Chamber helps businesses ‘grow back better’

#EMComingTogether: Chamber helping

businesses to ‘grow back better’

Two-thirds of East Midlands businesses now engage in social or community activities – with an increasing number seeing the benefits of giving back, according to a new report.

Research by East Midlands Chamber, in partnership with University of Derby, found the proportion of companies that are involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity has grown from 60% in 2017 to 66% in 2020.

However, there are significant discrepancies between large firms and SMEs, with those not engaged in charity activity citing a lack of time and financial resources.

The report, ‘Growing Back Better – East Midlands Businesses’ Approach to Community Engagement’, was unveiled during the Chamber’s CSR Summit as it also launched a new-look #EMComingTogether campaign to raise awareness of the positive impact businesses are having on their communities.

Chris Hobson, director of policy and external affairs at the Chamber, said: “The impact of the pandemic has been uneven in terms of the communities most impacted and, as the economy recovers, there is a chance to demonstrate how we can grow back better.

“While the biggest drivers for giving back among organisations are emotive, we’re beginning to detect that it’s becoming a more important part of business strategies. Four in 10 were seeking to build their profile and a quarter viewed it as an opportunity to develop staff.

“In fact, when asked on a scale of one to 10 how important community activity was to them achieving their overall strategic objectives, the average score given was 5.8. This suggests it’s not just something that people view as a nice thing to do, but is an integral part of their wider business purpose.

“Our #EMComingTogether campaign will show how it does make business sense as we seek to break down the barriers to community engagement for our region’s companies. But we also want to demonstrate how we can get more businesses doing more varied activity in a more impactful way – as this can only benefit everyone.”

A top organisation

to work for

Creating a family-like workplace culture with complete transparency and strong support has helped East Midlands Chamber to be recognised as one of the top organisations to work for in the region.

It features in two categories of the Best Companies to Work For lists – ranking 77th in The Midlands’ 100 Best Companies to Work For and 13th in the national Business Services’ 20 Best Companies to Work For.

The recognition follows in-depth staff surveys by the industry-leading employee engagement specialist that reflected well on a steady programme of changes in recent years to improve workplace culture at the Chamber, which employs 180 people across offices in Chesterfield, Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Glossop and Mansfield.

These include improving internal communication methods, establishing new online meetings in which all employees are invited, and adopting and benchmarking against a set of values.

East Midlands Chamber chief executive Scott Knowles said: “Being recognised in the Best Companies to Work For list, which is one of the most well-respected rankings for recognising an excellent workplace culture, is a huge achievement for our organisation and the work we’ve done over the past five years or so.

“But more importantly, it gives us something to benchmark ourselves against for the future to ensure everything we’re doing is in line with best practice and to measure our continual improvement.”