CSR update for Appletree

Chantal

During the spring of 2010 we started looking at doing more CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility. We produced a report (click here to read it – it’s on our website).

In the report we included details of goals we’re aiming for during the year. So here’s an update on what we’ve achieved in the four areas we looked at.

Promotion:

• We said we would identify a CSR Champion within the business. Dianne was the first person to carry out a voluntary project and she’s been an inspiration to the rest of us.
• We said we would publish our first CSR Report. We did and it’s on our website for everyone to see.

 Buying power:

• Our goal for 2010 was to develop a Supplier Code of Conduct. We haven’t yet done this, so need to work on it.

 Our people

• We decided that each employee would spend a week volunteering in company time and that we would link our volunteering to training and development needs. So far, Dianne has completed great project – you can read more about it in her posts on this blog. I’m soon going to be starting my project – click here to read more about going to prison. Alice will soon be spending time with the elderly at a local day care centre. Andrew has only been with us for 3 months, so we’ll give him a bit more time before we find a project for him!

 In the office

• We said we would double glaze the office windows to reduce our energy usage and our carbon footprint. We haven’t done this yet and I’m beginning to regret it, because when the weather is really wintery, it would be great not to have cold drafts coming in. This is now high on our priority list!

 Overall I think we’ve made quite good progress and there’s a lot more we can be doing. In the spring of 2011 we’ll put together a new report for the year and put it onto our website.

What CSR can you do within your business?