Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
We know that, as individuals and as a firm, we have as much responsibility for the environment and the communities in which we live and operate as anyone else. As a result, we have developed some clear policies and plans to ensure that genuine and practical steps are taken to show how we accept that responsibility and respond to it.
So what do we do?
We:
- Work in an energy efficient, modern building using an open-plan arrangement that encourages team work
- Manage the firm in an ethical way in areas such as client confidentiality, risk management, conflicts of interest, money laundering, health and safety and whistle blowing
- Have a green travel plan that encourages staff to commute to and fro in as environmentally friendly way as possible. This includes:
- An actively used car-sharing register
- Provision of cycle spaces and showers to encourage cycling to work (and running/walking!)
- Running a minibus service from and to the city centre to enable staff to use public transport for the bulk of their journey
- Provide flexible working arrangements for staff to enable them to fit their home and work lives together more easily. Provide a gym, personal trainer and subsidised café, together with on-site services such as hair-cutting, car valeting and dry cleaning
- Promote diversity and equal opportunities in the workplace
- Encourage working in the community. For example:
- A team of staff completed a sensory garden project for a local school
- Staff are encouraged to give a day each year to good causes and, if this falls on a weekend, this day is returned to them as an additional day’s holiday
- We run interview practice sessions at local schools
- Charitable work via:
- Making regular charitable donations
- Funding scholarships at the University of Exeter
- Allowing time for staff to sit on charitable boards
- Organising an annual 5km charity run through Exeter, which has raised over £120,000 for local charities in its nine year history
- Hosting a Christmas bazaar, annual wine tastings, charity auctions and a Christmas card amnesty
Our chosen charity for the 2010 Michelmores 5km Charity Run is Hospiscare, which is based in the South West and provides care and support for people with terminal illnesses and their families and carers.
Our fundraising efforts for the charity during the year will include the proceeds from our annual charity run , and this year we are hoping to raise over £30,000 . For more information on Hospiscare, please visit: www.hospiscare.co.uk.
- Caring for the environment through:
- Using green electricity supplies
- Having an energy efficient modern building including low-energy bulbs and light and motion sensing on the lighting system
- Recycling paper, plastics, cardboard and glass
- Buying recycled paper products
- Buying products from sustainable stocks
- Having printing protocols
- Organising 'green' events
