The time has come again to give ourselves a pat on our backs for everything we've done in the last year and get our thinking caps on to how we can keep doing better in the year to come as EllisKnight International releases its sustainability report for 2021.

A massive congratulations to the entire team for surpassing themselves once again as they took on the massive challenge we set ourselves after amending our articles of association in 2020.

As we look back on 2021, we know that last year was another strange year for many people and businesses as we continue to feel the effects of the pandemic.
At EK, we have been excited to continue our journey and were thrilled to become B-Corp Certified in March 2021. 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.

Since we undertook our rejuvenated sustainability journey in 2020, being a purpose led business has been at the underlying theme of everything we've undertaken this last year.

We have become the first recruitment agency to achieve both a Gold CSR Accreditation and receive The Planet Mark. We have also achieved carbon neutral status and re-modelled our business to hold ourselves accountable against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As a team we will continue to learn and grow to ensure that a partnership with EllisKnight is always a partnership for good.

Paul Baker, Director at EllisKnight said "For me, working with "Purpose" is about working with people who truly understand what is important on a human level when you strip all the material distractions and ego away. People can focus on something meaningful. They are happier in their work and personal lives and are motivated to do and be better. They go that extra mile to help others and have a true sense of belonging where they genuinely care about and for other people. They feel trusted and are motivated to do their best each day. Amazing things can happen when you get this right!"

In 2021, some of our greatest impacts we achieved as a business was through our wonderful partnerships. Our giving partnerships through B1G1 and Toilet Twinning allowed us to make impacts in the regions of this planet most in need of help. Our partnership and certification with Planet Mark allowed us to reduce our carbon footprint by a massive 62.4% this year.

What we achieved:

• Continued championing B1G1 by donating a percentage of every invoice received on our client's behalf. We made a total of 349,313 impacts throughout 2021.
• We were honoured to have won the Geographic Giving Award from B1G1 in the Special Recognition Category.
• During 2021 we twinned a further 12 toilets on behalf of our clients and suppliers through Toilet Twinning.
• We are the first recruitment agency globally to be Planet Mark certified. In 2021, we achieved our Second Year Certification and reduced our carbon footprint by 62.4%.
• We won the Planet Mark Best Newcomer Award.
• During 2021, half of our team became Mental Health First Aiders through our partnership with Mental Health Charter.
• We became B-Corp certified in March 2021.
• Our team purchased items to pack 30 Buddy Bags and delivered them to a local women's refuge centre.

We are not going to rest there! There are some many more goals we want to achieve in order to be a truly purpose led, sustainable business that looks out for people, planet and prosperity for all. Looking forward, we want to highlight our hopes and dreams for 2022.

What we still need to do:

• Aim to ensure the whole EK team become Mental Health First Aiders.
• Meet a total target of 1 million B1G1 Impacts.
• Reach a total of 15,000 trees in the EK Forest through our partnership with Ecologi.
• Reduce our Carbon Footprint by a further 5% to allow Planet Mark recertification for the third year.
• Offset our carbon footprint through Gold Standard Offsetting Projects and maintain our carbon neutral status as a company.
• In addition to Toilet Twinning, we hope to begin tap twinning for our clients and suppliers – We will twin every tap within EK HQ in 2022.
• Continuing to build upon or exciting Community Partnerships through supporting young people, local charities, and the environment.
• Encourage our EK Family to sign up to Giki to analyse and take ownership for their personal carbon footprint.

Early results
We are proud to say that thanks to the hard work of our lovely team, we have given ourselves a jump and achieved some of this year's To Do list already.
So far this year, we have reduced our Carbon Footprint by 8% already! More than our 5% target and are on our way for our Planet Mark recertification.
We have also achieved our carbon offsetting target and maintained our carbon neutral status for 2022.

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: