More Fundraising for SSAFA!

Ethos Fundraising for SSAFA’s Birthday We take great pride in our corporate social responsibilities and do our utmost, as a business, to support our community in whatever way we can. Causes close to our team’s heart are important to us. That is why we will continue our passion for supporting our team and the wider community. As you may have already read, we have recently become corporate partners of SSAFA. This means that we will be conducting a range of fundraising activities in their name to raise money for our Armed Forces. SSAFA pride itself on being there for the members of our Armed Forces community by showing support in an array of different areas that could affect people in our Armed Forces. SSAFA help with supporting older veterans, mental well-being and disability support, to name a few. Find out more about SSAFA and what you can do to help by visiting them here. (https://www.ssafa.org.uk/) Recently we spoke about #TeamEthos and our aim to complete the Gildea 137 challenge in celebration of the charity’s 137th birthday. Read more here (https://ethos.co.uk/2022/09/supporting-ssafa). For our next fundraising activity #TeamEthos will compete in the Business Fives tournament on the 22nd September. Ethos has built a team and is ready to bring their A-game to the tournament. We are all wishing the team the best of luck! We have built a fundraising page; if you can, we would love your support! Support us here (https://ssafa.enthuse.com/pf/ethos-fc)

Our commitment to support SSAFA

Ethos Fundraising for SSAFA’s Birthday Here at Ethos, we pride ourselves on our commitment to supporting our Armed Forces. We recently achieved the Gold Employer award from the Armed Forces Covenant; read more about that here Growing from this and having the attitude that nothing is ever enough, Ethos has become a Corporate Partner of SSAFA. This means we will work on an array of nationwide fundraising activities in the name of the charity. Jessica Sanders, the Corporate Partnerships Officer at SSAFA, said: “I am delighted that Ethos Group has become a Corporate Partner of SSAFA. With support from Ethos, we can continue supporting the Royal Navy, Army, and Royal Air Force veterans and serving personnel, as well as their families, when they need us, how they need us, and where they need us.” To kick start our fundraising, we are pleased to announce that we will be completing the Gildea 137 Challenge. The challenge commemorates the anniversary of Sir James Gildea, founder of SAAFA, and the founding of the charity 137 years ago this year! The first member of our team to sign up for the challenge is Lisa Mawditt, Accreditations Manager at Ethos. Lisa comments “I will be walking, swimming and cycling 137km during the month of September with a target of £250 to raise towards our company total”. We wish Lisa and the rest of our team the best of luck with the challenge. If you want to support Lisa in her 137km challenge, please head over to her page. 

How agile is your organisation?

How agile is your organisation? To grow in today’s marketplace, you need to evolve. But how? By bolstering new products and solutions and staying ahead of the curve. Adopting new technologies allows your business to adapt quickly and seamlessly to change in an ever-growing industry. The benefits? Increased business efficiency, allowing you to achieve more with less! By automating workflows and using a cohesive Document Management Solution, your business will: Improve employee productivityAssist your employees with readily available tools, removing manual and repetitive operations. The gift of time is earned by eliminating time-consuming, legacy processes. Retain talentEmployee satisfaction provides a productive, positive environment. It allows your business to attract new talent, which complements your digital journey, freed from administrative tasks and is valuable for strategic development. Increased productivityIncreased revenue, reduced cost of production and processing documents, for example, Invoices, Case files, Contracts, and approval process automation. ComplianceReduction in errors, a complete audit trail, visibility at each stage, automated workflow for compliance, GDPR and Security. Customer satisfaction (internal customers included)Access to data, fully automated documents and contact, self-serve, e.g., POD, Contracts and Submissions for documents via a secure portal. IntegrationInformation, seamless data and document integration data across all systems across the business, as well as frontline engagement to management reports. Are you ready to evolve? Is your business open to change? We can help you to embrace digital transformation and empower your business to unlock the many benefits of an automated document management workflow, allowing your organisation to reach its fullest potential! Ethos  is working with clients like you to embrace the gift of time fully – contact us for your free document and workflow audit.

Ethos Supports the South Coast Challenge in aid of Thames Valley Air Ambulance.

Ethos Supports the South Coast Challenge in aid of Thames Valley Air Ambulance. The South Coast Challenge takes place on 3rd – 4th of September and will see 2000 participants walk, jog, or run the 100km route across the South Downs National Park. Keith Spicer of PEAC Finance, a lease funder of Ethos Group, will be taking on this momentous challenge in aid of Thames Valley Air Ambulance. Thames Valley Air Ambulance, established in 1999, provide emergency frontline, hospital-level care by land and air. As a fully independent charity, Thames Valley Air Ambulance do not receive any Government or National Lottery funding and relies solely on donations. With each helicopter mission costing Thames Valley Air Ambulance £3,900, donations from supporters are vitally important. To aid the charity’s mission to continue their rescue efforts, Ethos is pleased to announce their donation of £250 in support of Keith’s 100km challenge. Dan Reeve, Commercial and Relationships Manager, Ethos, comments, “Ethos have worked with Keith and PEAC for a number of years now.  When we saw what Keith was doing for such a great cause, we wanted to help out in any way we could.  Any donations would be welcome no matter how small as they all add up and it’s such a great cause. Good luck Keith, top man!!”   For more information or to pledge your support, please visit Keith’s Just Giving page.

