Corporate Social Responsibility

STL Technologies has always been a responsible and caring company. At STL Technologies we realise that we do not operate our business in isolation and that the impacts flow wider. We also recognise that for our business to do well we have to conduct ourselves in a way that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Consequently we take our Corporate Social Responsibilities seriously and outline below the areas of focus, our commitments and our current activities.


James Garnham, Managing Director



OUR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY POLICY FOCUSES ON THREE MAIN AREAS:

• Ensuring that STL Technologies' business has a positive impact on the local community
• Making STL Technologies an enjoyable place to work
• Minimising the harmful effects on the environment of our business activity

STL TECHNOLOGIES HAS MADE THE FOLLOWING COMMITMENTS TO CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:

• We will manage our business with honesty and integrity
• We are committed to full legal compliance in all we do
• We aim to provide a fulfilling and rewarding career for all our employees
• We actively assess and manage the environmental impacts of all of our operations so as to minimise the negative effects.
• We will continually benchmark our efforts and achievement in Corporate Social Responsibility to ensure our performance is at above the levels of comparable organisations.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES 2009
Communities
STL Technologies staff have chosen a local charity which they will support this year. The chosen charity is the East Anglia Children's Hospice (EACH). All of our corporate fundraising will be targeted at supporting this local Charity. STL Technologies staff have undertaken a huge range of activities ranging from donations of goods for sale through to activities and competitions, car washing and breakfast provision through to many personal commitments and group tasks such as marathons. The vigour with which the staff have addressed the challenge is hugely impressive. The Company will match all funds raised by the staff £1 for £1.

People
We are committed to the development of our staff. STL Technologies now implements training needs analysis across the organisation with training needs being identified through staff appraisals and as arising. STL Technologies is spending more on training and education of our staff than ever before and we seek to continue and further develop this significant investment.

Furthermore we seek to recruit for promotions from within. All vacancies are published internally before external advertisement and staff are encouraged to apply.

We seek to continually improve the working environment for our staff and are continually investing in this area. New modern offices have been obtained to reduce overcrowding and to provide a better working environment. Suitable rest and breakout areas are also provided.

Staff and family welfare are high on our list of objectives, and we regularly provide:

• A summer activity day for all employees and family;
• A Christmas pantomime visit for employees and their children with food and presents for each child;
• A Christmas party;
• A range of Christmas presents for staff to choose ranging from iPods and game consoles to hampers and wine.

Two-way communication with our staff is also a key objective; we provide weekly business briefs on the major happenings within the organisation and encourage active participation through the Information and Consultation with Employees (ICE) Forum.

Environment
This year we have continued to operate under the environmental management standard ISO 14001 which we gained in 2007.

Furthermore we have engaged with the Carbon Trust and are working with them on an action plan to reduce the carbon emissions of our activities. This involves reviewing energy usage as well as undertaking an environmental impact assessment. Having baselined this data we will set targets to improve and reduce our environmental impacts. Last year we undertook a significant upgrade programme replacing many inefficient single glazed windows across the organisation with modern efficient units.

We have recently implemented waste recycling bins across the organisation and are now sorting and recycling our commercial waste.