Taking Responsibility for a Sustainable Future

Concentrix, a leading global provider of customer experience solutions and technology, is focused on creating a positive and impactful change in the local communities and environments in which it operates. One such community is Belfast, where Concentrix has its European headquarters, located in the old Maysfield Leisure Centre.

Belfast man Philip Cassidy MBE, executive vice president, Corporate Strategy, Special Projects & Real Estate, champions the company’s global efforts to drive sustainability and green initiatives across its 70+ countries and 320,000+ employees.

Philip says, “As a global business that touches countless lives each day, we recognise that we have a real responsibility to look out for our people and the health of our planet. It’s a responsibility we take extremely seriously and over the past three years we have built an intentional strategy to ensure that we contribute to the right economic, social, and environmental causes that will truly make a difference to our local communities.

Our objectives are focused around three strategic pillars, each of which has clear goals to drive success to 2025 and beyond.”

Philip outlined the three pillars as:

1. Environmental – caring for the world by improving environmental practices, leaving a tangible and measurable difference so that future generations can enjoy our planet.

2. Social – investing in staff, ensuring diverse representation, and promoting wellbeing to create better communities wherever Concentrix operates.

3. Governance – doing the right thing, always.

He continues, “As a forward-thinking organisation, we look to constantly explore the latest trends, insights, and best practices in ESG issues that shape our world. We believe this will enable us to secure Concentrix’s long-term success while also creating positive and impactful change.”

So, what have Philip and Concentrix been doing to take responsibility for a sustainable future?

From planting trees (they have already smashed their goal of planting 250K by 2025 by planting 385K trees in 2021 and 2022 alone); volunteering to support the local community and ecosystem (global target of 1 million hours); eliminating or recycling 250,000 pounds of paper; ethically donating or recycling 100% of e-waste; eliminating single-use plastic water bottles; reducing power consumption; converting all lighting to LED and encouraging staff to make a conscious effort to reduce their carbon emissions through actions such as sustainable swaps, greener daily routines and tree planting. All of which has so far resulted in 23,000 Concentrix OneEarth Champions across 36 countries and the potential avoidance of 400,000+ kg of CO2 emissions.

Philip detailed the company’s approach to sustainability, saying, “From day one, our ESG journey has wholeheartedly been driven from the very top of our business.

Chris Cauldwell (founder, president and CEO) believed that we had the power and the responsibility to create a wave that would positively impact our environment and communities. Every region throughout our business was given clear goals and empowered to work to achieve these ESG targets. In Europe we created an ESG council comprised of local senior leaders. Their role was to provide governance, direction, and reporting. At a local level, we dedicated people in every country to drive ESG activities. They work tirelessly to identify the best initiatives and to get staff involved in our environmental and social projects. They ensure that staff are engaged and motivated to participate and provide ideas and suggestions.”

In Belfast, the team achieved some fantastic results. Some green activities include installation of new regulator taps to ensure water is reduced to a necessary amount, use of recyclable toilet paper, automated LED energy lights that switch off automatically when not required resulting in energy savings and increased longevity of lights meaning less waste. 305 solar panels have been installed on the roof of its site at Bridge Street, which will likely result in around £30,000 of savings per year. The team have also created a number of bee gardens and bug hotels on site, as well as organising numerous city clean-up days and working with Bog Meadows Belfast to pick up litter. Most recently, Concentrix joined Farming Carbon to deliver workshops on native trees and planting to St Joseph’s PS, Carnacaville, and St Kevin’s PS, Belfast.

Finally, Philip shared his top tips for companies who are at the start of their ESG journey or who feel that they are not optimising their impact.

Be Bold - Define what you want to achieve... and stretch it. Clear objectives will enable you to build a strategy and to achieve your vision to support our planet and your community.

Be Visible - It is of vital importance to have visibility of what’s happening throughout your organisation, to be able to track your actions, and to share the progress and impact with your people.

Be Fanatical - A superficial or inauthentic commitment to ESG will not be supported by your customers, investors, and employees. You must be committed to long-term sustainability in everything you do.

Be Open - Listen to your people, your stakeholders and your community so that you can create a dynamic place for dialogue and collaboration, fostering a collective effort towards a sustainable future.