Eleven business directors from recruiting experts, Hays, dedicated a day to cleaning litter from Southend beach in a drive to support the local community alongside a national vision from Hays to better support sustainability.
Dressed in Hays hi vis jackets and equipped with litter pickers and bags, the group spent the day picking up litter from the seafront, collecting five bags of single-use plastic and four bags of general rubbish in total. The day was supported by Southend Beach Care Group, who work with local communities to maintain the beach.
The volunteering initiative comes after Hays recently signed a contract with Southend Borough Council to supply temporary and permanent workers to the council for the next three years. Hays will recruit for all vacancies with a particular focus on roles in social care, finance, technology, planning, maintenance and office staff to provide the best opportunities for local jobseekers.
The opportunity to volunteer for the day was facilitated by #HaysHelps, a new initiative launched by the recruiting experts which allows employees across Hays UK and Ireland to take one paid day of leave to volunteer for a charitable cause.
As part of its wider corporate social responsibility, Hays is aiming to eliminate single-use plastics across its 97 UK and Ireland offices by 2022.
Jane Donnelly, Managing Director for Hays East of England, who took part in the beach clean, said: “The volunteer day was a success on many levels; great team building, an opportunity to make a tangible difference to the community, supporting the hard work of Southend Beach Care and gaining better understanding of the rubbish which ends up on our beaches. It was shocking to see so many cotton buds and disposable wipes as well as plastic sweet wrappers and bottle tops.
Southend Borough Council has done a fantastic job of placing bins all along the sea front, so it’s astonishing to see the quantity of litter which still ends up on the beach. What was very inspiring however was the number of people, particularly primary school children, who came up to us throughout the day and offered to help – it was clear they instantly understood the value of what we were doing.”
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For more information contact:
Helen Flannery, PR Manager, Hays
T: +44 (0) 203 0400 282
M: +44 (0)75 5579 70401
E: [email protected]
About Hays
Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Asia Pacific and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 31 December 2018 the Group employed 11,700 staff operating from 262 offices in 33 markets across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2018:
– the Group reported net fees of £1.072 billion and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £243.4 million;
– the Group placed around 77,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 244,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 19% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 26% in Germany, 24% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 31% in Rest of World (RoW);
– the temporary placement business represented 58% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 42% of net fees;
– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA