< PreviousOur commitment to education18Working with schoolsWe believe that helping young people develop confidence and life skills is crucial to a brighter future for all of us. Local students will become our future talent pool and as an employer, we feel it is our duty to help them become the type of people we want to recruit. Assisting with interview practice, mentoring, providing work experience and supporting a local business, Hack have all helped us to foster closer links with local schools.Tameside HackTameside recently held a Hack event for students in the area, to get them engaged with technology companies and technology problems. During the Hack, which was held during the school holidays, small teams worked on various problems set by local businesses. We recently launched AiRScouter, a head mounted display which lets the wearer read documents and access information hands free, so our technical team set a task and were on-hand to answer questions and evaluate the solutions. We asked students to suggest how a head mounted display could change lives. It’s already becoming popular with engineers and technical personnel, but we wanted to see what the next generation would make of it.This initiative is now being taken up by colleagues based all over the UK, and they are seeing the benefits of working with students in their own local schools.This is the future of tomorrow. We were massively bowled over and it’s inspiring to meet these people. It’s about thinking about the next generation who might be working for Brother. We came to see what talent is out there and there’s a tonne of it. We’ll definitely be back next year.Andy Johnson, Head of Product ManagementI just wanted to say a huge “thank you” to all the team at Brother for organising the event this morning. Everything was brilliant from the presentations and activities through to the goody bags. The students were buzzing in the minibus back to school. It was wonderful to show them what it is like to work in a positive environment and hopefully, it will motivate them to strive to achieve these opportunities. Please thank your mentors for their efforts. It was great to see how their relationship with the students is developing and this is down to their great manner and patience – they are a credit to your organisation.Jonathan Knott, Denton Community CollegeWe were delighted to partner with Brother UK for our Fastlaners Employability Programme. Connecting unemployed young people with local employers, to increase their job prospects, it’s exactly what this programme is about. In the first year alone, our Fastlaners programme has delivered some fantastic results. Delivered in Manchester, London and Birmingham, almost 90% of participants have secured work, internship, apprenticeship or a volunteering opportunity.Victoria Turnbull, Uprising Regional Manager for the NorthInvesting in our future talent19Working with higher education and beyondMany graduates also face difficulties transitioning to the workplace from full time education so we are happy to support Uprising, a charity who assist in that difficult phase. For the past two years, we facilitated their Manchester programme, hosting their event in our conference centre and providing financial support for travel expenses. As part of the programme, we offered mentoring support and interview practice to 42 graduates, helping them build their confidence and find jobs.Hallé ImpresariosWe have had a relationship with the Hallé Orchestra for over 30 years, supporting a variety of programmes. With a focus on education, our support currently takes the form of funding their Impresario programme. This programme provides schools with numeracy and business projects; the pupils have the task of writing a business proposal to put on a concert at The Bridgewater Hall. The team at Brother were an absolute delight to work with and our young people have benefited greatly. Our participants had the opportunity to quiz Brother’s employees and get behind the scenes access to real working environments to boost their employability and confidence.Carl Owens, Fastlaners Project Manager20Stalybridge CelticWe have had a long association with our local football team, Stalybridge Celtic, and have a shirt sponsorship deal with them for the 16/17 season. We are now looking at other ways to support both the first team and the grassroots junior programme. Road cycling is all about teamwork. It’s the epitome of putting in hard work to deliver results as a team, everyone playing to their strengths and appreciating the different skills of others. It’s a metaphor we use frequently in the business as it ties in with our own strategy of getting results and achieving more. It therefore seemed like a natural fit for us to sponsor the sport. Women’s cycling is currently underfunded with most sponsors opting for the higher profile men’s teams. However, we recognise this and have also committed our support to numerous up and coming women cyclists. We now support four teams, two men’s and two women’s.Sponsored bybrother.co.ukBacking successful teams, events and businesses all over the UKOfficial Results Partner Official Print and Imaging PartnerFor cycling news and race updates follow us on Twitter / Instagram#Brother4Results @BrotherCycling21Keeping it localOf course, not everything we do fits neatly into boxes of education and primary charities. There are other activities going on which are just too good not to get involved with. From our local football team, Stalybridge Celtic, to our local heritage centre, we help where we can. It’s often not about money, but about resources. Our marketing colleagues painted the club house for Stalybridge Celtic as a team building day, and other colleagues transcribed or digitised historical records for part of the Made in Manchester project, collated data for surveys for Northern Power Women and donated supermarket vouchers to schools.Tree plantingTameside Operations and Greenspace have been tree planting in the Borough over the winter of 16/17 as part of the Council Leader’s “Woodland for Wildlife” pledge. Tree planting is vital for the continuation of Tameside’s woodlands, vital for wildlife, important for health and wellbeing of the local population and a positive way to engage with local communities. We were, of course, more than happy to send along some