Ecovadis Silver Award
12th Apr 2024
We at W&A were delighted to recently receive confirmation of a Silver Sustainability Rating from the brilliant Ecovadis. For context, this puts us in the top 15% or 90th percentile of all businesses rated in the last 12 months in terms of our sustainability performance, and the top 4% of firms assessed in the recruitment sector.
Having Ecovadis review and assess our policies, procedures and reporting relating to the environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement this feels like super progress but the journey does not end here. We are already challenging ourselves to achieve even more, aiming to upgrade to Gold status, and incorporating the findings and recommendations for improvement into our own sustainability policy, setting an ambitious target on achieving net zero, and engaging our colleagues on this vital journey.
For me, this exercise has been truly insightful. I for one have always believed in the importance of good practice in sustainability, and whilst my interest is perhaps best described as unscientific, this has always been a very tangible topic for me. As someone who specialises in finding and attracting the best and most diverse talent for organisations, I have always been fascinated by people and the amazing things they can achieve given the right and fair circumstances. Having studied Geology and Geography at university I have always been hugely interested in the environment and the amazing planet we have access to. I continue to enjoy all the amazing benefits of the great outdoors and so understand the need to protect this for future generations. And finally, as a business that strives to be the best we can be and to positively impact the lives and communities of those we work with, I have embraced the importance of the right governance and reporting, ensuring those who can make a difference do, and have accountability for this.
Thankfully Ecovadis took a more rigorous and scientific approach to the assessment than I could have, but I can assure you that breaking the assessment into constituent factors and getting external advice and recommendations has been both informative and moreover just really rewarding.
On a personal note, I would love to say thank you to the W&A team for their continued efforts in achieving this status and it is fascinating to see just how many of our clients are embracing this topic, building sustainability teams to ensure good practice and performance. It is brilliant to see words and slogans turn into actions, and as a recruiter, the creation of new jobs that we are seeing colleagues from within the world of accountancy and finance move into and flourishing.
Written by Guy Gracie.