Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Policy
August 2021
At the heart of our company is a unique, strong culture that defines and shapes the way we do business.
Our passion for developing skills, our love of locally sourced ingredients, the diversity and loyalty of our teams, our commitment to good environmental practices and our desire to support the disadvantaged all naturally form part of a sound and achievable ESG framework.
OUR PEOPLE
We place significant emphasis on attracting and retaining the very best talent, giving them new skills to provide fulfilment within their work. It is our responsibility to create an environment that encourages fairness, success, openness, understanding, skills development and individual expression at every level. We encourage a range of flexible working options; we reward above the average; we demonstrate commitment to equality and diversity, provide the opportunity for individual counselling and coaching and will always support career fulfilment. We have an overriding commitment to enhance the skills and talents of our people using a wide range of internal and external development programmes in harmony with individual coaching. We hold staff forums in every location each month and a company wide communication group every six months.
THE COMMUNITY
We commit to supporting our clients’ chosen charities throughout the year with either donation or time. Wilson Vale’s main charity focus will continue to be the NSPCC, where we support their local teams in Derbyshire and Leicestershire doing outstanding work in such a crucial area. We also provide the catering at a number of special schools where we operate with reduced fees and get involved in other initiatives to support their fantastic work.
Our local sourcing and recruitment policies also support the immediate areas where clients are located.
PARTNERS
We are committed to long lasting mature relationships with our suppliers – we encourage them to be innovative, competitive, honest and supportive, we commit to paying terms, to understanding they will have problems too and recognising the important role they have in the success of our business. For many small producers/suppliers we agree to fast track payment and limit paperwork.
ENVIRONMENTAL
We are committed to supporting our clients’ initiatives within their own businesses in areas such as recycling, energy conservation and reporting systems and are continuing to develop training programmes/workshops for our staff in energy usage. Over 70% of our food packaging has been biodegradable since 2008 and we continue to look at additional progress as new products come to market. We update our office travel plan every two years and monitor the emissions of our fleet each month, replacing vehicles when they become inefficient not out of fashion. We monitor the emissions of our company fleet and target improvements each year and our initiatives with local sourcing does reduce food miles.
Our office is in the heart of the New National Forest and since 2006 we have partnered with them by making a commitment to plant trees each year in line with our business growth. We continue to invest in the latest technology to improve our environmental performance.
COMMUNICATION AND MONITORING
We will communicate the key elements of our policy to our teams, clients and partners and keep them updated with any new initiatives.
