Together Housing colleagues are taking part in a company drive to spend more of their hour’s volunteering.
Staff across all departments are encouraged to give up hours in their working day to take part in various voluntary opportunities. This year, the company has an ambitious target of providing 400 opportunities for colleagues to volunteer.
Neighbourhood, maintenance, and repairs teams are encouraging fellow colleagues to join them for a day of hands-on work. Volunteering opportunities are available around Together Housing estates but don’t stop there.
The company is encouraging volunteering throughout its Corporate Plan and allows each member of staff to use two of their working days to volunteer. The company’s mission also strengthens its commitment to its charity of the year – The Alzheimer’s Society – who offer their own annual opportunities to staff.
Neighbourhood Officers recently took the streets of Blackburn’s Galligreaves estate to carry out a clean up day. PR Officer, Fatima, signed up for this estate clean-up take part in the company’s volunteering drive.
She said: “I recently joined Together Housing’s Neighbourhood Coordinators for a litter pick event around the Galligreaves estate. The clean-up offered residents a chance to throw out bulk items into skips arranged for by neighbourhood teams.
“The day was straightforward, and I was soon kitted out with the essentials for a few hours of voluntary work. Within a matter of minutes, I was meeting new colleagues, and importantly, got the opportunity to speak to residents too who were all eager to discuss why these clean up events are so important to them.
“Alongside the skips, myself and Diane Turner, Neighbourhood Coordinator for Blackburn tackled the streets and began litter picking. As well as getting a sense of giving back to a local community, I also gained valuable insight into the lives of our residents and where they live.
“A morning of volunteering flew by. It was a worthwhile opportunity to get away from my desk and more importantly, it became clear to see how volunteering opportunities can help us connect better as a team and with our residents.”
Other teams took part in similar opportunities. Communications and Marketing teams joined up with local Neighbourhood Teams for a big clean-up on the Edgeside estate in Waterfoot, Lancashire. The clean-up was managed on the day by Jaki, Kendra and Andrew from the local Neighbourhood Team and expertly delivered by Trevor, Andy, Tony, Darren, Chris and Robin from Environmental Services.
Daniel, Gary, Ruth and Sorcha from Communications and Marketing Team, gave up their time to help clean the streets and greenspaces. The team removed a total of fourteen wagon loads of rubbish including bagged litter, furniture, mattresses, carpets, garden items and white goods with a total weight being around four tonnes.
Colleagues can also help to achieve the target of 400 opportunities this year with any volunteering they do outside their working hours. The two days allocated to volunteering can be used for external opportunities too.
Nigel Jones Group Director of People for Together Housing said: “We’re passionate about giving our staff as many options to volunteer as possible. That’s why volunteering is a key part of our Corporate Plan and the Social Value Strategy.
“We actively promote our colleagues to take part in volunteering opportunities which will benefit the local communities, the company and our staff themselves. It’s brilliant to see so many opportunities being organised by our neighbourhoods and maintenance teams who continue to do a great job on our estates, now with the helping hand of other colleagues too.”
To find out more about volunteering opportunities within the company and hot to take part, visit the Think365 webpage. Details about opportunities can also be found on Viva Engage under the ‘Volunteering’ tag.