Parcelforce make a delivery with a difference
Digging, building and painting rather than collecting, sorting and dispatching provided the schedule for West Midlands Parcelforce Worldwide employees who gave up their time to deliver with a difference to Sandwell and.
Employees from the company’s Birmingham depot and Coventry International and National hubs volunteered as part of Parcelforce Worldwide’s first National Community Team Challenge Day. Local activities included improving the children’s play area at St Francis Xavier School in Sandwell and building a summerhouse and gardening at Valley House in Coventry.
Organised through Business in the Community’s employee volunteering programme, Cares, the Team Challenge Day was set up to make it easier for colleagues to work together by getting involved in their local communities.
As the majority of Parcelforce Worldwide employees spend on average, ten hours every day on the road or are night workers, so opportunities to work as a team and get to know one another are limited.
The response to participate in the team challenge attracted volunteers from every part of the business. As well as drivers and sorters, Parcelforce Worldwide’s Board and colleagues from all business functions rose to the challenge.
Iain Groark, Parcelforce Worldwide’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility was delighted by the take up, exclaiming: “The enthusiasm from our people to support their local community has been inspiring. With one in five of our sites and over 250 of our colleagues giving up their weekend, we hope that long and valuable relationships will develop between our sites and the community groups they are working with.”
Each community team challenge was organised by a front line employee keen to develop their project management skills. They were given up to pounds 500 from the business towards the cost of materials and supported in developing a project plan, recruiting volunteers and undertaking a health and safety risk assessment.
