support new members to fulfil the requirements of Foundation stage membership by helping them develop tailored action plans and providing feedback, information and resources, such as identification of training needs, model policies, and toolkits.

A company will make the transition to full membership of ETI once the ETI Secretariat has checked that it has completed the core requirements.

Says Rees: "We believe Foundation stage membership will be a great incentive to new members of ETI to develop their ethical trade programmes and to get stuck into participating in ETI projects and activities.

"It will also bring greater rigour and transparency to ETI's membership activities, enhancing the credibility of ETI and helping to ensure that member companies make a real difference to the working lives of people in their supply chains."