Officeworks

OVERALL
Owned	AUS
Rating

Office supplies retailer

Established by Coles Myer in 1994. Today they operate over 150 stores across Australia, and is part of Wesfarmers' Home Improvement and Office Supplies division.

Company Ownership


Officeworks Ltd	AUS	website	email	facebook	twitter
Wesfarmers Ltd owns 100% of Officeworks Ltd	AUS	website	email		twitter
Retail, energy, insurance, chemicals Founded in WA in 1914 as a farmers' cooperative, today Wesfarmers operations include department stores; home improvement and office supplies; insurance; chemicals, energy and fertilisers; and industrial and safety products. Acquired Coles Group in 2007 for $20 billion in the biggest takeover in Australian corporate history. Coles was spun-off in November 2018. Wesfarmers kept Officeworks, Kmart and Target, which were part of Coles Group when it was acquired by Wesfarmers.

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Officeworks Ltd

4/5 for packaging performance

This company received a packaging performance level of 4 (Leading) in its 2022 APCO Annual Report. Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) is a not-for-profit organisation leading the development of a circular economy for packaging in Australia. Each year, APCO Members are required to submit an APCO Annual Report and Action Plan, which includes an overall performance level from 1 (Getting Started) to 5 (Beyond Best Practice).
Source: APCO (2022)

Renewable energy use

Greenpeace's Reenergise campaign ranks Australia's biggest electricity using companies on their commitments and actions regarding renewable energy use. This company has: committed to powering their operations by 100% renewable electricity by 2030; signed at least one power purchase agreement (PPA) to buy power from a wind or solar project; invested in on-site solar.
Source: Greenpeace (2021)

Banksia Sustainability Award 2022

This company won the Large Business Award at the 2018, 2019 and 2022 Banksia Sustainability Awards. "Officeworks strives to inspire positive change with commitments to support their team, community, and the environment. Their 2025 commitments include enhancing their community contribution, continuing to respect human rights, taking meaningful climate action, contributing to a circular economy and encouraging sustainable choices."
Source: Banksia Foundation (2022)

FSC Retail Supporter

This company is an FSC Australia Retail Supporter. A Retail Supporter is an organisation that sells FSC Certified products (among others) to consumers. These are companies who not only wish to sell certified products, but promote and support FSC at the same time.
Source: FSC Australia (2017)

Sustainability claims

This company has sustainability claims on its website in the areas of community, responsible and ethical sourcing, and protecting the environment.
Source: company website (2021)

Sedex member

This company is a member of the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex), a not-for-profit, membership organisation that leads work with buyers and suppliers to deliver improvements in responsible and ethical business practices in global supply chains. Tens of thousands of companies use Sedex to manage their performance around labour rights, health & safety, the environment and business ethics.
Source: Sedex (2018)

Previous GFTN participant

This company became a participant in the Australian chapter of the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) in 2014. The Global Forest and Trade Network seeks to mainstream the principles of responsible forest management and sustainable trade throughout the global forest products industry, by providing technical assistance and fostering linkages between committed companies. Independent forest certification is a key tool in this process. The GTFN program was discontinued in Australia in 2017.
Source: WWF (2019)

Rainforest fibres in paper

Laboratory testing of Lazer IT office paper made in Indonesia and sold by Officeworks reveals it is made up of 84% tropical rainforest fibre, in apparent conflict with the retailer's environment policies.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (2011)

Wesfarmers Ltd

Human Rights Benchmark

The 2019 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark assessed 200 of the largest publicly traded companies in the world from the Agricultural Products, Apparel, Extractives and ICT Manufacturing sectors on 100 human rights indicators. This company's score was in the 40-50 band range. The overall average score was a disappointing 24%.
Source: CHRB (2019)

Efforts to pay a living wage

Oxfam Australia's Company Tracker compares the big clothing brands on their efforts to pay a living wage to the women working in their factories. This company has released the names and addresses of at least 70% of their supplier factories, has taken some action towards paying a living wage within a set timeframe in the supply chain, and has made a commitment to ringfence wages.
Source: Oxfam Australia (2021)

