Adding Value has been accredited with the Good Business Charter since 2018 and has recently renewed its accreditation. Undertaking the accreditation process means that we reflect on our business practices and ensure that our actions are aligned with our values.
Adding Value is committed to being a socially responsible business, and can demonstrate this as follows:
- We are a Real Living Wage Employer. We believe that our staff deserve a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work and voluntarily pay above the statutory minimum so that no member of staff needs to worry about affording the basics.
- We support employee wellbeing through clear, fair and transparent company policies that support and encourage employee well-being and ban unreasonable penalties for legitimate sickness. We also have an Employee Assistance Programme in place, as well as Group Income Protection Insurance and Group Life Assurance policies that apply to all employees from their first day of employment with us. All staff are able to access flexible hours and have hybrid working arrangements tailored to their circumstances and role.
- We are committed to ensuring our workplace is an inclusive place to work and have measures in place to encourage diversity. We monitor the diversity of our workforce and at the end of our last year recorded that 56% of staff were female, 44% of staff were part time, and 16% of staff came from a non-white-British background. The ratio between the highest paid and lowest paid member of staff was less than 4:1
- We are an environmentally responsible business. With the support of LJMU’s eco-innovatory lab, we have identified our current carbon footprint, put in place carbon-reduction strategies, and annually offset what cannot be mitigated.
- We pay our taxes fairly and adhere to responsible tax management practices. We are committed to paying our taxes and not engaging in tax avoidance. Where we offer tax advice to clients, we promote these same principles. We believe that all corporations and individuals have to do their bit to make sure that the services we need and enjoy are paid for by all under a fair system. Businesses benefit from a workforce educated in schools and cared for by the health service as well as from well-maintained roads and many other parts of the state’s infrastructure that enable companies to do business. We define tax avoidance as a deliberate attempt to get out of an obligation to pay tax by entering into a set of artificial arrangements which have little or no commercial purpose other than the reduction of a tax bill. For the avoidance of doubt, this does not include the use of tax reliefs or allowances that governments make available to companies, as long as the relief is claimed in a way which aligns with government policy intention.
- We are committed to responsible pricing. We reject the practice of profiteering whereby firms make excessive profits out of people’s needs, especially in times of scarcity.
- We pay our suppliers promptly, paying all suppliers within 30 days as our standard practice. We recognise that paying promptly shows respect to our suppliers and allows them to manage their cash flow with more confidence.
