Corporate Social Responsibility
We are committed to ensuring that our business is conducted in a responsible manner and consider corporate social responsibility to be integral to the business.
Health, Safety and Environment
The health and safety of our staff and visitors to our facilities is a priority for the business and we have established Health, Safety and Environment Committees at each site which meet monthly. These Committees report monthly to the SMT and to the Board. We focus on the prevention of accidents and incidents through proactive reporting of potential hazards.
Ensuring that the Group maintains excellent environmental standards is integral to us. It is the Group’s policy to abide by all laws, directives and regulations pertinent to its field of operations and to act in a manner so as to minimise the effects of our operations on the environment.
Employees
We are focused on attracting and retaining the right calibre of people, which is critical for the Company’s long-term success. We are committed to supporting and developing our employees through training and communication.
We invest in our employees and build on their skills to provide our employees with career development opportunities. In 2015 we enhanced the existing Management Development Programme which provides managers with skills and equips them to deliver the goals of the business. We continue to educate employees on the principals of Lean Manufacturing across the Group to improve skills at all levels. We introduced the Insights Discovery Model in 2015 for all employees to help individuals to understand and build stronger working relationships with each other.
We are successfully running a number of apprenticeship schemes and graduate recruitments across the Group. We will continue to expand the number of schemes we operate in 2016.
Additionally, employees are encouraged to put forward their views to the Company through both our monthly briefing meetings and also through our annual employee survey. The results of the annual survey are presented at each Group site to ensure employee engagement and encourage feedback. Employees are encouraged to participate in implementing improvements across the Group.
Ethical Standards
We continue to focus on and review our core Company values of ‘Determination to Succeed, Drive for Results, Inspired Standards, Positive Outlook, Collaboration and Honesty’ to ensure that there is an ethical culture within the Group that the employees embrace.
We also review how we operate as a business to ensure that we act in a responsible and ethical way and are respectful of others. The Company has policies and procedures in place covering Anti-Corruption and Bribery, Gifts and Hospitality and Whistleblowing.
Community
We are developing our links with the local communities in which we operate. We consider involvement with both local and national charities to be important for the business. We sponsor a number of children in Africa and Asia through Plan International, a charity that promotes child rights and aims to end child poverty.
The Company successfully sponsored the 2015 Cheshire Classic Women’s Road Cycling Race organised by the Weaver Valley Cycling Club which was part of the British Cycling National Series.
We also sponsored a running race organised by Head Office’s local running club, Vale Royal Athletics Club and actively encouraged our employees to train and take part.
We will also be sponsoring our local ladies football club, Winsford United Ladies FC who receive no other funding and are coached by one of our employees in their spare time.
We intend to provide on-going support to these and other events.
Commenting on the sponsorship, Race Director Mike Harrington of Vale Royal Athletic Club said: “We were delighted with Advanced Medical Solutions involvement in our 2015 Pie & Peas 5 mile race. it is not often that a prominent local employer displays such commitment to its social responsibility and wellbeing of its staff with such enthusiasm. Their behind the scenes organisation was fantastic and the staff who took part in the race should be extremely proud of themselves as the course is five hard miles of multi-terrain running which tests even the most hardened local athletes. We look forward to welcoming them all back at our 2016 events.”