Highest Badge of Honour

Ethos Group Awarded the Highest Badge of Honour, Gold ERS Award Following on from the signing of the Armed Forces Covenant, receiving the Bronze and Silver Level of the Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS), Ethos Group is delighted to announce that they have been awarded the most prestigious of all, the Gold ERS award. Being awarded Gold Level by the MoD for the Employer Recognition Scheme is a very proud moment for the Ethos Group as it recognises and demonstrates the highest level of support for the Armed Forces community. This year only 156 companies were awarded Gold, an illustration of just how prestigious this award is. Gold Award holders must evidence their ongoing support for the Forces and the wider Forces community within their business operations. The Gold Award criteria for businesses include: Demonstrating forces-friendly credentials as part of their recruiting and selection processes Providing at least 10 days’ additional leave for training, fully paid, to Reservist employees Armed Forces Covenant. Minister for Defence People Leo Docherty explains, ‘Regardless of size, location or sector, employing members of the Armed Forces community is good for businesses. These awards recognise the outstanding support for our Armed Forces from employers across the UK and I would like to thank and congratulate each and every one.’ Daniela Sahaj, Regional Employer Engagement Director, comments, ‘I wanted to further extend congratulations to Ethos Group Holdings on their GOLD ERS win. Not only have you committed to Ten days of leave for Reservists but also to Cadet Force Adult Volunteers. Your continued advocacy for Defence in encouraging partnering organisations to sign the AFC and embarking on their own ERS journey is a testament to your drive and commitment.  I and the GLRFCA very much look forward to further engaging with you and working collaboratively in support of Defence.’ Barry Matthews, CEO, Ethos Group, reflects, ‘Ethos Group are exceptionally proud to achieve this award.  As a business, we are humbled to be recognised for creating opportunities and providing support within our Armed Forces Communities- these people are very special, and supporting them is an absolute must for any business www.armedforcescovenant.gov.uk’. Find out how your business can sign the Armed Forces Covenant and pledge to support our Forces by clicking here.

Child Care Deposit Scheme

Child Care Deposit Scheme In 2014, Natalie Otton, Ethos HR Manager, experienced some personal changes, which left her at a career crossroads. Natalie comments ‘I knew I needed a change; either to find a new role or to develop a children’s product that I’d dreamt of when my youngest daughter was a baby. That’s when I came across Successful Mums on social media. I saw the name and it really resonated with me. I wanted my chance to be a successful mum too, but I didn’t know where to start. I completed a Successful Mums course and it gave me the boost to grab the bull by the horns and find a job in HR at Ethos.’ Successful Mums Career Academy is an award-winning training company for mums, offering fully funded back-to-work and business training online and flexibly to suit all schedules. This means if you meet the eligibility criteria, the courses are completely free. Since 2014, Jane, founder of Successful Mums and her team have helped over 6,000 mums regain their confidence. Natalie continues ‘As the world opened up, so did our opportunity to recruit, rebuild and embrace flexibility and diversity thanks to Successful Mums. Founder, Jane, reached out to me to tell me about the GLA Parenting Project and how it could support Ethos with its inclusivity agenda and become an employer of choice for mums looking to get back into the workplace.’ To read Natalie’s story or for more information on how your business can support working Mums through the  Successful Mums Career Academy, please click here.

Start your digital journey

Are you worried about starting your Digitisation journey? Digital transformation may seem like a journey into the unknown, but like any new journey, it’s stressful, time-sensitive and demanding – it’s a significant change. Adopting new technologies and processes is disruptive but positive! Since we established that the unknown and the uncertainty of digital transformation are at the centre of most fears, your best method to combat the anxiety in your organisation is to have clear communication channels with all members. Take them on the journey from the onset. Host knowledge share workshops and open discussions, allowing each person to share their fears and concerns; if you don’t understand what is involved in the frontline of your organisation and how this ripples throughout, how will you cater for these processes? These are the most labour-intensive and repetitive tasks – they are the ones which will be working with the new tools and digital processes. As you would when embarking on any journey, plan and map out the path, taking each step at a time. Start with one department or process, test, review and implement, then move on to the next. You don’t have to embark on this journey on your own; we at Ethos – Managed Document Solutions & Integration have introduced our document and workflow audit – the template to map your digital transformation journey. Don’t be afraid – contact us to support you!

