Corporate Social Responsibility Policy
Corporate Social Responsibility: the commitment by this business to behave ethically and to contribute to the economic development of the community while improving the quality of life of our workforce, their families as well as society at large.
We are committed to our CSR Policy:
Our approach to the practice of law is to ensure we deliver to our clients a service that is consistent with the highest professional and ethical standards. First class service and legal expertise are but two parts of the CSR policy jigsaw.
Through our CSR Policy we promote internally and externally:
- Charities;
- The Local community;
- Diversity;
- The Workplace; and
- Environmental initiatives.
We aim to turn these beliefs into action and to integrate our social and environmental concerns into our day to day operations and our dealings with our clients and the wider community.
Charity
Supporting a worthy cause has always been part of our philosophy. During 2015 Piers Leigh-Pollitt a partner in our Reading office has, with the full support of the firm, been raising funds for DEBRA.
DEBRA is the national charity that supports individuals and families affected by Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).
For more information about the charity visit www.debra.org.uk
Local Community
Lawyers and support staff often suggest to the partners organisations in their local area that they feel are worthy of support. For a number of years Doyle Clayton sponsored Thurrock Rugby Union Football Club’s ladies 1st XV, the “ T Birds”. Until recently one of our employees even played for the T Birds!
In 2013 and 2014 we sponsored the Action For Kids beach volleyball tournament which took place at Canary Wharf. In addition to sponsoring the event we entered a team, a great day was had by all!
Diversity
We are keen to promote and practice equal opportunities within our workplace. Diversity is an essential part of our CSR policy.
We recruit, develop and promote on merit, and operate an open, inclusive and supportive working environment. We do not deny that we expect a lot from our people and in return encourage them to demand a lot from us; this is a key factor in managing and developing talent.
As a Firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) we are obliged to collect and report on our workforce diversity data annually. A survey of all Doyle Clayton staff, of which there were 52 at the time of the survey, was carried out in May 2017 and the data summarised.
If you wish to view a copy of our summarised diversity data, please contact Karen Williams on T: 020 7329 9090 / E: kwilliams@doyleclayton.co.uk. Our next diversity survey of staff will take place in early 2018.
The workplace
Work-life balance
At Doyle Clayton we want our staff to have fulfilling and happy lives outside of the workplace by not imposing unreasonable work demands.
Mutual trust and respect
Mutual trust and respect is a key facet of the way we work and of employment law. We recognise the importance of maintaining mutual trust and confidence and respect and that a failure to do so creates tensions at work which demotivates staff and makes the business less effective.
We believe it is important to value colleagues and their different perspectives. We recognise that employees at all levels in our organisation have something to contribute to our business and in our team colleagues are encouraged to and do express their opinions and share their views.
Innovation and learning
We believe Continuing Professional Development is one of the main building blocks of a solicitor’s career progression. Innovative thinking when it comes to learning means we deliver CPD that helps our solicitors grow in confidence, not only to take personal responsibility for the advice they give and to take ownership of the cases they are dealing with, but also to embrace the challenge of business development.
In-house legal training is provided by our Professional Support Lawyer and our other lawyers. In addition, we often engage the services of the best employment law QCs and barristers in London to deliver lectures on specific areas of interest. Our system of supervision also encourages learning and development.
We have adopted a proactive approach to teaching solicitors how best to go pursue business development opportunities, with in-house training and external mentoring just two of the initiatives we have introduced.
Environmental Issues
We believe that it is our responsibility to protect the environment.
In 2012 we began the move towards a paperless office. Since then our consumption of office paper has reduced by 20% and we aim to reduce this further in 2016.
In 2016, we shall be exploring such schemes as Cycle to Work and offsetting as ways of reducing our carbon footprint.
We aim to:
- Improve our environmental performance and integrate recognised environmental management best practice into our business operations;
- Reduce our consumption of resources and improve the efficient use of those resources;
- Reduce waste generated by our business operations;
- Re-use and recycle;
- Set and monitor key objectives and targets for managing our environmental performance at least annually with a view to continuous improvement;
- Communicate our environmental policy and performance internally and externally, and encourage feedback;
- Discuss the importance of environmental and climate change issues with our staff and clients;
- Work with our staff, stakeholders and suppliers to promote improved environmental performance and initiatives; and
- Review our environmental policy regularly.
