Building communities and improving our neighbourhoods through our focus on employment-led regeneration of London over the long term is an important part of our business strategy. In addition to the ESG Committee, we have a Charity & Social Committee, which oversees fundraising, volunteering and social activities for employees and customers.
- Opening business centres across London to support employment-led regeneration of local communities
- InspiresMe youth programme provides work experience and career workshops
- Fundraising and support for Single Homeless Project
- Volunteering opportunities for employees, customers and suppliers
- Regular food bank collections rolled out at our centres
Areas of focus
Relevant Sustainable Development Goals
Highlights
Social impact project review
This year we appointed a consultancy, Impact Advisors, to help us build upon our existing social impact strategy around employment-led regeneration of London. The starting point of the review was to identify the social challenges within the London boroughs in which we operate, in order to target our activities to communities in need, particularly during and after the pandemic.
Virtual Work experience
Our InspiresMe programme is a key part of our Doing The Right Thing strategy which aims to support disadvantaged young people in our communities.
This year, due to the pandemic, we organised virtual CV reviews and interview workshops with charities XLP and Inspire. 38 Workspace volunteers took part, engaging with young people. The sessions worked well virtually, and the extra flexibility meant that our centre staff were more able to get involved.
We helped run a successful virtual work experience session for Hackney City Academy’s year 10 students as part of our InspiresMe programme.
Priorities Ahead
Scaling up our InspiresMe programme
This is a key part of our Doing The Right Thing strategy, focusing on supporting disadvantaged young people in the areas of London in which we operate. We will be scaling up our InspiresMe programme and re-launching it in the coming year as a rolling programme of inspiration, knowledge, support and experience aimed at motivating those in our communities with the greatest barriers to employment, or at greatest risk of NEET, to grow to their full potential.
New charity partner
We have entered a new charity partnership with the Single Homeless Project (SHP), a London-wide charity working to prevent homelessness and help vulnerable and socially excluded people to transform their lives. SHP have 83 hostels across London. Volunteering opportunities for our employees will include career workshops, outdoor activities, including sports and gardening, and cooking lessons. All employees will be given up to three paid volunteering days a year to get involved in these activities. In 2019/20, we donated £35,000 to SHP and we have a programme of fundraising and volunteering opportunities planned for 2021/22. These include a half or full marathon walk around Workspace centres and a sponsored adventure.