At Onecom, we acknowledge that our business activities affect the environment and society around us, and that we have an opportunity and responsibility to reduce the impact of our operations.
That’s why we have a firm focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) management – not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it allows us to make ongoing improvements to our business practices for the benefit of everyone around us.
ESG has three main elements. Read on to see how we’re embedding these into our business.
How we’re integrating ESG into our business
We have already been working on a number of initiatives designed to make Onecom stronger and more resilient. Many of these, like our Investors In People accreditations and gender pay gap reporting, come together under the umbrella of ESG.
Now, we recognise that ESG considerations are becoming increasingly important to our customers, suppliers, employees and stakeholders, and are always evolving, so we formed an ESG committee – a dedicated team that ensures ongoing improvement and commitment to building the considerations into our business practices and decision-making. Our ESG statement summary can be found here.
Our approach
We’re taking a pragmatic, ethical and sustainable approach to making sure our ESG values and criteria are followed across our business, including the systems and services we operate.
And like other organisations in our sector, we continuously face changing customer expectations, so we are setting ESG goals and monitoring our performance.
What we are doing to support our statement
Our ESG efforts can be split up under the 3 main elements:
1. Environmental
One of the biggest threats facing society now is the climate crisis and helping to tackle it will require new ways of working and investing for our business.
Along with ensuring we keep our employees and communities safe in relation to COVID-19, switching from office to homeworking, where possible, has allowed our employees to have a more successful work-life balance while also significantly reducing Onecom’s carbon footprint.
We’re also doing our part to conserve natural resources and minimise wastage. Our efforts include a reduce, reuse recycle approach to energy, water and waste, securely disposing of technology equipment in-line with WEEE regulations, encouraging employees to work paper-free and using an array of digital tools that allow employees to share work and collaborate online.
2. Social
The social element of our ESG statement guides how we manage our teams and develop relationships with our wider community.
Diversity and equality are some of our fundamental core values. We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment or the violation of human rights and are fully committed to promoting diversity and equal opportunities in employment and enforcing this with regular training.
Valuing and empowering our staff is also important in our company. We are continually striving to ensure that Onecom is a great place to work, where our people demonstrate our values in everything they do and where their contributions are welcomed and recognised.
Supporting our community is something else we are passionate about. We have previously partnered with organisations such as YoungMinds and XLP and have invested in numerous local and national charitable and fundraising events, both on a corporate level and in support of individual employees’ charitable efforts.
Following showcase presentations and an employee vote at the start of 2023, Onecom has chosen a multi-year partnership with Hope and Homes for Children. In working with Hope and Homes for Children, Onecom will be able to contribute towards a world in which children no longer suffer institutional care.
3. Governance
Compliance is crucial for our teams here and at Onecom, working fairly, with integrity, and to a high quality is inherent in everything we do, from our financial accounts to health and safety.
Just one of the practices we follow include an organisation-wide risk management programme. We perform risk assessments at least annually which covers security, continuity, and operational risk.
Our internal IT systems are governed and controlled through multiple layers of management to make sure the handling and processing of personal information is within GDPR guidelines.
We track our performance
Not just undertaking but also reporting on progress against ESG metrics helps to improve our accountability to all our stakeholders.
Reporting on our environmental, social and governance performance transparently is also essential to building customer confidence. We will review ESG performance and aim to provide detailed reporting on progress in the future.
Given our unique position as a leader in our industry, we understand that we have a key role to play and will make sure we do this by integrating ESG into every part of how we do business.
For more information about our ESG statement and further examples of the measures we have implemented so far, visit our dedicated page
Have you subscribed to our podcast, OneSPARKS? Currently in its second season, you’ll find inspiring conversations from industry experts, customers and valued partners. Our ESG episode ‘Practical Steps to Begin Your ESG Journey’ will be going live very soon so watch this space and don’t forget to subscribe!