Giving back … our commitment
For many years Oliver & Co have supported ethical and sustainable business practices and have tried to make a positive impact in our local community. In recent years we formalised our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), developing a CSR policy and setting up a core team to review and improve our CSR practices. The team meets regularly to discuss our programme of events, monitor progress and think of new ways we can serve our community.
We believe businesses have a responsibility to support the communities they serve. With the help of the CSR team, we actively seek out ways to make this responsibility a practical reality.
Pro-bono work and sponsorship
In recent years we have provided our legal services pro-bono to local community initiatives for the benefit of others. This has taken many forms, from ad hoc legal advice to entire business services for charitable organisations.
We offer legal services to the Hospice of the Good Shepherd at a series of Will Clinics. The hospice has supported several of our staff and their families through particularly difficult periods in their lives. This year we were delighted to restart our in-person Free Will Clinic, which were virtual during lockdown. We offer our Will writing services free-of-charge with our fee being donated to the Hospice. In the last 12 months we have raised £10,045 for them.
We support the hospice in other ways, and for four years have sponsored their main fundraising ‘fun-run’ – Foamtastic Colourblast, with our staff volunteering their own time to help on the day of the event. Sadly, the event was cancelled in 2021 due to lock-down restrictions, however it was back in October 2022 and we were proud to be part of the event which helped raise over £22,000 for the Hospice.
Our charity of the year
In April 2023 we nominated West Cheshire Foodbank as our Charity of the Year. We have kicked off our fundraising efforts with a successful cake sale in May and have other exciting fundraising events planned throughout the year. If you would like to stay in touch with these events then please follow us on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter) as we will be posting regular updates as we go.
Clatterbridge Cancer Charity was our charity of the year last year. We laughed, scratched our heads, filled our bellies, and even got a bit sweaty, raising money and we were delighted to tot up the total raised to £4462.25.
Danielle Hennessy, Partnerships Manager at Clatterbridge Cancer Charity said “We can’t thank the team at Oliver & Co enough, for their fundraising efforts this last year. The team have gone above and beyond to raise funds for those with cancer across Cheshire and Merseyside, in-particular those patients receiving end of life care or those with advanced cancer at Clatterbridge. The funds raised will enable us to provide over 40 one to one counselling sessions, for those who need it the most, this contribution will really make all the difference to our patients and their families, thank you.”
Click on the link here to read about some of our antics and the great year we’ve had supporting the fantastic work that they do.
Fundraising and raising awareness
For many years we have donated money as a company and supported our staff in fundraising events for many charitable organisations.
We support The Amputation Foundation, a charity assisting amputees and medical professionals in giving amputees the best start. Oliver & Co has established Personal Injury and Medical Negligence departments and, as such, we help amputees to claim compensation. As a result of our work, we understand the important role this charity has in supporting amputees as they adjust to life after amputation.
We have been supporting Macmillan Cancer Support for over 11 years and during this time we are proud to say that we have raised over £40,000 to assist them with the valuable services they provide for many of our clients and their families.
We support the British Heart Foundation’s ‘Bag It – Beat It’ campaign, encouraging our staff to donate their unwanted items. To date, we have collected over 600 bags raising £8,190, making us their top corporate donation station in Cheshire.
The first Friday in July is Action Mesothelioma Day – a day to raise awareness of mesothelioma (an asbestos related cancer) and remember those who have sadly lost their lives to this insidious disease. Each year our Industrial Disease Team take part in local events to help raise awareness. To mark the day in 2022, our team were instrumental in getting three of Chester’s landmarks lit in blue: Chester Eastgate Clock, Chester Town Hall and the Newgate Arch Bridge. It was a sight to behold, and we were proud to be involved in “Go Blue for Meso.”
Our people
We recognise that our employees make us who we are. We encourage professional development, and actively foster an environment of openness and understanding of mental and physical health issues. Recognising the difficulties that lockdown posed for many people, we are mindful of supporting our employees’ mental and physical well-being. This last year we have supported them in the many ways including a ‘Couch to 5k’ running group, exercise classes on zoom, personal development learning opportunities, free fruit and monthly dog walking (dogs not essential!). In the last year we trained 7 of our staff as mental health first aiders.
In a recent anonymous staff engagement survey, we received the following scores: ‘I am proud to work for Oliver & Co’ 4.59/5 and ‘I would recommend Oliver & Co as a great place to work’ 4.38/5.
Disabled access
Disabled access has always been important to us and as such our offices have disabled facilities for wheelchair users and clients with other disabilities. We have a hearing loop in Reception and a portable hearing loop for use in meetings and our employees have had ‘Deaf Awareness Training’, allowing them to offer the best service to client with hearing impairments. For further information about disabled access, or if you need extra help, please contact us on 01244 312306.
Environment
We encourage all staff to think about the environment and have put several measures in place companywide to do our bit for the environment. These have included investing in a new energy efficient climate control system to heat/cool our office, installing hand dryers in all toilets, providing reusable glasses instead of disposable plastic cups at our water dispensers and employing intelligent waste management for all our waste.
Responsible trading
We have set out in our policy our aim to build and maintain the highest standards from our suppliers and we are committed to trading in an ethical and honest manner, with client service being our highest level of priority.
The coming year
In 2023 we plan to continue to support key charities and community initiatives. We have learnt that the unexpected may happen and even small gestures can help in times of need. Therefore, we strive to always look carefully at what we do and be flexible in our approach. In the days of the pandemic, we closed our city centre office but kept our car park open to key workers from our local Boots store so they could drive to work and not have to use public transport.
David Owen, one of the Directors of Oliver & Co says “The formation of our CSR team has been a good move. Now we have a more formal way to measure and grow our CSR capabilities. We recognise we still have improvements to make but are enjoying the challenge we have set ourselves and are learning from others as we go.”
“That said, we are proud of what we have achieved so far and are looking forward to seeing improvements in the coming weeks, months and years. Recent events have taught us that the chance to give to our community has never been so important as now.”
How can we help?
Do you need legal advice? Click here to see a list of our services or contact us today on 01244 312306 for free initial advice.
Click here to read the Oliver & Co – Corporate Social Responsibility Policy