67/100 S&P Global ESG Score

This company received an S&P Global ESG Score of 67/100 in the Retailing category of the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment, an annual evaluation of companies' sustainability practices (last updated 7 Feb 2021). The rankings are based on an analysis of corporate economic, environmental and social performance, assessing issues such as corporate governance, risk management, environmental reporting, climate strategy, human rights and labour practices.
Source: S&P Global (2021)

Forced labour in China

In early 2017, China's Communist Party began a new incarceration campaign, rounding up, detaining and forcibly indoctrinating over 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minority ethnic groups in the far-western region. A coalition of more than 180 human rights groups is calling on apparel brands and retailers to stop using forced labour in the Uyghur Region and end their complicity in the Chinese government's human rights abuses. This company is amongst those being targeted by coalition members for not doing enough to identify and disengage from business relationships with Uyghur Region-linked forced labour.
Source: End Uyghur Forced Labour (2021)

35.3% in Newsweek Green Ranking 2017

This company received a score of 35.3/100 in the Newsweek Green Ranking 2017, which ranks the world's largest publicly traded companies on eight indicators covering energy, greenhouse gases, water, waste, fines and penalties, linking executive pay to sustainability targets, board-level committee oversight of environmental issues and third-party audits. Ranking methodology by Corporate Knights and HIP Investor.
Source: Newsweek (2017)

Supply chain sourcing

This 2013 report by The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) investigates the labour and human rights risks in supply chain sourcing. This company is identified on page 21 as a company which sources products from countries with known systemic labour and human rights concerns.
Source: ACSI (2013)

Political donations

According to the democracyforsale.net website, this company donated $638,000 to Australia's major political parties between 2012 and 2018, as disclosed to the Australian Electoral Commision (AEC).
Source: Democracy For Sale (2018)

Climate action commitments

As listed on the We Mean Business website, this company has committed to the following climate action initiatives: put a price on carbon; responsible corporate engagement in climate policy; report climate change information in mainstream reports as a fiduciary duty.
Source: We Mean Business (2021)

Modern Slavery Statement disclosure quality

Modern slavery disclosure is a critical step in mitigating the risk associated with modern slavery practices in companies' operations and supply chains. The quality of the disclosure signals the level of commitments and efforts that the companies have put in managing these risks. In 2021 the Monash Centre for Financial Studies analysed and ranked the disclosure quality of the modern slavery statements submitted by the 100 largest listed companies on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX100). This company ranked #3 of 100 companies.
Source: Monash University (2021)

Tax paying in Australia

Between 2015 and 2018 this company paid $3 billion tax on a total income of $199 billion, earning the number 8 spot on Michael West's Top 40 Tax Payers 2020. West calculated which of Australia's largest companies have paid the most tax using three years of tax transparency data published by the Australian Tax Office.
Source: Michael West (2018)

Sustainability claims

This company has sustainability claims on its website in the areas of sourcing, community, environment and indigenous engagement.
Source: company website (2019)

Previous involvement with coal

This company used to operate coal mines, but sold off its last coal asset in 2018.
Source: Reuters (2022)

Modern Slavery statement

California, the UK and Australia have all enacted legislation requiring companies operating within their borders to disclose their efforts to eradicate modern slavery from their operations and supply chains. Follow the link to see this company's disclosure statement.
Source: Modern Slavery Registry (2017)

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Company Details

Type	Wholly-owned subsidiary
Revenue	1.5 billion AUD (2013)
Employees	6,000+ (2013)

Contact Details

Address	East Bentleigh, VIC, Australia
Phone	1300 633 423
Website	www.officeworks.com.au

Products / Brands

Officeworks

Officeworks Electronics Stores
Officeworks Stationery Stores
PPS Envelopes

Officeworks

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