People
At Stephensons, we believe our people are at the heart of our community impact. We are proud to be Investors in People accredited, which reflects our commitment to fostering a supportive and engaged workforce. This is further enhanced by our board, which allocates both time and money annually to support staff involvement in community work. Some examples of how we support our staff, and the wider community recently include:
Mental health support: as part of our supportive value, we hosted Andy’s Man Club to raise awareness about mental health, particularly for men, encouraging open conversations and reducing stigma.
Financial well-being: in partnership with NatWest, we organised a financial planning session to help individuals manage the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Cultural inclusivity: in line with our inclusive value, we held a Ramadan 'lunch and learn,' promoting cultural understanding and fostering inclusivity within the workplace and the wider community.
Resilience development: to support resilience, we organised sessions with a guest speaker focusing on strategies for coping and stress management.
Employment opportunities: Stephensons employs over 300 people and actively supports apprenticeships and work experience programmes. In 2023/24, we supported 16 apprentices and employed 10 students over the summer period, helping to develop local talent.
Volunteering and community work: our staff are encouraged to engage in community activities, with a total of 138 hours each month dedicated to volunteering roles, such as trustees, coaches, and mentors. The board also allocates a budget specifically for community work, allowing staff to volunteer at food banks, support charities, and engage in local initiatives like working with Wigan Youth Zone.
Staff benefits: we offer a comprehensive range of benefits, including bereavement leave, enhanced maternity and paternity pay, occupational sick pay from day one, and access to a wide variety of discounts. Our commitment to staff well-being is reflected in the provision of mental health support, flu vaccinations, eyesight testing, and access to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
Premises
We ensure our premises serve not only our business but also our local community. Stephensons has its head office centralised in Wigan. The firm is aware of the impact it has on the local environment and is committed to promoting solutions that minimise all forms of resource consumption, with a continuing aim of reducing the carbon footprint of our assets and the protection of natural supplies. Our social value statement highlights our contribution in this regard.
Stephensons has a formalised agile working policy which has led to a reduction in travel by our staff and a significant reduction in our carbon footprint. We operate a centralised admin team to ensure our practices are paper-lite.
Where possible, we use recycled paper, and indeed, we always endeavour to incorporate the recycle and re-use ethos in all we do. We are currently recycling waste paper, cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and aluminium cans across our network of offices through a system of formal and voluntary recycling schemes.
The firm has a ‘switch it off’ policy and staff are encouraged to turn off equipment that does not need to be left on standby at the end of a working day and also turn off lights when there is no one left in a room. In the last financial year, we provided free use of our meeting rooms 120 times for community organisations.
