We connect people every day. It’s a big responsibility and something we do very successfully. As a business, we’re also responsible for driving positive market-leading changes and improvements – to the workplace, the environments and communities we’re part of, and to the world as a whole.
It’s not just about ‘doing the right thing’. It’s about putting positive and determined decisions at the heart of everything we do, while still being aware of our own limitations.
That’s why we have an environmental, social and governance statement. It tells you how we’re making the right decisions, both now and in the future. It’s our commitment to being good citizens, and changing for the better.
Environmental
Doing everything we can for the planet.
We’re well aware of the climate crisis our planet is facing. Working with an external organisation we’ve calculated our carbon footprint and put things in place to reduce it. For example, we:
- have recycling initiatives in place for all consumable items we buy and use across Pure
- are using electricity more efficiently by turning off lights, screens and chargers
- are moving towards a paperless environment and reducing our printing
- have brought in car-sharing initiatives to cut our combined mileage
- are running our offices on 100% renewable energy.
At the start of 2023, we’d found over 28,000 people employment. Our goal for the next three years is to reach 35,000. For every person we place in a new job, we’re committing to planting a tree through Carma. This will make a real difference when it comes to reducing our carbon emissions –because these 7,000 trees will absorb around 760 tonnes of carbon across their lifetimes. Tree-planting projects like this also create local jobs, reduce air, water and social pollution, and bring communities together.
Social
Taking care of our people, and the communities we work in.
Contributing to our communities has always been close to our hearts, especially when it comes to charity fundraising – in fact, we’ve raised over £170,000 since 2002. We’re going to continue to do that, and more, by giving every Pure employee one day a year to spend supporting a local charity (for example by volunteering).
We also want to contribute to other parts of the local community in different ways. Like helping school pupils, people in further education and university students prepare for the world of work. And giving extra support to those who are already there with learning and networking initiatives including our Finance Leadership Programme, Women’s Leadership Programme, HR Development Programme and HR Energy.
Our people are very important to us too, as is creating a thriving and inspiring workplace where they can flourish. So we offer mental health and wellbeing services for them through Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England, BUPA, Vitality, Help@hand and our Employee Assistance Programmes, backed up by training to raise awareness. Many of these services are also available to family members. We have a great benefits package that supports both at work and at home, as well as offering lots of learning and development opportunities. It’s paying off too, as shown by our Investors in People UK Employer of the Year Gold award (for organisations with 50 to 249 employees), and Gold accreditation.
Helping the eastern region develop more inclusive and engaging workplaces is important to how we do business. That’s why, alongside eras, we co-founded Best Employers Eastern Region, which helps organisations in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk develop forward-thinking and inclusive workplaces by improving employee engagement. Workplaces where people can flourish and thrive, and that drive productivity and economic growth. So far 392 organisations have taken part and we’ve raised over £40,000 for local charities.
GOVERNANCE
Running our business the right way
We’re determined to create a diverse and inclusive workplace at all levels – one that makes everyone, whoever they are or whatever they do, feel equally involved, welcome and supported. This includes reporting on our gender pay gap, and having a diversity and inclusion statement.
Some of the other ways we’re inclusive include committing to equal opportunities in employment, both in the way we recruit, and train and develop our people, as well as proactively talking about and eliminating discrimination. That’s because the best teams have a diverse mix of qualities, skills, experience and outlooks.
We also endeavour to do the same for our clients. We create diverse shortlists for each and every role. And we help people improve their career prospects through our development programmes.
Finally, it’s really important to us that we’re a well-run, ethical business. That means putting our values front and centre when it comes to making business decisions. These are:
- people first – our inspiration and the heart of our decisions
- make it happen – we deliver with energy and make a difference every day
- stay connected – knowledge and connections are our superpower
- better together – with each other we achieve more
- think boldly – we listen, learn and innovate
- proud of how – the way we deliver sets us apart.
At Pure we are committed to the highest principles of ethics, quality, integrity, professional conduct and fair practice.