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Priority Goal 8
The aim of UN Sustainability Goal 8 is to "Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all." At its essence, that means focussing on:
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Employee, customer, partner and supplier inclusivity
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Long term business viability and growth
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Constructive and profitable employment
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Meaningful and rewarding roles
We've chosen to start with two core aspects that are particularly important to us and are synonymous with our values, specifically providing decent, meaningful, long-term jobs and supporting youth employment.
Measurable Targets
Our younger employees have been instrumental in helping us achieve growth over recent years. Employing apprentices is one of the most important ways that we've been able to develop staff with both the skills and the ethos required to successfully support our customers.
We believe in providing young people with a platform for learning and roles that immediately contribute and deliver for both the company and themselves. To reinforce this, we have set ourselves the following targets:
G8 - Target 1
To commit to minimum of 10% of our employees being either apprentices on our current Apprenticeship Programme or ex-apprentices.
G8 - Target 2
To demonstrate that our Apprenticeship Programme:
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Offers productive, meaningful roles to all apprentices, with a clear path to career progression.
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Teaches relevant, progressive skills.
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Encourages creativity and innovation.
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Supports our growth as an SME.
G8 - Target 3
To inspire other young people to apply for apprenticeships, focussing in particular on those from deprived or minority backgrounds, and on attracting more diversity within the technology sector.
Taking Action
To achieve and maintain our stated targets, we have so far taken the following actions:
G8 - Target 1
We've incorporated key apprenticeship roles into our budget and strategic plans for the new Financial Year (May 2022 - April 2023). This year we will be seeking to recruit both Technical and Sales apprentices to support our growth plans.
G8 - Target 2
We've sought external validation of the quality of our Apprenticeship Programme from Investors In People. We will adopt the feedback and recommendations provided by them to ensure that we're offering our apprentices meaningful employment with longevity.
G8 - Target 3
We have begun reaching out to local schools and youth charities, with a view to visiting them so that our apprentices can talk to young people face-to-face about what it's like to be an apprentice working in the technology sector. We hope that this will inspire them to consider a similar career path.
Performance Data
Here's how we're currently performing against our targets:
G8 - Target 1
Our workforce currently comprises of the following:
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Apprentices currently on our Apprenticeship Programme: 17% of workforce
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Ex-apprentices: 8% of workforce
G8 - Target 2
We are delighted to announce that, following our Investors In People assessment, we've been awarded the We invest in Apprentices Silver accreditation. We're very proud of this. You can read our press release here.
G8 - Target 3
We are awaiting responses from local youth charities, along with a list of contacts for local schools and colleges, so that we can embark upon an outreach programme.
Supplier Education
We have adopted ongoing practices for communicating the support of our chosen UN Sustainability Goals to our supply chain, along with reinforcing the importance that other organisations do the same. By supply chain, we mean ourselves (our staff and associates), our suppliers, our partners and our customers.
Educational activities that we have embarked upon to date include:
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Internal communications to staff on our goal priorities - reach: all staff
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Sustainability monthly newsletter articles - reach: staff, associates, suppliers, partners, customers
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Numerous sustainability social media posts - reach: all followers
Specifically relating to Priority Goal 8, we have published an article on how businesses can step up and support a wider range of UN Sustainability Goals than purely the 'green' agenda.
We have also recently launched a new Ethical IT Managed Service, with sustainable IT at its core, which will enable us to take customers beyond education and into action.
