A week in the life of… a head of corporate social responsibility

Tuesday

This morning I was interviewed as part of an audit to achieve our Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance accreditation. The accreditation involves training all employees to spot the signs of domestic abuse, so we can then help residents who might be victims of abuse or colleagues who may need support.

In the afternoon I attended a celebration event with the Construction Youth Trust. My team have worked closely with the trust and Fulham Boys School as part of its Building Brighter Futures programme. Our team provided guidance to students who were creating their own well-being area for students and teachers, alongside volunteers from across the business who provided insights into different career paths.

I also took the plunge and purchased the ball launcher.

Wednesday

Most of this morning was taken up with planning for a short corporate video that myself and a member of my team are involved with. We filmed in Basildon, where Luke, the social value contact for this area, had been extremely busy hosting mentoring and workshop sessions to help those who are currently unemployed.

The pandemic has had a massive impact on employment, and it is part of our role to help residents get back into the workplace.

It’s nice to see residents that we have coached in these sessions get the job they want, and it makes me incredibly proud of the team. There’s an immense satisfaction to hear when someone has been successful in a job application – it gives me a real sense of purpose.

Thursday

Today started with a call regarding our Kickstart scheme with my colleague in the North of the country. Donna took me through where we are, and I’m pleased to see that we already have five young people working with us on a placement. This is a great opportunity for young people, and I will be keen to see how they develop.

I then have a catch-up call with each member of my team. As we are a national organisation, they are all over the country.

The team works closely with the partnership directors and clients to ensure that our social value offer is engaging and responsive to residents’ needs. This may be creating digital inclusion activity in sheltered housing for our older residents, providing energy advice and awareness sessions to save residents money on their bills, or holding employability sessions.

We are working on a virtual community centre to support our geographically dispersed residents on a contract we have in the North. The pandemic highlighted to us that vulnerable residents who may not have a local neighbour or support network really suffered during this time, so we are introducing this as a way of ensuring our communities are connected.

Friday

I spent the morning undertaking mock interviews with students as part of our week-long virtual work experience programme.

The programme gives students the opportunity to work together with others on a few different areas, such as adapting a home for a resident who has additional needs following an accident and their return to home from hospital.

Students are given presentations from staff in the organisation, such as quantity surveyors and resident liaison officers, to give them a flavour of these roles.

The candidates I interviewed were all impressive, especially Deborah who is interested in a role in civil engineering. Deborah will be a great advocate for women in construction.

Rolo’s ball launcher came today, which is great news as hopefully that will relieve the constant ball-throwing activity. I tried it out and it looked like it’s going to be ideal, but Rolo didn’t seem sure!