Partner Article

Staff Take Environment into Their Own Helping Hands

Customer service advisors from two of Sunderland’s biggest employers teamed up to get their hands dirty in a day of litter picking as part of the ‘Tidying Doxford’ project, designed to create the cleanest business park in the region.

EDF Energy workers donated their time through the EDF Energy Helping Hands scheme and worked with volunteers from Parseq, formally known as 2Touch, to ensure the grounds were cleared.

Emma Shearer, community investment specialist at EDF Energy said: “Our Helping Hands teams often go out and help local organisations with anything they need, however this time we used our time to tend to the business park surrounding our workplace.

“The bridal paths and area behind our building had a build-up of litter and waste, so our team decided to lead by example and cleaned up the site to make it a better environment for workers and the local community.

“After the clean-up project the park looks and feels cleaner, it will also prevent any problems such as blocking drains and harm to local wildlife.

“It was great that we could work with another local business and come together to improve our working environment. The teams got along really well and it was nice to get to know others working nearby.”

The company teams, armed with litter pickers and other tools, collected sacks of rubbish to send to recycle to further support the local environment.

The EDF Energy Helping Hands programme allows all 1,600 employees at Doxford to take up to two days paid leave every year to volunteer in the community. The projects they work on not only benefit local people, they also provide personal development and team-building opportunities for staff.

Louise Cope, Group HR Director at Parseq said: “We were thrilled when EDF Energy asked us to join forces in this project.

“The number of colleagues that volunteered to take part highlighted the community spirit and desire of our people to help the community, our team came back really enthused after a job well done.

“Collaboration between neighbours in our business community like ours makes for a productive and happier working environment. We look forward to the next community project.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by EDF Energy .