CSR Policy
At The Encore Group, we are committed to creating a company that has a positive impact on our people, our community and our planet.
Each year, we make a collaborative and consistent effort to ensure that our concerns translate into concrete actions that truly make a difference.
In 2022, we funded 2 Greggs Breakfast Clubs, sponsored 3 local grassroots sports clubs, nurtured the skills of our valued local apprentices across all sites and donated and supported over 5 local charities in an effort to give back to the valued communities in which we operate.
By partnering with CarbonQuota, we have also become the first and only envelope manufacturer to provide accurate carbon emission calculations for all our products.
As Encore continues to evolve and drive innovation, we pledge to work towards meaningful ethical and sustainable goals as a business.
Our People
Building and maintaining a happy and healthy work environment
We are dedicated to enhancing employee wellbeing at work. We utilise the services of the Employee Assistance Programme, Health Assured, to provide all employees with access to a 24/7support helpline.
We are committed to providing proactive intervention for staff mental health issues and Encore’s managerial staff have undergone fully certified mental health training to gain actionable and practical skills to support our employees on a day-to-day basis.
Finding, supporting and developing talented people
We want Encore to be a vehicle for employee development. We strive to ensure all colleagues enjoy their work and have equal opportunities to develop their expertise. We continue to invest in our apprenticeship programmes and actively look for ways in which we can promote and increase the diversity of our workforce.
By partnering with local education and training providers operating within our community such as East Durham College and TDR Training Limited, we have been able to hire 18 apprentices in the last 4 years. We value our people and aim to support employees throughout their professional working life and as a result, out of the last 12 apprentices who have completed their apprenticeships with us, 11 of them are still with the business.
We value our people and aim to support employees throughout their professional working life and as a result, an apprenticeship with us often results in a permanent position within the business.
We strive to ensure all colleagues enjoy their work and have equal opportunities to develop their expertise
Our Communities
At Encore, we want to make a difference to the communities in which we operate and to see them thrive. We are dedicated supporters of various community projects and we actively encourage employees to get involved in charity fundraising events.
Providing free breakfasts for local school
We believe that every child should have a good start to the day with a healthy and nutritious breakfast. As part of the Greggs Foundation Breakfast Club scheme, in 2022 we provided start-up funding and support for a new breakfast club based at Seaham Trinity Primary school, offering over 70 students a free breakfast every morning.
We continue to support local schools in our community through this scheme at all 3 sites in Peterlee, Washington and Dewsbury.
Assisting people in crisis
In a bid to assist local people in crisis with emergency food supplies, Encore organises large collections and regular donations to the Durham Food Bank in Peterlee.
We believe that every child should have a good start to the day with a healthy and nutritious breakfast
Supporting grassroots sport
Encore is committed to positively impacting everyday lives within the community. As such, we regularly engage with grassroots clubs and local sports teams. Encore has made donations of equipment and kit to the following clubs:
- Washington AFC Tigers
- Washington District Youth Amateur Boxing Club (we have supported this club regularly for over 10 years)
- Hebburn Town Juniors FC
Helping local causes
In the past 3 years, Encore is proud to report that charity donations have been in excess of 1% of Company profits.
Passionate about supporting local children and their families, Encore backed Children’s Cancer North as a Company charity for 6 years between 2016 and 2021 and raised over £75K. We continue to show our support for this local charity, and in November 2022 we attended the charity’s Carousel Ball and tripled the amount that the event raised, donating £29,310.20 to this inspiring local cause which invests in revolutionary research and supports the families of children living with cancer within our community.
We have also:
- Made regular donations to Little Sisters Of The Poor Newcastle for over 20 years
- Supported the Martin House Glitterball event for approximately 10 years
We regularly assist our employees and clients in their own personal fundraising activities, which has resulted in donations to Marie Curie Hospice, Macmillan Cancer Support, Maggie’s Centre Newcastle, Brain Tumour Research and other crucial UK charities.
In the past 3 years, Encore is proud to report that charity donations have been in excess of 1% of Company profits
Our Planet
As the UK’s first and only carbon-balanced envelope manufacturer, sustainability is at the heart of our business model.
We are proud to support the global conservation charity, the World Land Trust, in their crucial efforts to protect threatened, carbon-rich habitats around the globe. Since we joined the initiative in 2021, we have helped to preserve 95 football fields of threatened habitat around the globe.
We understand that sustainability is high on our clients’ agendas and we want to help them on that journey. As such, we have partnered with CarbonQuota to offer customers transparency and a clear environmental decision-making tool when purchasing our products.
We are the first and only UK envelope manufacturer to provide this form of accurate emissions calculations.
In 2022, we became one of just three other UK print companies to have our emissions targets validated with the Science Based Targets Initiative. We have committed to a 46% reduction in scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2027 from a 2019 base year, which requires us to reduce our annual emissions by 725 tonnes of CO2e.
We are also committed to continuously improving our internal processes. We do the following to minimise our environmental impact:
- Recycle 100% of waste paper & board
- Have installed LED lights across all sites
- Use vegetable-based inks in packaging production
- Only invest in hybrid and fully electric company cars
- Only use paper and board suppliers who have FSC® or PEFC credentials
- Ensure that all group production is carbon balanced
- Ensure all purchased electricity is CO2 free
We understand that sustainability is high on our clients’ agendas and we want to help them on that journey
