CSR at Bedford

Corporate Social Responsibility

A genuine commitment rooted in our history

At Bedford, we recognise the profound impact businesses can have on society and the environment, and that we as a business do not operate in a vacuum. We are committed to embracing our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as an integral part of our identity and operations.

Our dedication to CSR is rooted in our history and our deeply held core values, resulting in a close-knit team that takes pride in ourselves and our togetherness, teamwork, and relationships, not least of which with our partners in Anaplan. We call this our One Bedford approach, and it is at the centre of everything we do.

Bedford Consulting Team Away Day 2023

Those core team values stem from our founders’ deep involvement from an early age in Naomh Mearnog GAA, a local community-level sporting association in Portmarnock, County Dublin, and home of one of Ireland’s most vibrant and thriving Gaelic games clubs. The GAA and Naomh Mearnog play a critical role in fostering a sense of purpose, focus and possibility within young people in the community, instilling dimensions like character, work ethic, teamwork, and a dedication to fulfilling commitments. And like any community, you only get out of it what you put into it.

Living our corporate and social responsibility

Our mission is to enable businesses to connect their planning processes and accelerate performance. We acknowledge our ongoing dedication to corporate and social responsibility, consistently contributing to societal initiatives. As we embark on this journey, we are dedicated to enhancing our knowledge, engagement, and structuring our approach as we progress.

We have identified four main Pillars aligned to our One Bedford approach, and our mission to connect and accelerate performance, and think of our overall CSR journey under the theme of ‘Connecting Beyond.’

Vision, governance and ethics

‘Connecting to our ethos’

Human resources

‘Connecting to our people’

Societal relations

‘Connecting to our communities’

Environment and value chain

‘Connecting to our planet’

Our CSR pillars

Connecting to our ethos

We are dedicated to fostering a governance structure that reflects diversity and independence, recognising the importance of balance in decision-making processes. Upholding strong business ethics is at the core of our culture, and we actively engage in awareness programs, audits, and action plans to ensure our commitment to ethical conduct. Focusing on training initiatives in areas such as data protection, cybersecurity and business ethics further enhances this foundation.

Our achievements so far:

  • Adopting our CSR Strategy.

  • Conducting monthly CSR Committee meetings to track progress on actions and initiatives.

  • Agreeing KPI metrics for internal communication.

  • Executing regular internal communication initiatives, reporting and updating on CSR in All-hands meetings on a quarterly basis.

We are committed to:

  • Addressing significant items identified in ongoing data protection and cybersecurity audits.

  • Continuing to execute regular communication initiatives reporting on CSR quarterly.

  • Ensure employee participation in ongoing cybersecurity training during FY25.

Connecting to our people

Our people are our greatest strength. We place great emphasis on talent attraction and retention, and our efforts include competitive compensation, support for personal development, transparent career paths, and nurturing work environments. We systematically approach diversity and inclusion, setting measurable goals that extend beyond gender representation. Establishing employee resource groups further reinforces our dedication to fostering an inclusive workplace.

Our achievements so far:

  • Engaging a majority of our employees in training and development programmes throughout the year.

  • Our ‘Most Loved Place to Work’ survey has contributed to us ranking #92 in Newsweek’s Global Most Loved Place to Work 2023. This achievement reflects our commitment to fostering a workplace culture that prioritises employee wellbeing, growth and satisfaction.

  • As part of our ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, we celebrate and support various cultural and awareness months. Whether it’s arranging Lunch & Learns or engaging with employees through internal initiatives, we aim to enhance understanding, encourage dialogue, and foster a workplace community that values and respects the unique experiences and backgrounds of every individual.

We are committed to:

  • Rolling out and/or harmonising family-friendly policies across all our countries.

  • Maintaining a high talent retention rate in respect of our sector each year.

  • Establishing new employee resource groups.

  • Ensure the percentage of females in leadership roles and governance forums is at or above the total female employee ratio.

  • Launching a Women’s Network Group.

Connecting to our communities

We strive to create a workplace culture where team members are encouraged to actively contribute to creating a positive impact on society and their communities. Team members can engage through volunteering to support local communities and causes, contribute innovative ideas for new CSR projects, use their expertise and skills to get involved and contribute to specific initiatives. Involving and empowering our team not only provides valuable opportunities for their personal and professional growth but enables us to create a collective force to drive positive change.

We adopt a structured approach which involves defining our commitment areas, criteria, budget allocations, and committed hours. We aim to make a difference through donations, sponsorship & fundraising. While we will continue to support causes which are close to all our hearts on their merits through donations, sponsorship, or fundraising, where possible we aim to target our core commitments to initiatives aligned to the following theme:

Changing the lives of young people:

  • Providing support, care, relief and/or treatment to young people.
  • Providing safe and habitable environments for young people.
  • Improving education and personal development for young people.
  • Fostering a sense of purpose, focus and possibility within young people.

Our achievements so far:

  • One Bedford Challenge – 3000km team challenge for three chosen charities in 2022 and 7000km for the Matt Hampson Foundation in 2023.

  • Naomh Mearnog sponsorship – our founders grew up in this community and experienced first-hand the traditions and spirit of the GAA at Naomh Mearnog which has helped to shape a lot of the values we have tried to apply here at Bedford, over many years. The GAA and Naomh Mearnog play a critical role in fostering a sense of purpose, focus and possibility within young people in the community, instilling dimensions like character, work ethic, teamwork, and a dedication to fulfilling commitments.

  • Laptop initiative – we are sending old laptops and bags to be provided to schools via Every Child Online

  • We have Slack heroes who can donate to a chosen charity.

  • Our Ukraine Appeal in 2022 raised over £20,000.

  • We donated £10,000 to the Disasters Emergency Committee to support people affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in 2023.

  • Several local initiatives, including team members who planted bulbs down pathways outside London, and Wonderful Post – designing Christmas cards for the elderly who are alone during the festive period across the world as well as supporting Christmas jumper day.

We are committed to:

  • Successfully executing five planned charitable and community initiatives per year.

  • Maintaining annual charitable contributions to support impactful non-profit organisations in our communities, in line with our resources.
  • Refurbishing and donating unused company IT equipment to charities supporting young people.

Connecting to our planet

As Bedford has experienced rapid growth, we acknowledge the need to appropriately consider our increasing environmental impact. We are actively working towards expanding our environmental commitments to achieve this; including working with our supplier network to reiterate our environmental and ethical expectations to ensure sustainable business practices and measuring and improving our overall carbon footprint.

Being mindful towards our environment, we sow the seeds towards not only a more sustainable business but also a more hopeful future.

Our achievements so far:

  • Identifying a third-party provider to undertake our first GHG measurement.

  • Establishing a clear process of refurbishing and donating unused IT equipment to charity.

We are committed to:

  • Undertaking our first GHG measurement.

  • Engaging our employees in utilising a GHG platform to increase awareness of their carbon footprints.

  • Setting appropriate targets for reducing our company GHG/carbon emissions over the coming years.

  • Expanding environmental policy to include further targets and reduction initiatives.

  • Establishing a Bedford Supplier Sustainability Code of Conduct.

Bedford is a company with a strong social responsibility commitment

We are committed to creating a positive impact on society and the environment. We have made significant progress in our CSR journey, but we know that there is always more to do. We are committed to continuous improvement and to making a lasting difference in the world.

We encourage you to learn more about our CSR initiatives and to get involved in our efforts to make a positive impact. You can email our CSR committee to find out more at csr@bedfordconsulting.com.