At long last, we have released the 2020 sustainability data!

The team at Berkshire-based recruitment agency, EllisKnight International have released our 2020 sustainability report on 23^rd July 2021.

In an extraordinary year for everyone, and for so many reasons, who could have predicted the challenges that families and businesses would face throughout 2020? We took the time to reflect, time to review, and time to establish exactly what is that we stood for, while we reviewed our blueprint.

We have always positioned ourselves as positive disruptors within our sector, but we are only as good as the exceptionally talented team that we have. From becoming the first recruitment agency to achieve a Gold CSR Accreditation and The Planet Mark, to achieving carbon neutral status, and holding ourselves accountable against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, we will continue to learn and grow to ensure that a partnership with EllisKnight International is always a partnership for good.

Thanks to our partnership with Ecologi, we planted 144 trees in our EllisKnight forest between September and December. We also supported another three major tree planting projects in which over 4,400 trees were planted and supported six carbon reduction projects in which over 103 tonnes of CO₂ were removed.

In those short three months, we achieved three Ecologi milestone badges for climate positivity, tree planting and carbon reduction. We also work with Terracycle, Climate Care, Carbon Footprint Ltd and Ecosia to ensure we do our part on climate action.    

We twin a client’s toilet every month with a latrine in a developing community through Toilet Twinning which helps bring clean water and safe sanitation to the world’s poorest people.   

We are a Living Wage employer, not only for our team, but all candidates we place also receive a minimum of the Real Living Wage of £9.50 per hour. We also offer staff interest free loans of up to £1000 PA to help with unexpected expenditures. 

EllisKnight International is committed to equality, diversity and opposition to all forms of workplace discrimination and regularly monitor the effectiveness of our policy. Applications received to join our team, or the teams of our clients, are treated equally regardless of sex, age, sexual orientation, marital status, race, religion, religious beliefs, colour, nationality, creed, ethnic or national origin, gender reassignment or disability. We are proud signatories of the Race at Work Charter and the Good Business Charter. We also offer accessible recruitment campaigns and partnership with Recite Me which can offer an accessible platform for any vacancy.

“We wanted to understand how we could do this and still have a positive impact on society, the environment, our customers and our team. From “Kaisen” based ideas focused around small improvements to our accreditations, certifications and clear purpose – we use our business as a force for good, putting people and planet before profit.” – Patrick Graham, co-founder of EllisKnight International.  

A recent report from B Lab gave insights into the progress towards the SDGs, the key component of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It concluded that progress towards these goals have remained stagnant, especially the contributions from the private sector.

As a positive disruptor, we believe our reaffirmation to the SDGs is necessary, especially our continued support for Goal 1: No Poverty, Goal 5: Gender Equality, Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth and Gaol 10: Reduced Inequalities as part of our business model.

We will also continue to support Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing, Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 13: Climate Action, and Goal 15: Life on Land through our continued partnerships.   

By the end of 2021, we strive to meet or exceed the following targets.

• Become B Corp Certified (achieved in March 2021) – We had a responsibility to be sustainable and put people and planet before profit. We wanted to set an example for the recruitment sector. As a result, we produced EK giving page in build up to verification
• Reduce carbon footprint by minimum of 5% over 2020/21 (achieved on 30^th April 2021) – We introduced a working from home model which reduced commuter miles and converted all systems to online for a paperless office. Overall, we achieved a 63% reduction (skewed by the pandemic) but we still plan to reduce our footprint next year by another 5% from 2020-21 baseline
• Give all staff have membership of The Collective – Outliers Wellbeing community Group (achieved on 26^th July 2021)   
• Remain carbon neutral by offsetting our verified carbon footprint using our existing partners’ programmes 
• Achieve our Ecologi target of 10,000 trees in the EllisKnight forest  
• Achieve our B1G1 target to create 750,000 impacts
• Fulfill obligations to support our local communities by sponsoring local sports teams, charitable events, and educational projects.

We will continue to fundraise for Buddy Bag Foundation and Naomi House Children’s Hospice, giving as much as we can every year to support their wonderful causes.       

 Click on the image to see our Sustainability Report: