Introduction
After 2020, we had planned on raising our activity levels with our CSR program. But 2021 saw unprecedented growth rates not only in the economy but also for our businesses. As a result, focus on CSR was not at our usual levels and we struggled to implement planned changes.
With an increase in headcount to manage this growth, we’re now in a position to double down in 2022 and make CSR one of our highest priorities again.
Our Acting Responsibly points
As part of our message to our stakeholders, we introduced our core values in 2018. We want these values to underpin everything the companies do and influence the decisions we make in the future. We continue to embrace these values.
Lead by example
Enhance stakeholder wellbeing
Do more with less
Economic, Social, Environmental contribution in 2021
Our nominated charities for 2021
It’s only by helping others that we can hope to make a difference to society. We see it as our duty to lead from the front in this respect and that’s why each year, we nominate two charities for whom we will concentrate our efforts throughout the year.
These remain unchanged for 2021.
Julia’s House Children’s hospices
Surfers Against Sewage
Key achievements and Initiatives 2021
Fund raising & donations: 2021 saw us raise over £8,000 for charity! This included £590 of donations from staff in exchange for being entered into our Christmas raffle. A huge result and special thanks to all our staff for their contribution.
Seven Wonders of the World: Our FD Paul Tonks took on the task of travelling 883 miles in 80 days – the total distance between each ‘wonder’ - in Julia’s House, Seven Wonders of the World challenge. Paul cycled, walked and ran the distance, raising an incredible £1725 in the process!
Challenges of 2021
Whilst Covid continued to hamper efforts on this front in light of social distancing, our biggest obstacle in 2021 was time. We saw unprecedented growth as the economy took off. Managing this whilst continuing to provide our levels of customer service proved challenging as we grappled to hire staff. This was very much an all hands to the pump scenario and as a result, some aspects were overlooked. Sadly, one of these was our CSR program.
We still continued to raise money for our charity partners, with £3804 raised in addition to our monthly donations and the staff carried out a beach clean over the summer. However, much of what we wished to implement in 2021 has regrettably carried over to 2022. However, with staffing levels where they should be, we’re confident our CSR champions can make a difference in the year to come.
Goals and targets for 2022
Nominated charities for 2022:
We will continue to support both Julia’s House Children’s Hospice and Surfers Against Sewage. It is felt that now more than ever, our existing charities need our support to whether the covid-19 storm that has severely restricted their income.
One aim for 2022 is to extend the fundraising we do for Surfers Against Sewage. Currently, we donate a fixed figure per month as a business, but our additional fundraising focuses on Julia’s House. Our goal is to raise funds above and beyond the monthly business donations.
Encouragement of blood donation:
We aimed to introduce this in 2021 but continued lockdowns and understaffing with the continued growth made this unattainable. We therefore want to encourage staff to regularly give blood. We believe this to be a great altruistic gesture and want to not only make this act easier for those taking part but encourage others to do so.
We will therefore be introducing the concept of donating blood within contracted hours – either at the start or end of the working day, within a small radius of the office (within DT1, DT2, DT3, DT4 and DT5 postcodes for head office and within a 5 mile radius of the London office).
Reinstate beach cleans in 2022:
Whilst we managed one beach clean in 2021, this is far from our aim of at least three a year. With the Covid-19 pandemic subsiding, 2022 will be the year of bringing member of staff from different businesses together and making a positive impact.
Review of all cleaning products used in head office
Review the use of cleaning products in our head office site. This should be two-fold; both in terms of replacing harmful products but also reducing the plastic waste involved.
Recycling review:
One of our first initiatives was to introduce recycling into the office. This has been successful but there are further strides we can make. Plastic bags for instance, are much more recyclable now. Batteries, crisp packets too. As a business, we not only want to recycle our own waste, but also make it easier for our employees to recycle more difficult items.