Semple Fraser is committed to making a real difference through our approach to Corporate Social Responsibility. We aim to be a socially and environmentally responsible business and positively engage in the communities in which we work and live.
Our ethical approach comes from the top down and all our staff are encouraged to become involved in charity and community activity. Some of the activities Semple Fraser is currently involved in include:
Paired Reading
Semple Fraser takes part in the Paired Reading Partners programme, developed by Learning and Teaching Scotland, which helps schools in Glasgow and Edinburgh boost child literacy levels. Six of the firm’s trainees currently take part in the programme reading to pupils at St Patricks Primary in Glasgow and Abbeyhill Primary in Edinburgh. The initiative has been hugely successful and has benefited both the children from the schools involved and our trainees in their own personal development.
Charity
We have a corporate charity, which we review every 3 years. This year we are supporting SOS Children’s Villages, the world’s largest orphan and abandoned children’s charity. All our staff actively participate in the scheme on a monthly basis through various events organised by the firm such as sponsored themed lunches, ‘dress down days’, auctions, team events and charity walks.
Glasgow Living Wage
Semple Fraser has signed up to Glasgow Living Wage, a scheme which guarantees that employers will pay their workforce at least £7 per hour. The initiative was launched in March 2009 by Councillor Steven Purcell, Leader of Glasgow City Council. Its aim is to tackle in-work poverty and support those who struggle to survive carrying out low paid work.
Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust
Semple Fraser is working with the Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) to provide a free advice helpline.
PSYBT is a charity that helps young people, aged eighteen to twenty five years old, start up and continue in business, whoever they are and wherever they come from. In addition to financial support, PSYBT has a network of volunteers with extensive business skills and experience who offer support with funding panels and mentoring.
The PSYBT Semple Fraser Helpline service is for business advisers and mentors to businesses which are in the "aftercare" (i.e. 2 years following set-up) programme of the Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust.
Pilotlight
We are also involved with the Pilotlight organisation, a charity that addresses the needs of small and ambitious charities working to alleviate disadvantage, to help a greater number of people, more effectively. Pilotlight do this by setting up project teams of professionals from a range of sponsoring organisations, to help identified charities develop and build sustainability. This allows these charities in turn to help more local people more quickly and for longer.
Semple Fraser Partners are part of these project teams and we are currently assisting the Theatre Nemo charity, a campaigning theatre company and charity that gives a voice to social issues, especially mental health, through the performing arts.