We’ll achieve this Vision by putting people at the heart of all we do – our members, our customers and our colleagues. By inviting all customers to become members, and then listening to their views and opinions, we’ll shape the future of our Society. We’re also determined to make our businesses part of each and every community we operate in.
In terms of Corporate Responsibility (CR), we’ve made amazing progress and we’ve still got ambitious aims. We define CR as ‘doing the right thing when no-one is looking’! At Central England Co-operative we believe that CR allows us to bring our Vision and Values to life in areas where we can have tangible influence and make a real impact. For example:
We aim to ensure that all colleagues are aware of and actively make the most of all the learning and development opportunities we have to offer. Learning and Development activities are available to all colleagues to support their career journey and are delivered through bespoke courses and our online learning software which help to ensure that everyone’s engaged with our Vision and business strategy.
We’ll work closely with our top 250 suppliers to help them become more sustainable, whilst also increasing the amount of locally sourced products wherever possible. We’ll also run more awareness campaigns and promotions focused on the health and wellbeing of our customers.
We aim to substantially reduce our CO2 emissions, waste and water usage by 2018 whilst encouraging sustainable behaviour with promotions for colleagues, customers and suppliers.
We will continue to have a positive impact on the communities we serve by delivering Healthy Choices workshops to 600 schoolchildren and vulnerable people by 2015 and all our retail foodstores will be working with Foodbanks by 2016 (where foodbanks are available). We also aim to help more unemployed 16-24 year olds into work through our Journey to a Job programmes and we’ll develop and deliver a Work Experience programme for students with a learning disability or those from a disadvantaged background. And on top of all that, we aim to raise £180,000 a year for our corporate charity.