As corporate members of Business in the Community (BITC) since 1987, we are committed to constantly improving our impact on society by:
- Managing, measuring and integrating responsible business practice throughout our business.
- Taking collaborative action to tackle disadvantage.
- Inspiring, innovating and leading by sharing learning and experience.
It’s easy for big corporations to make hollow promises, so we back our commitment in a number of ways. Firstly, we focus on two key areas – to help improve education and to attract people into the engineering industry. This focus is backed up with the resources we need to make a real difference.
Secondly, as a member of the BITC PerCent Club, our community relations programme has been assessed as contributing over 1% of our pre-tax profits.
We’ve maintained this despite the difficult economic situation and we will continue to invest in community relations programmes that benefit everyone they touch. We also encourage our dealers, suppliers and other companies to work in a similar way with their communities.
Employee Involvement
Our people are at the heart of our success. Their skills, passion and commitment have always been key to creating exciting cars. And now they are using their skills to benefit the communities in which we work and live.
We encourage every employee to play their part – each has 16 hours of working time a year to support community programmes. It can be anything they want to get involved in, from working with disabled students, to maintaining ancient woodlands to becoming school governors and everything in between.
From day one, our graduates are given the chance to get involved in a wide range of events and activities through the Ignition programme. These are designed to give them confidence and experience to shine at work and out in the community.
Supporting Young People
We believe our future is in the hands of young people. So we offer a range of programmes and facilities designed to open up new opportunities and bring the worlds of business, education and sport alive for young people in the communities in which we operate.These include:
- Education Business Partnership Centres. We give young people hands-on experience of the world of work at our own UK manufacturing sites.
- Education Action Zones. We bring businesses and local schools together to address poor results and attendance levels.
Think Local
We constantly look at our operations and how they affect the people who live near our sites. To help us make the right, informed choices, we maintain our good relationships with the local communities.
Members of the local council and representatives of residents’ groups join us to review our plans and tell us about their ideas and concerns.
Industry Associations
We are actively involved in many industry associations that work to reduce the environmental impact of our business activities and secure a sustainable future. These associations include:
- Arts & Business
- Birmingham and Coventry Common Purpose
- Business in the Community
- Business in the Environment Programme
- Confederation of British Industry
- Coventry, Liverpool and Knowsley Education Action Zones
- Education Business Partnership Centre's
- Environment Council
- Forum for the Future
- Groundwork Coventry and Warwickshire, and Groundwork Merseyside
- Learning and Skills Council
- Local Strategic Partnerships
- NSPCC Coventry Business Group
- Partnerships for Learning
- Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited (SMMT)
- United Nations Environment Programme Mobility Forum
- World Business Council for Sustainable Development Sustainable Mobility
As members of the SMMT, we are committed to building enduring long-term and high quality relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, shareholders and the communities in which we do business.