Our responsibilities to our staff, stakeholders and society

At the Office for Students we believe in balancing organisational priorities against our social, environmental and economic responsibilities. This is why we aim to embed corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles into our activities.

What we do for the environment

We work hard to minimise any negative impact our business has on the environment. We do this in a number of ways:

• maintaining an international environmental management system standard (ISO 14001 certification)
• minimising carbon emissions from business travel by avoiding unnecessary travel, and travelling by public transport where practical
• promoting sustainable modes of transport for commuting to work
• implementing measures to reduce energy and water consumption
• reducing the amount of waste generated and disposed to landfill through a recycling programme.

What we do for our staff

We seek to provide a healthy and safe environment for our staff, and support their personal growth and professional development. We do this by:

• promoting diversity and equality of opportunity
• maintaining a recognised standard for occupational health and safety (British Standard 18001 certification and its successor standard ISO 45001)
• offering access to support and advice through employee assistance programmes and occupational health providers
• running a ‘cycle to work’ salary sacrifice scheme
• giving staff the chance to take up to three professional development days per year, in line with OfS objectives.

What we do for our local community

We support our local community through:

• a policy which allows staff to work flexibly to participate in approved voluntary work, including one day of paid leave when this work has a direct impact on an individual’s learning and development
• enabling our staff to support charitable organisations through payroll giving, voluntary fundraising activities, and time and opportunities to participate in charitable events.

What we do for wider society

We want to be an organisation that provides the highest levels of public service by embodying ethical standards. We want to achieve this by:

• behaving with honesty and integrity in all our activities and relationships with stakeholders and others
• supporting the principles of fair trade where possible, for example, by purchasing fair trade catering products.