Our Social Sustainability Journey
We have embarked on an ambitious sustainability journey, and we are looking at our contributions to the environmental and social issues of our world and the governance around this to support our contribution to making our world a better place.
We carefully consider our social impact and our commitment to sustainability covers:
Our community
Through our charity work we engage with the communities around us. Our current corporate charity partnership supports 5 charities that are local and close to the hearts of our employees, including HCCN – Huntingdon Community Cancer Network, Animals in Need Northamptonshire, Mind – CPSL, Cambridge Acorn Project, Godmanchester Foodbank.
We are also proud to engage with local schools including providing work placements each year and supplying paper for arts and crafts activities.
Our collaboration with our paper merchants
Through collaboration with our paper merchants, we carbon balance all the paper we purchase. Working with three carbon balancing organisations, Forest Carbon, The Woodland Trust and the Woodland Carbon Scheme we support tree planting schemes in the UK, that not only capture carbon but benefit local wildlife. So far, our support has enabled the planting of approximately 1200 trees in the UK.
Through our collaboration with our paper merchants, we are also involved in international community projects, which support two schemes:
Projects in the Amazonian Rainforest, Brazil, including protecting the rights of the Amazonian people, supporting economic development and making a stand against climate change.
Cooking stoves project in Kenya, providing household stoves, which are locally produced in a solar-powered factory in Kenya. The innovative natural draft technology reduces fuel consumption and cooking time by up to 50%, freeing up income which would have otherwise been spent on fuel. The climate benefits mean saving on coal and firewood fuel and the social benefits involve creating new jobs in disadvantaged Kenyan rural communities. From September 2021 to May 2022, we facilitated the purchase of 80 household stoves and saved 267 tonnes of coal and firewood.
Our people
We are proud to put our people at the centre of all we do.
We are a Living Wage Foundation certified employer, and in 2022 we became a Best Companies Top 100 One to Watch company and we continue to implement actions learnt from a yearly employee Engagement Survey.
We are pleased to provide a range of staff benefits including private medical care, death in service and life insurance for all employees as well as enhanced maternity and parental leave pay. We have trained Mental Health First Aiders, and our employees can make use of our Cycle to Work Scheme.
Internally we work to create awareness around food choices by hosting free pop-up kitchens serving vegan food, and regularly host fun charity events such as our recent miles challenge, or quiz nights.
We are also transitioning our uniforms to environmentally friendly materials (organic cotton and/or recycled materials) and we offer a choice of vegan recycled safety footwear.
See our full ESG strategy here