Social Value Policy

Social Value Policy

boxxe’s social value commitment is wide ranging and ever growing as we develop more ways to get involved in our local communities, work with disadvantaged individuals and groups, and assist in the protection of our environment and the ecosystems around us. We partner with organisations that share our values and aim to give back to the wider community.

At boxxe, we believe that business is not just about making profit but that we have a responsibility to give back to society. Our commitment to social value reflects our mission to ‘make tech human’, and it guides our actions both within and beyond our organisation.

This policy outlines our dedication to making a positive impact on society through, amongst other things, community engagement, charitable initiatives, environmental practices, and delivering social value to our stakeholders and wider society.

Charitable Initiatives

We’re dedicated to supporting and collaborating with non-profit organisations that align with our mission and values. Through employee awareness and volunteering, we actively engage charities to amplify their impact and make a lasting difference in the lives of those in need. 

We partner with charitable organisations which are committed to delivering impact through employee volunteering, and we have successfully designed, developed and delivered programmes in line with community need, offering specialist skilled support to social mobility cold spots and digital poverty initiatives. 

Pro Bono Work

Our people and their diverse range of skills are our biggest asset; therefore, we understand the importance of sharing this expertise for the greater good. All boxxe employees are encouraged to offer their skills and knowledge through pro bono activities to a wide range of non-profit organisations and social enterprises. 

To maximise our impact we have built, and continue to build, charitable partnerships where these skills can be used to benefit our communities including: career mentorship, insights and advice, employability skills and CV writing, consultancy and IT technical support.

We actively encourage our teams, through working with our Community and Social Value Partner, to seek out new and valuable pro bono opportunities where we can make a difference to people and communities around us. 

Environmental Protection and Sustainability

At boxxe, we consider the protection of the environment and the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices to be paramount in the way we operate our business. We are committed to operating practices that align with our ISO 14001 accreditation, regularly reviewing our carbon footprint and whether we can make any further positive impacts. We have core environmental policies across our business and implement annual mandatory training on environmental practices and our policies to sustain this commitment right across our workforce. 

Workplace Equality

boxxe embraces diversity in all forms and as an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to building not just a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills but an industry. We partner with our peer technology organisations to campaign for racial eqality in the technology sector with the aim of helping to build a better technology industry through equality, diversity and inclusion. 

As an equal opportunities employer, it is vital that we promote fair and inclusive behaviours, processes and policies across our business. Therefore, we:

1. utilise blind recruitment techniques to eliminable bias in our hiring processes

2. financially incentivise recruitment agency partners to find candidates who are under-represented

3. are accredited by Flexa as offering genuine flexible working and this is particularly helpful in helping to attract candidates with caring responsibilities

4. are a Disability Confident Employer, committed to taking action to improve how we recruit, retain and develop people with disabilities

5. ensure continuous learning across our teams by way of an annual programme of diversity, equality and inclusion training, awareness events and surveys to reinforce the importance of inclusive behaviours. 

Delivering Social Value to Customers

We’re dedicated to delivering more than just products and services to our customers. Our aim is to create tangible social value for the greater good. In additional to the above, we’re committed to supporting the themes that are aligned to the Government’s Social Value Model. 

These themes include: 

• COVID-19 recovery

• creating new businesses, new jobs, and new skills

• Increasing supply chain resilience and capacity

• Effective stewardship of the environment

• Reducing the disability employment gap

• Tackling workforce inequality

• Improving health and wellbeing

• Improving community integration

We actively seek ways to contribute positively to the communities we, our customers and partners serve.

Measurement and Reporting

We believe in accountability and transparency. We regularly track and measure the resources and efforts invested by our teams and the impact of our community engagement, charitable initiatives, and social value delivery. All of our community days and volunteering commitments are documented in a software tool which is actively managed by our Community & Social Value Partner. Regular tracking and measurement of our social value initiatives ensures that we are making a meaningful impact in accordance with our KPIs and commitments to customers and to allow us to increase our commitments and ambitions over time. Our annual ESG report also provides insights into the outcomes achieved. 

Continuous Improvement and Employee Support

We understand that the journey toward maximising social value is an ongoing one. We will continuously assess and refine our initiatives to ensure they are aligned with our company values, goals, the evolving needs of our community and the ambitions of our customers and partners. We are continuing to invest in our boxxe Community to ensure we make meaningful progress. 

We value the time and dedication our teams give to social value, and we provide resources, guidance, and recognition to support their efforts in making a real and tangible difference. 

Our Community and Social Value Partner works with employees to source and set up impactful community initiatives to get involved with and to educate our teams on the activities available and how they positively impact others, whilst encouraging both individual and team participation. A proportion of our annual company bonus is connected to completing at least 3 of the 11.5 day annual allowance, and we celebrate a boxxe ‘Community Champion’ each year as additional recognition for commitment in this area. 

If any employee wishes to become involved with a new organisation, the Community & Social Value Partner works with that individual to assess the organisation and see if a partnership is possible and if so, how volunteering can be arranged. 

Leadership Commitment and Governance

The boxxe Executive Team is fully committed to this policy and the importance of having a strong social value impact; actively championing social value initiatives as part of our values and culture as a business, whilst also ensuring that resources and efforts are readily available and dedicated to creating a positive and meaningful impact.

This policy will be reviewed and updated annually, or more frequently as required. Our Community and Social Value Partner will support the Executive Team in ensuring that this policy and boxxe’s overall approach to social value is embedded within our culture, and that plans are developed and implemented to enable us to reach the aims set out in this policy.

Integration into Decision-making

Social value considerations are integrated into our business decisions, ensuring that our actions and choices reflect our commitment to the community, our customers, and stakeholders.

In embracing this social value policy, we affirm our dedication to the wellbeing of our community, making our mission of making life better with tech a reality, one meaningful action at a time.