Corporate Social Responsibility
As a Lawyer UK 200 law firm, placed at number 70, and the largest employer in our local area, we recognise how much of an impact our choices, practices and policies have on those around us and the environment. We want to ensure that our continued growth is positive for our local communities and customers while we do all we can to minimise our impact environment.
How Express Solicitors is helping the environment and local community
In addition to the charity work we do, we have created a Corporate Social Responsibility programme, which is comprised of three parts:
- Helping the environment
- Supporting our local community
- Providing free legal support
Helping the Environment
We recognise that helping the environment is an ongoing responsibility that requires constant self-evaluation.
Below are the ways in which we are helping to reduce our impact on the planet.
RBS Carbon Planner
Express Solicitors is proud to be among the first businesses to sign up to the RBS Carbon Planner – a tool which estimates a company’s carbon footprint and sets tangible targets to reduce emissions and inspire the workforce to be more environmentally conscious.
Minimising Travel
As a forward-thinking company, we embraced remote meetings early on by equipping all our conference rooms with the latest webcams and microphones, enabling our team to communicate with each other and third parties without costing the earth.
Work from Home Policy
We actively encourage our staff to work from home where possible by allowing them to work 50% of their days out of the office.
This policy has been well received and hope that other firms and companies will take this approach as the typical motorist creates around 4.6 tonnes of C02 per year, we hope to improve our collective carbon footprint by halving our team’s trips to the office.
IT equipment has been provided to all our staff, to ensure they can keep providing the highest standard of care to our clients no matter where they are.
Passion for Cycling
Express loves cycling! Not only do we sponsor local races (and take part ourselves), but we also encourage our teams to ride to work whenever possible.
Ride2Work
Since 2018 we offer staff a Ride2Work scheme to help with the cost of buying a new bicycle. The scheme also includes a £60 voucher to go towards accessories (such as pumps or repair kits) and one year’s free servicing as standard.
Cycle-Friendly Facilities
We do everything we can to make cycle commuting as convenient and pleasant for our team as possible. Our office facilities include showers and multiple secure bicycle storage areas, allowing our staff to ride to work without having to worry about the safety of their bicycle. We also keep a bicycle pump and emergency repair tools on hand in case anyone has a puncture!
Reduce, Re-use and Recycle
We are reducing our paper usage as much as we can and we have taken concrete steps to reduce our impact on the environment:
- We have reduced our printed promotional brochures with any leaflets created for accessibility reasons printed on recycled paper and being recyclable
- We encourage staff to print sparingly and to deposit any unwanted paper in recycling bins provided
- We provide canvas tote bags and re-usable water bottles to staff to discourage the use of single use plastics in our offices
- Send out regular newsletters to staff with guidance and advice on how to become more environmentally aware at work and at home
- Always looking for new ways to reduce our impact on the planet – becoming a greener company is something that needs to be continually re-evaluated!
Supporting Cycling Charities and Events
Our team regularly take part in the Tour de Manc and have raised thousands of pounds for St. Ann’s Hospice.
For the past two years we funded the jerseys for all those riding for the hospice, we’ve had an Express team of volunteers helping out at one of the refreshment stations and we’ve had a dedicated team of employees who have taken on the actual cycling challenge.
Everything we’ve raised will go to St Ann’s Hospice in aid of the #BuildItTogether campaign which has been set up to fund the building of a new state-of-the-art hospice in Manchester.
Supporting our community
In addition to our wider charity projects, Express Solicitors is very proud to support charities and groups which operate in the South Manchester area where we are based. Visit our charity page to find out more about the work we consistently do to help these invaluable organisations.
Providing free legal support
Our team has a track record of helping those who are in no position to pay for legal services by offering free advice and consultations to investigate their potential cases or claims rejected by other law firms. If it is a query outside of our field of expertise, we will always strive to signpost people to another organisation that can help.