Four Huddersfield businesses are to receive special awards from Kirklees Council for releasing staff to do voluntary work.
Syngenta in Leeds Road , Cummins Turbo Technologies in St Andrew’s Road, McDonald’s in Kirkgate and One17Design in Armitage Bridge have all been praised for their ‘corporate social responsibility.’
According to the Bank of England volunteering in Kirklees is worth more than £414 million to the local economy.
During Volunteers’ Week this month council chief executive Adrian Lythgo will present awards to each firm at their own premises.
Last year Cummins encouraged 800 staff to help the local community, donating 7,000 hours. Syngenta also has a huge community engagement programme while town centre McDonald’s staff swapped burger flipping for tree planting, hedge laying and other horticultural tasks.
One17Design are a firm of architects with a passion for helping the local community. A percentage of their revenue goes to their charitable trust, and trustees meet regularly to consider requests for all types of support from the local area.
Kirklees chief service officer Rachael Loftus said: “Volunteer hours are a precious resource and we know the people least able to give their time are people with full-time jobs.
“So when companies release their staff it often brings people into volunteering for the first time or in ways that are more focused.
“What is even better is that all the evidence indicates employers get the benefits of happier staff, staff with better insight about customers and they feel better about their employer. So, it’s a win, win, win.”
