INTRODUCTION

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to the way in which businesses regulate themselves in order to ensure that all their activities positively affect society as a whole, to show that the company works ethically, considering human rights as well as the social, economic and environmental impacts of what they do as a business.

Companies committed to CSR should meet and aim to exceed any relevant legislation, and if legislation does not exist in a particular area, to ensure they carry out best practice anyway.

POLICY

IRS are committed to ensuring that any business undertakings are conducted ethically and consistent with this Policy.

We believe it benefits us as much as our employees, clients, suppliers and the wider community to respect their rights and interests as far as possible. We take our responsibility toward the local community and society seriously particularly where we have significant impact or influence. In particular, in the running of our business we follow all laws and best practice, or other high standards we determine appropriate to meet or exceed those laws. We also attain accreditation and/or membership of appropriate recognised professional bodies to guide and determine the high standards we work to within our company and business activities.

CSR in Our Business Operations

We communicate our policies and objectives openly and honestly to our employees, and others as appropriate, and we welcome feedback to allow for further improvements. Everyone at IRS works with colleagues, clients, suppliers and all other parties in a trusting, respectful and professional way, and in turn expects mutual trust and respect.

We conduct our business with integrity and transparency within commercial limitations. We have an anti-bribery and corruption policy that confirms we will not offer, give, seek or receive any inducements or improper advantages for either business or financial gain and our employees are contractually bound to observe the same principles.

As part of our commitment to combating modern slavery and human trafficking, we have implemented a policy and our Modern Slavery Statement which can be found on our website. We also make our suppliers aware of our policy, which requires them to have their own policy in place in this regard.

CSR and Our Employees

We are a responsible employer, that not only respects the rights of our employees, but aims to have a happy workforce by providing our staff with a satisfying job role in a successful business. We encourage our staff to thrive and develop, both professionally and personally. We are keen to see our employees develop within our business and aim to promote from within where possible.

When selecting for recruitment or promotion we do so with equality at the forefront and in consideration of the interests of the individual person, including their welfare and health and safety.

In terms of the work environment, we aim to provide our employees with the right tools to do their job and to succeed, and to give them a safe, professional place of work to do their job.

CSR and Our Suppliers & Clients

We build relationships with our suppliers and clients based on integrity, where all parties are courteous and professional. In all our relationships our staff will ensure the highest possible standard of conduct, and at all times the data we hold is protected and kept secure, in line with our comprehensive data protection policies.

Where possible we will use local suppliers in the running of our business and will always seek to make payment to our suppliers in a timely manner.

Our aim is for our client relationships to be long-lasting and to facilitate that we are committed to providing them with a service that meets, if not exceeds, their expectations. We regularly ask our clients to take part in a Customer Satisfaction survey to assist us in identifying any areas that require our attention, as well as those we need to celebrate.

CSR and the Environment

We take all reasonable steps to manage our business so as to minimise the impact on our environment and to utilise such programmes, schemes or other opportunities to ensure good environmental practice. This includes setting and following high standards of energy efficiency and safety, utilising green energy as far as possible, as well as reducing wastage, minimising water usage and recycling where facilities allow.

We are committed to continuing to reduce any impact we have on our environment, by monitoring the measures we currently undertake and endeavouring to keeping informed of any good environmental practices.  This includes keeping a check on our carbon footprint.

CSR and our Community

We aim to build relationships within our community so that we can understand the impact we have on it and to make informed decisions on how best we can offer support to benefit others who live and work around us. We are members of local community groups and we regularly contribute or take part in local events that promote businesses and facilities in our region.

We are proud to support our chosen charity: Children with Cancer. We have supported this charity over several years in their mission to improve survival rates across all types of childhood cancer and to support children and their families to live better with and after treatment.

We also support Crisis and some other local charities and community groups, such as music events organised by the Beccles Community Arts Group.

Next Review Date

This policy was last reviewed and agreed in January 2021.

This policy will be reviewed every 12 months, or earlier if an amendment is deemed necessary.