PRINTITRESELLER.UK 45 VOX POP “There are also plans to track customer wins from these engagements, meaning that we will be able to measure how important a factor sustainability is in revenue terms and report back on this. I hope that Apogee can be a case study on sustainability as a profit centre.” Kelly Harris: “We think improving environmental performance is the right thing to do, irrespective of the impacts on the business. Every company and each one of us have this responsibility. Beyond that, there’s a business value as environmental performance is increasingly a quantitative and qualitative factor in awarding business, so it can make the difference between securing a new deal and not. There’s also upside in having a strong ESG program as this can make it easier to secure capital and can increase the value of the company’s stock. We have found that the resellers we have worked with to date have seen great value in the guidance and support we have given whilst on their journeys. We have seen the same appreciation with the vendors we have assisted when drawing out, focusing on and communicating their sustainability messaging to our reseller base.” Richard Hinds: “I believe that a strong environmental performance provides a valuable source of competitive advantage. Increasingly, vendors and customers are understandably asking more questions when making business partnerships and completing purchases, to find out about companies’ environmental and sustainability positioning. “Through MTR, our repair and refurbishment mobile phone business, we have developed a number of services and solutions to extend the lifecycle of mobiles, wearables and tablet devices. MTR offers a complete repair and refurbishment process through to environmentally friendly disposal. Aznu is another of our brands with a strong environmental ethos, where mobile phones are repaired to an ‘as new’ standard rather than customers being encouraged to buy new handsets; creating a sustainable technology lifecycle. We also work with The Woodland Trust in the planting of trees – something which we fund when we sell products.” Andy Ratcliffe: “Sustainability and green goals are knitted throughout everything we do, even during the recruitment process! Our employees have really taken our sustainability goals above and beyond my expectations when I set out our carbon neutral targets. “All of the sustainability programmes we have in place now are employee-led, from our running group to the upcoming community kitchen garden, even promoting Veganuary and Meat Free Mondays. They even managed to turn me plant-based two years ago!” Graeme Savage: “Our amazing SOS family are in-step with the leadership team’s sustainability strategy. We incentivise, encourage and reward staff via our green ideas forum. Organising monthly inter-team ‘green’ challenges that target the reduction of commuter miles, water saving, waste recycling and energy reduction.” Mark Bailey: “As a nation we have got to the stage where we cannot ignore the issue. Sustainability is a topic that everyone is responsible for and it’s fantastic to see our team members getting on board with that. Every time we have introduced new procedures or a process to take another step forward it could not have been done without the engagement of our team around us. From the launch of the green print programme to simple steps like recycling around the office, not making unnecessary journeys, turning screens off when not in use, reuse and reduce packaging – each and every step of the way our team has been with us.” Ato Nimoh-Brema: “When engaging employees in Apogee’s sustainability vision, giving employees a voice is one of our best practices. Whether it be from having people share ideas during employee meetings or sending out an employee survey. This year Apogee has acted on and supported several employee initiatives. For example, in September, we partnered with the Marine Conversation Society to arrange two regional beach clean ups in support of the Great British Beach Clean. In total 33 employees collected over 40kg worth of litter across a 200-metre stretch of beach in Whitstable, Kent and Paull on the Humber.” Kelly Harris: “We engage our employees in our sustainability efforts in several different ways. A good example of that is through our LEAN Program, which is designed to encourage our employees to identify opportunities in order to improve efficiency and reduce waste. Through this program our employees have come up with great suggestions for reducing unnecessary movement of goods, maximising the utilisation of our buildings, optimising shipments (reducing our CO2 footprint) and reducing packaging and associated waste. “Their ideas are captured through the Kaizen process, where employees have been trained to spot opportunities as well as on how to actively take ownership for improving it in a structured and sustainable way, leading to the desired result. Each month a ‘Kaizen of the month’ is selected which is put in the spotlight by the management team, and also comes with a token of appreciation for the employee. “We also hold sustainability forums where our employees have the continued... PrintIT Reseller: How are you engaging your employees in your sustainability efforts? Richard Hinds I believe that a strong environmental performance provides a valuable source of competitive advantage
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