Corporate and Social Responsibility

For us, Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) is more than just one of the ‘in’ things for companies to be concerned about. We strongly believe it is much more than just ticking the right boxes in a policy document; CSR is about getting down to doing something positive to protect and sustain the environment and contribute to society.

At ESiT our policy was born from the desire to formalise the good practice and attitudes already inherent in our staff and share them with our customers and our environment for the benefit of all.

Our policy has three strands; how to care for our environment, how to make a difference socially and how to consider these issues in our commercial relationships.

In February 2008, assisted by the Green Team at Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire and funding from EMDA, we became one of only 216 businesses in the UK to achieve Phase 3 of BS8555, a recognised British Standard for Environmental Management Systems. Companies implementing an EMS must show that they manage their environmental impact, improve their environmental performance and obey legislation.

Policy Statement

Our aims are to minimise the impact of our business on the environment, have a positive effect on society and seek to work with other organisations who embrace these objectives. We aim to use natural resources responsibly, work with community projects and encourage and educate our employees in these goals.

See our full Corporate & Social Responsibility Policy

What do we actually do as part of our CSR policy?

In the office:

• We recycle all possible office materials (paper, plastic, printer cartridges), and use dedicated printers for reusing printed paper.

• Staff are encouraged and rewarded for being ‘green commuters’; each time a member of staff uses an environmentally friendly way of getting to work the company donates £1 to one of two charities. This year the staff have chosen the charities The Carpenter's Arms, a rehabilitation centre for men suffering from drug and/or alcohol addiction, and Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust, which works for the protection and enhancement of Leicestershire & Rutland's wildlife and wild places, to receive the benefit of staff who car share, walk, cycle or use public transport to get to the office.
  
  Local charities who have received donations from the Green Commuting scheme in previous years include LOROS, Sustrans, Framework, Vitalise and Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire with each charity receiving an average of £840.

In the community:

• ESiT is proud to support The National Forest - click here to read more about our involvement with the National Forest Business Benefit Scheme.

• Staff are given up to 3 days additional leave per year to get involved with voluntary work either locally or nationally.

• ESiT supports local charities through staff fundraising, sale of old equipment and corporate gifts.

Business travel:

• Travel is a necessity – we want to go and see our customers but are introducing strategies to cut down on unnecessary car use, improve fuel efficiency and look at CO2 emissions and fuel economy for all new cars.

 

Our CSR policy is something we are continually developing and integrating with more areas of our business. In the coming months we will work towards formalising guidelines relating to how we wish to assess the environmental and ethical impact of the organisations we work with – both suppliers and customers.

We hope others share our desire to promote these attitudes and are keen to hear your suggestions on how we can develop our policy further, or discuss with you how we have gone about implementing our policies.