A year to walk the walk

Well, we’ve made some resolutions.

At Kind we endeavour to be a responsible business, whether that be working with the right clients, employing the right people or simply putting the right rubbish in the right bin, but this year we want to go further.

1% for the planet 🔗

Everyone in their right mind understands the seriousness of climate change and after reading about Patagonia giving 100% of its Black Friday turnover to environmental nonprofits, we were inspired to join in the cause.

So, for 2017 we’ll be joining the 1% for the planet movement and donating at least 1% of our ex VAT turnover.

It’s a tiny number and an amount we probably won’t notice but, as more and more businesses become members, we can start to make a positive impact, together.

Carbon neutrality 🔗

We’re already a pretty low-carbon business. All of our staff regularly use public transport to get to the office, we don’t create a lot of landfill waste and we keep our energy usage below businesses similar to us.

In 2017, we’re going to do more. Our aim is to be fully carbon neutral or better by the end of the year. We’ll start by measuring our footprint and devising ways to reduce it, for which we’ve already had some ideas. Such as:

• Shopping locally: There are a lot of great local suppliers in the Nottingham area who can supply us with the fruit, bread, drinks and more that we keep in our kitchen.
• Changing energy suppliers: We’re moving to a 100% green energy supplier as soon as possible.
• Greener hosting: The hosting providers we use are great but we know little about their environmental policies. One of the first things we’ll do this year is to find out just how green our hosting is.

A better employer 🔗

We love our team and the work they do and hope that they enjoy working at Kind (we’ve certainly had no complaints). So, while we already offer a fair package and a decent working environment, we’re going to do more.

In January, we’re getting to grips with that often forgotten but hugely important benefit, pensions.

In February, we’re taking on a Head of Design who will also sit on our executive board and act as an ambassador to our employees. We hope that we’re approachable enough that anyone can raise an issue at any time, but having somebody in place to aid that process is always a good idea.

Throughout the year we’ll also look at how we reward our staff with regards to pay, bonuses and smaller rewards such as social events.

We’re going to work to make our training and conference budgets more concrete too. Our team already have regularly revisited personal development plans and 10% of their working time is dedicated to pushing themselves forward, but it should be easier for them to book conference tickets or buy a relevant publication.

2017 is going to be a great year, we’ll post our progress with our resolutions as we go.