It's no secret that good business makes good sense, not just for organisations themselves, but for our economy as a whole. But what do we mean by good'?
Sure, healthy profits are good for business but not at any cost. A successful business knows that it takes a number of things to build a truly good business, and at the top of the list is its people. The North of Tyne Combined Authority has launched the Good Work Pledge, a scheme that allows organisations of every type and size to be recognised for providing, or working towards providing, good work’. The pledge consists of two levels, standard and advanced, and businesses can apply for an award at either level. The criteria that sits behind each level maps out what good’ is and how businesses can achieve it.
From supporting the community and reducing their carbon footprint to looking after the wellbeing of workers, businesses can demonstrate their commitment to providing good jobs, jobs that provide security, development opportunities and a decent standard of living. By committing to the Good Work Pledge, businesses can help build a thriving workforce, and a thriving economy.
One business that has recently signed up to the Good Work Pledge is Your Print Specialists (YPS) in Killingworth, Newcastle upon Tyne. Georgia Brown, YPS’ Managing Director, said: “As a small independent company, our staff are our strongest asset, so our ethos has always been to provide the correct environment and support for employees to develop the right skills and learning opportunities, as well as have the right work/life balance to be the best they can. Signing up to the pledge was a straightforward process, so we’d encourage any organisation, large or small, to do the same.”
Created in partnership with industry, community experts and the business community from the North of Tyne region and beyond, the pledge is already embedded into many of the region’s leading brands, including Sage, Learning Curve Group, Newcastle University, Haines Watts, Robson Laidler and Karbon Homes. The VCSE sector has championed the roll out of the scheme with several sign-ups from this sector alone. All of these organisations have one thing in common, they recognise that celebrating and highlighting good practice is good for the region.
The pledge’s five key pillars of good practice are: valuing and rewarding the workforce, promoting health and wellbeing, effective communications and representation, developing a balanced workforce, and a social responsibility. Applicants must demonstrate that they either meet or are actively progressing towards all of the key criteria in at least two of these pillars for a standard award, and five pillars for the advanced. Councillor Karen Kilgour, North of Tyne Cabinet Member for Employability and Inclusion, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented changes to our economy and has changed the way we do business. And good work is a key part of the North of Tyne’s economic recovery plan so we can all build back better. As part of that, this pledge gives us a way to recognise all of the good work being done by businesses of all types, inspiring others to follow suit.”
North of Tyne Mayor, Jamie Driscoll, added: “We have 30,000 businesses in the North of Tyne area, and we know how much good is being done by that community to create new ways of working and collectively reimagine opportunities for work.
“We want every one of these businesses to be able to showcase the fact they’re a good business, and a good employer, providing and delivering consistently good work. We want everyone to sign up to our Good Work Pledge.”
