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Bee Aspinal: People

People are a top priority for Aspinal and we believe they are the key to engraining a sustainable culture throughout the business and our wider networks. A better future begins by showing care and concern towards others, the environment and the community.

The Role of People in Our Sustainable Future

We are a family-run business with a strong heritage, yet a constant desire to be innovative and bring about positive change. We have been able to establish a spirit of unity and mutual support with all partners, both in house and within the wider community.

Our sense of responsibility towards others extends towards future generations and this attitude has become a model for how we look after the environment. We are committed to implementing ethical business practices and to passing on our vision for a more sustainable future.

What Are We Currently Doing?

As a growing company, we are agile and continually adapt to embracing everyone's individual characteristics and personality, enabling each member of our team an equal chance to reach their true potential. Our desire to build and develop people within our business has seen 95% of our managers promoted into their role, with retention rates of 4.7 years' service, on average across the business.

Aspinal has committed itself to achieve greater diversity across every level of our business, gaining a broader representation of different communities within our team and our partners. We recognise every business has a responsibility to work beyond their statistics ensuring that all employees, regardless of race, ethnicity or any other protected characteristic, have the opportunity to grow and develop to reach their true potential. This is the key goal for the business lead by our Diversity & Inclusivity committee.

As families should, we try our hardest to look after our people and partners during times of trouble. Whether supporting our team members through long term illnesses or fundraising for some of our suppliers in India who were badly affected by flooding due to natural disasters - we will always do all we can to help and protect those who are vulnerable or in need.

We take responsibility for employees at our manufacturing partners and other companies we work with across the globe, who all comply with regulations set by SEDEX, one of the world's leading ethical trade organisations.

Closer to home, we work with a number of universities to recruit and develop new emerging talent and collaborate with students to help grow their careers through work-based internships and careers advice. We also partner with schools in the area to help support local beehives, giving children a hands-on education about honeybees and other local wildlife.

Where We Aspire to Be In the Near Future

We are committed to setting the example for the other businesses in our industry and to becoming a business that is regarded as an 'employer of choice'. We will ensure that the family values ingrained in our culture continue to be at the forefront and that our colleagues, suppliers, customers, and local communities are part of our extended family.

In a post COVID world, we will look at how best to spend our apprenticeship and training fund - remaining a core employer within our local community in West Sussex as well as across the UK. We will look to recruit apprentices to support us on our sustainability journey. We aim to give those starting their career journey, or those who have been forced to retrain because of unforeseen circumstances, a new opportunity and chance.

For more information about the importance of our sustainability partnerships, explore our Bee Aspinal: Partnership page.