The gift of time

The gift of time Organisations are under more stress than ever with managing a new working culture and setting up hybrid working procedures. All whilst retaining talent midst a shortage of skilled workers. With time-sensitive tasks to be completed, most being labour intensive and repetitive, the burden of administrative tasks quickly eats away at the productive time from the actual job at hand. How would you feel if your business had the ability to reclaim up to 60% of your time? We present the gift of time… Here at Ethos, we take a closer look at all the processes within your organisation which entail manual handling of documents. These will be paper and digital documents, including scanning, as this process of converting your paper documents to digital format does not remove the manual process or eliminate documents attached to an email that still require manual handling. Part of our role is to highlight to managers and leaders how our solutions increase productivity amongst colleagues and employees by eliminating the administrative burden by simply automating the repetitive tasks. Once your business understands the journey of documents, reviews the touchpoints and uncovers repetitive organisational tasks, your organisation will be able to focus on business development and growth. The gift of time is possible by exploring your own digital transformation journey, seeking automation and workflow management tools and understanding which cloud-based work tools are best for your business. With the advancement of technology and IA  – Intelligent automation, Time is released!! Let us support you on your journey of discovering the gift of time!! Ethos – Managed Document Solutions & Integration are pleased to be providing clients with knowledge share workshops. Contact us today by clicking here to book your free workshop.

One Love Soup Kitchen Donation

One Love Soup Kitchen Donation At Ethos, our Corporate Social responsibility is part of our DNA and is part of every business decision we make. We partner with Stone Group to ensure that we meet the compliance and objectives set for ISO27001, ISO14001 and ISO9001, whilst maintaining the confidence of our customers. Through our partnership, not only do we safely and securely recycle unused and end of life IT equipment, additionally we can receive a rebate for some of the items, which we donate to a charity that we feel would benefit. We are delighted to announce that our last rebate, was donated to The One Love Project Southend on Sea. The One Love Project is a fantastic charity that feeds homeless and vulnerable guests on Monday and Thursday evenings via their Soup Kitchen. The charity provides a hot meal, plus salad, cakes and snacks, as well as overnight packs which consist of sandwiches, fruit and water. Guests are also provided with clean clothing when available, toiletries and essential living items, as well as being able to use on-site shower facilities.  Additionally, the Project offers a food bank once a week where struggling individuals and families are able to stock up on cupboard essentials and are provided with meal bags to cook healthy, nutritious meals. Leah Darby, COO, of the charity comments “This money will go to our foodbank and soup kitchen services, whereby we can provide emergency food parcels to families who are facing food poverty as well as contributing to the hot meals we provide to our homeless guests.  Over the past 6-8 weeks, we have seen an increase in numbers to both services, tipping 80+ families per week throughout the foodbank and 95 – 110 guests through our soup kitchen service twice a week.  A donation of this kind enables The One Love Project to continue providing such a vital service to those most vulnerable within our local community”. For more information on the charity, please visit The One Love Project’s Facebook page. For more information on our sustainability efforts, please visit our website.  

Combat Stress – Ian Gorman

Combat Stress – Ian Gorman Ian Gorman, Field Service Engineer at Ethos completed a four-day collection for the Veterans Mental Health Charity, Combat Stress. Ian completed his challenge across the May bank holiday, camping out under the stars using his own personal military fieldcraft equipment. Being a keen biker, Ian set up his camping equipment at some popular sights including Rykers Bike Café, Newlands Corner, Whiteways Biker Café and Ceasefire Biker Café. Ceasefire Biker Café, owned by an Armed Forces Veteran, was one of the places over the course of his four-day expedition, where Ian met Ex Forces Personnel, some having served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. Combat Stress is the UK’s leading charity for veterans’ mental health. For over a century, they helped former servicemen and women with mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression. Today they provide specialist treatment and support for veterans from every service and conflict, focusing on those with complex mental health issues. We are absolutely delighted to announce that Ian’s efforts raised a total of £321.32 for the charity. With an additional donation from Ethos, we know the final fundraising monies, will go a long way to supporting Veterans struggling with their mental health. David comments ‘ I can’t say enough about Combat Stress and the people, I owe them a debt of gratitude, they bought me back from the brink – I’ve got my life back and have strategies now in place for coping, I don’t feel as if I’m the only one anymore.” On behalf of Ethos, we would like to thank Ian for all his hard work and unquestionable charitable efforts for Combat Stress and we look forward to supporting Ian in future challenges. For more information on the Veterans Mental Health Charity, please visit their website at https://combatstress.org.uk/.