volunteers. If you’d like to join in, contact greenspace@tameside.gov.ukBrother is helping us to make a unique and fascinating source for business history accessible to the public. The oral histories contain the voices of people who worked in all aspects of the textile industry in the 1920s to 1950s – they provide an unparalleled chance to hear history come alive. However, due to the technology used to record the interviews, they are not easy to access in the digital age, as they are held on old tapes and not available in a modern, online format. Volunteers from Brother are helping us to rectify this problem, ensuring that everyone can hear these unique voices in a modern and accessible way. Larysa Bolton, Local Studies and Archives Manager, Local Studies and Archives Centre, AshtonTameside Archive Programme “Made in Manchester”2022Total electricity use0.0100200300400500600700KWh (Thousands)’12-13’13-14’14-15’15-16’16-17Total gas use0.0100200300400500600700KWh (Thousands)’12-13’13-14’14-15’15-16’16-17Paper use (sheets) per staff0.0500100015002000250030003500KWh (Thousands)’12-13’13-14’14-15’15-16’16-17Since 1998, we have actively sought to reduce our environmental impact and become a truly sustainable business. We continue to ensure that environmental awareness is at the forefront of any initiative undertaken, and we work with our business partners and customers to reduce our wider impacts.EnvironmentThe Brother GroupGlobal CharterOur approach stems from the Global Charter, which guides our overall commitment to be considerate and protective of the environment. We rely strongly on the engagement of our colleagues to deliver on our environmental targets, from recycling their rubbish in the office to working in a paperless way wherever possible and promoting the environmental features of our products. We have helped too by using motion sensors on lights instead of relying on colleagues to turn them off, and having a well-insulated building to reduce our energy consumption.We adopted the ISO 14001 standard in 2005 and still maintain it, looking for even small improvements each year. Through the Brother Earth programme, we extend our environmental reach beyond our office and beyond the UK.1. ReduceWe aim to reduce our use of raw materials and energy across the whole business. Through investment in eco-friendly technology (such as motion sensors on lights, modern insulation and energy efficient products), we have reduced our electricity use by almost 40% and gas use by 54% in the last five years.This has led to a direct reduction in our CO2 emissions of 43% over the last five years.One of the key materials we use in the office is paper, and we have put several initiatives in place to reduce our paper consumption. These include providing staff with multiple screens (saving the need to print information), defaulting to double-sided printing and the installation of b-guard, a feature of our printers which not only monitors paper use but which stalls print jobs until the user collects the print out. This reduces the number of unwanted prints and mistakes. We also encourage our customers to use the same technology by using either our own b-guard or one of the alternatives available if that suits their environment better. Over the last five years, we have cut our paper use by 34% despite increasing staff numbers. Therefore, our paper use per head has reduced.Total CO2 emissions0.0100200300400500600700Tonnes’12-13’13-14’14-15’15-16’16-17DistributionElectricityGasThe 5RsThe whole Brother Group adhere to the 5Rs of environmental activity, as described below:Composting teabags is a terrific “green” method of disposal and great for the health of all my plants. Not only do I compost teabags as fertiliser in my compost bin, but I dig loose tea leaves in and around my plants adding nitrogen-rich components to the compost. They are also great for increasing drainage while maintaining moisture, increasing oxygen and maintaining soil structure for a more beautiful crop. Having a supply of teabags from my work colleagues is really helpful.Michelle Davies, Corporate BID Manager5. RecycleWhere reuse is not possible, we recycle rather than throw things away. We achieved Zero waste to landfill in 2010 and have maintained this ever since. Our contractors also divert waste to other manufacturing streams, so that operations on the site fulfil our promise not to send materials to landfill.The recycling of materials is not limited to our corporate efforts either. One member of staff recycles the teabags of our employees to use as compost for her allotment. 21232. RefuseBy using our buying power to refuse to purchase environmentally damaging products where alternatives exist, we can minimise our environmental impact. For example, our Green Purchasing Policy encourages the purchase of environmentally friendly products. Contracts (such as stationery supply and office cleaning) stipulate eco-friendly products wherever possible. By closely monitoring what we do buy, we avoid excess, helping us to maintain our “Zero to landfill” pledge.3. Reuse and 4. ReformWorking with Brother Industries UK (BIUK) in Ruabon, we have helped to implement circular manufacturing for our toners. Used parts returned to us through our recycling scheme are passed on to BIUK where they are refurbished and used in the production of new products, or reformed into new parts. We appreciate the efforts of our customers in returning their used cartridges to us, and were very happy to show our appreciation directly to Dartford and Gravesham NHS trust recently, after they had returned over 2,000 toner cartridges. This report focuses on the corporate responsibility activities at Brother UK Ltd between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2017. This is Brother UK’s 9th annual Community Engagement Report. The purpose of the report is to provide our customers and other stakeholders with an update on our social and environmental activities, progress, performance and goals. We have not sought external assurance.We welcome any feedback at sam.johnson@brother-uk.com Further information can be found at www.brother.co.uk or by calling our Manchester office on 0161 931 4270. Information about the global Brother Group can be found at www.brother.comFollow us on...CD2375@Brother_UK@BrotherPrintersUKBrother UK LtdBrotherUKNext >