Corporate Social Responsibility 2021

A Word From Our Group MD

“Our business focus is safer, greener, more efficient journeys. The average road user will almost certainly overlook everything we do as a business but there are very real, very valuable societal and environmental benefits in our core offerings. As anyone who works for the business will know, if you speak to friends or family about motorways, car parks, traffic lights or bus lanes there is nearly always a business context you can bore them to death with. This means they all have interactions with what we do somewhere in their lives which is a unique opportunity.

With the issues brought on by Coronavirus and the on-going international climate emergency, our impacts on our society and the environment have now come to the forefront – both at The Traffic Group, but also in all our personal lives. We’re in a strong position to affect change where our specialist technology covers a wide range of traffic management solutions which gives us an opportunity to make a magnified difference compared with some sectors. We are now looking at CSR as more than just an add-on to our current operations but an integrated part of our everyday routines and practices.

On the environmental side, there is a perception from some people that COP26 happened to everyone else.

We need to start moving in a motivated way, both in the business and at home, to make the changes we all need to make to make a better future.

Every product from The Traffic Group is designed and made in the UK with most parts locally sourced, we promote use of solar power and electric vehicle charging facilities, and we try not to use 100% virgin material in anything we manufacture. These are some of the easy things to identify and work on. As our policy and activities move forward, some of the issues we need to address and resolve will become more complicated and difficult but I trust, as individuals and collectively, we all embrace the challenge. Ultimately, we all benefit.”

Peter Hutchinson – Managing Director

Sustainable Development Goals

The UN Global Compact has outlined detailed indicators in the form of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to help structure responsible business efforts.

Although we inherently contribute to a wide range of SDGs, we have chosen to consciously focus our efforts on eight. These are evenly spread across Biosphere, Society and Economy Goals to ensure diversity within our CSR strategy. The table below explains in more detail the logic behind our choices.

SDGs and Our Chosen Aims

As CSR is such a broad field, we have developed 5 encompassing Aims to categorise our activities. SDGs have also been chosen as focus areas within these categories to ensure we make a meaningful and varied contribution. Example CSR activities have been added to the below matrix to demonstrate what this will look like:

Decarbonisation

We will be using the Green House Gas Protocol’s methodology for GHG accounting to communicate our decarbonisation efforts.

Emission figures will use the unit CO2e to encompass equivalent GHGs, and calculated using the UK Government Conversion Factors¹.

Water Consumption

Our current water consumption is minimal and owing to general facilities and kitchen use, as well as cleaning of company property. In 2021, AGD saw a one-off increase in water consumption from the planting of new hedges and greenery.

Despite unfortunately not being able to get figures for all our sites’ water consumption in 2021 for, we look to report on all sites in 2022.

Community Responsibility

TTG have a history of donating to charitable causes in many ways, shapes and forms, but unfortunately much of this has gone undocumented.

• In the past 5 years, we have donated:
• All old IT equipment to IT Schools Africa,Wiltshire Digital Drive
• Our most recent donation in 2021 filled the company van
• £1000 sponsorship of local youth rugby team
• £800 funding for local choir
• Old solar panels to a local Birmingham school for their science department
• £1529 Investment on a defibrillator in external cabinet for community use
• Old demo equipment to a disabled children’s play area
• £215 in 2021 through an employee-led charity book shop
• £2000 donation split between two local hospices

Charitable Schemes

• Our employees operate several different charitable schemes, including a charity bookshop, and a charity sweet shop:
  • The sweet shop donations are in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust and Mencap, and £165 has been raised since March 2020.
  • Unfortunately, although the bookshop has been raising money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital for over 5 years, we only have a figure available for 2020.

Skill Development & Knowledge Sharing

Over the years placements have been offered to University students, during their GAP year, to primarily work in Research & Development or other areas of the business dependent on their studies. Many students have graduated then returned to the business in full-time employment to gain further experience and to put their knowledge into practice.

TGS welcomed a University placement student from Aston University in 2021, who took on responsibilities in operations, project management, and marketing. By bringing their university learning to the placement project, they encouraged employees to think differently and adapt to a more digital way of working, whilst deepening their understanding of business culture. After completing the placement year, the student continued to work full-time through a flexible working arrangement that will assist in their professional development, whilst allowing them to balance university commitments and a personal life.

The Traffic Group are a member of Greener Highways. This will offer opportunities to collaborate with the highways sector with the aim of helping education and implementation of sustainable initiatives, products, services and operations.

Empowering Employees

The Traffic Group is committed to an ethical, inclusive and diverse working environment that respects our employee’s human rights and freedom. Naturally, employees’ safety and wellbeing is paramount and we hope to ensure that we can address any issues swiftly and effectively. All employees are given the opportunity to work flexibly, and this is done on a case-by-case basis to ensure the best outcome for both parties.

As a group, we are in the final stages of promoting all employees’ pay from the UK Government’s National Living Wage to the Living Wage foundation’s ‘Real Living Wage’. We plan to receive official certification by the end of 2022.

We are keen to support our employees’ financial well-being. Historically we have provided financial advice sessions to employees which we look to continue offering in a more structured manner.

Training and career progression opportunities are taken seriously as a group.

• We look to further develop individuals as and when this is requested, as well as when opportunities arise within the group before looking to recruit externally. Additionally, we approach employees to offer further training and education for their job roles to allow for career path progression when opportunities arise.
  Continuing Professional Development activities are available to all employees, where training, support, and memberships of an associated professional body are provided to help our employees become more competent and effective professionals

Empowering employees and assisting any CSR activities undertaken in personal time is a priority for management regarding CSR. Flexible working arrangements, matched donations and sponsorships have been granted in the past upon request.