SUSTAINABILITY & SOCIAL VALUE
Social value measures the positive value businesses create for the environment, economy, communities, and society. It is an ongoing and long-term commitment that looks at each of these areas in terms of their impact on the quality of life of people and beneficial impact to local communities.
Why is social value important to us?
We are aware that many of our current and potential customers see social value as a way of adding local economic and environmental value to their tender. This may be driven by them directly or by the project end customer and/or framework.
The addition of a social value commitment can provide much needed development for a local area ranging from economic growth to innovative ideas. Working with our customers, we aim to research, understand and support the local need at bid stage. Collaboration is key to ensure we are building long lasting relationships and providing the best outcomes for each projects local community.
For the longevity of MCS Ltd and the industry, supporting social value allows us to attract and retain talent. Opportunities such as agile working, mental health and wellbeing support, equal opportunities and providing an insight into the industry via education and employment are all ways that we can ensure we are supporting our current and potential future employees. According to Youth Employment UK 79% of young people have received some sort of careers advice or guidance while in education and 57% of those who did reported higher job satisfaction when they finally went into employment. This highlights the importance of providing good quality educational support allowing us to showcase a exciting and ever-expanding industry with many opportunities going forward.
OUR STRATEGY
To ensure our strategy incorporates the key areas of social value required by our customers, we have formed our approach by using the themes taken from the Social Value Portals ‘The National TOMs’ model.
The model focuses on five main themes:
Promoting local skills and employment
Supporting the growth of responsible regional business
Healthier, safer and more resilient communities
Decarbonising and safeguarding our world.
Promoting social innovation.
The TOMs focus on a range of outcomes under each theme which can be used to measure social value impact. By basing our strategy on this nationally recognised model, we are able to provide clear measurable impact which cover all areas of interest for new and existing customers.
Reporting
To ensure we can accurately report against our strategy annually, we will be using The National TOMs as our reporting method. Since the development of the Social Value Act 2012, this is the most common tool for setting an expectation for social value within bids as well as measuring the suppliers offering. Using the TOMs will give us the opportunity to provide a succinct report based on our key themes and whether we have been able to meet each of our set outcomes.
Devised to maximise impact, each of the TOMs have a financial ‘proxy value’ to help measure the value delivered whether that be to the individual involved or the wider community. Using the TOMs will allow us to quantify our social value delivery whilst providing a figure known as ‘Social Return on Investment’ (SROI). This can be done at both a contract level for our customers individual projects and by an overall figure for MCS Ltd showing the impact we have had across the UK.
CASE STUDIES
Upskilling – Supporting People to Succeed
At MCS , we believe in supporting our people to be the very best they can be. Whether this is by completing short courses or additional qualifications, we are continually providing opportunities for staff to grow. We currently have two members of staff completing their prospective courses – one doing their CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply) and one completing their Diploma in Business Administration. In 2022, two members of staff completed their HNC in Building Services Engineering and are now fully qualified.
Angel Pitchford, Admin Apprentice, said ‘I applied for an admin apprenticeship at MCS in March 2022, while I was working in retail. In my first year I had so much opportunity to help with charity events, work in the capital and even go to Croatia to raise money for the Grand appeal. All while completing my business diploma. I also was sent on a first aid course which can also apply outside of work, along with environmental awareness and GDPR. More recently I was offered a place in the estimating team which I was keen to go for. MCS have given me loads of opportunities which I am so grateful for’.
It is not just our own staff that we work hard to support. We are increasingly aware of the importance of providing good quality educational opportunities and as such, work together with our supply chain to offer work experience and in school engagement. In 2023, we will be actively focusing on young people and providing an insight into our industry specifically looking at females how they can succeed in a known ‘male dominated’ industry.
Mental Health
At MCS, the health and wellbeing of our staff is paramount and as such we take mental health seriously. We have a policy in place where all managers and directors are expected to undertake ‘Mental Health Awareness for Managers’ training. This training covers all aspects of mental health and how support and guidance can be provided to any staff members who may need it.
Alongside our management training, we also have a team of four mental health first aiders on hand across both Bristol and London who are available for our own staff and our supply chain to speak to. They are able to both support and provide guidance to those who require it and their details are available in both offices.
It is not only about providing support and training within the company, we also raise awareness and money for mental health charities. In 2022, one of our customers organised a football tournament to raise money for Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) where MCS entered two teams. Not only did we do this to support the charity but we also wanted to promote being active as many studies have shown that doing physical activity can improve mental health.
MCS Ltd are proud to be a Real Living Wage (RLW) employer
MCS Ltd are proud to be a Real Living Wage (RLW) employer with a commitment to ensuring all eligible employees (those over the age of 18 and not undertaking an apprenticeship) are paid the RLW by going above and beyond the government minimum. The real living wage (RLW) is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually and is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK. There are two rates of Living Wage: London Living Wage and UK Living Wage - both of which are applicable to all MCS Ltd staff.
