Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.
We have become the first company in the utility sector to receive accreditation from Fertility Matters at Work as a Fertility Friendly organisation. We have introduced a policy that provides paid time off for employees who are undergoing fertility treatment or attending their partner's fertility appointments. Fertility Matters at Work aims to encourage companies to become Fertility Friendly employers, and we are the first of the 100 UK companies they want to commit to this mission. The initiative was led by Kelly-Anne Morris, Regulatory Specialist and Fertility Lead at Cadent, and Liz Brand, Assurance Manager, who both had experiences with infertility. Cadent has also created guidance documents and e-learning for line managers and staff, preparing to assign staff as "fertility champions" throughout the business. You can read more about it here...
Helping young people to tackle fuel poverty We’re working with MyBnk, a financial education charity, to empower young people to make more sustainable and cost-effective choices when it comes to energy. Research from financial tech company GoHenry shows 71% of children and teenagers worry about the rising cost of living, so we’re keen to help young people build skills, knowledge, and confidence around these topics from an early age and this is why we, along with Northern Gas Networks, SGN and Wales & West Utilities, have worked with MyBnk to develop a ‘Fuel Finance’ programme for 9-to-11-year-olds. It adds an additional session to MyBnk’s flagship ‘Money Twist’ financial education programme for schools and helps students consider the impact of energy consumption on both the environment and their cost of living. Students develop an understanding of real-world issues and practical steps they can take to help reduce fuel poverty. You can read more on this here...
How we’re using old PPE to help heat homes: introducing an exciting new pilot from our North West Network A new project has launched in our North West Network to stop old PPE from going to landfills, and potentially use it to help keep people warm in their homes. Hard hats, overalls, glasses, gloves, boots and more – you name it, almost everything can go into the new blue bins, which are at five NW depots. We’ve asked our PPE supplier, PWS, to help us ‘do the right thing’ and look for innovative ways to reuse this abundant redundant kit. So, working with recycling specialist ShredStation, we’re now encouraging all North West employees – Cadent employees, our contractors and sub-contractors – to dispose of their old PPE in these new blue bins. The intent is to turn it into material that can insulate homes, as well as provide feedstock pellets for power generation plants. You can read more about this project here.
Cadent Foundation and Groundwork winter warmer packs campaign now in its third year. This year the Cadent Foundation has committed to distributing 5,000 Winter Warmer Packs to help households tackle the cold this winter. Working with Groundwork Green Doctors, the winter warmer pack campaign, now in its third year sees the largest ever number of bags donated to help households in need tackle the winter, with 5,000 packs being given out between now and March 2023. People living in vulnerable situations across the UK are being given extra support to stay warm and well during the winter months thanks to funding from the Cadent Foundation and community action charity, Groundwork. 5,000 winter warmer packs have been produced as part of a three-year strategic partnership between the Cadent Foundation and Groundwork. Each pack contains a range of items to help people keep warm this winter such as thermal socks, thermal gloves, a hat, a scarf, a temperature card, a hot water bottle and a blanket. You can read more about it here.
Drama at the double: this Liverpool emergency worker, in separate incidents, just 48 hours apart, saved two people from a ‘silent killer’ in their homes. An emergency gas engineer pulled two people from separate houses within 48 hours, as deadly carbon monoxide almost killed them. During Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week, Dan Howard (pictured below) shared details of the dramatic events that led to him carrying the two seriously ill individuals from their homes in Merseyside late last year, just two days apart. His hope is that sharing this story and educating people about the dangers of carbon monoxide may save lives or serious illnesses. “I couldn’t believe it – less than 48 hours from carrying a fella over my shoulder, down the stairs, to get him outside, I was at another incident where I had to do almost the same thing,” said 30-year-old Dan. You can read more about each of the events here.
Hat-trick! We scored three wins in the Street Works UK Awards We’re over the moon to have won not one, not two, but THREE categories in the Street Works UK Awards 2022. Congratulations to everyone, our winners and those shortlisted. Our Winners - Mottram Moor Gas Reinforcement (North West) - Rising Star - Prenesh Sagarkumar (North London) - Best Collaborative Works - Hendon Wood Lane (North London) Other Shortlisted Entries - Communication and Community Engagement - Woodhouse Community Gardens (East Midlands) - Project of the Year - Victoria Embankment Maintenance Works (North London) - Rising Star - Ben Briggs (East of England) You can read more here about the projects and stories involved.
Whether at home, at work, in the media or in parliament, menopause and the impact it has on women is increasingly being discussed. For World Menopause Day, and beyond, we are proud to be continuing that conversation and showcasing the support for women in cadent. Cadent is proud to have worked with the British Menopause Society and ITN Business to produce a news-style programme ‘Menopause: Continuing the Conversation’, to raise awareness of the menopause. The Women in Cadent Menopause Support group has been working hard to create change to support women to be as effective in the workplace and their personal life as possible. The news-style programme highlights the important changes in policies and procedures, people manager training and guidance, and changes to the personal protective equipment and clothing and much more available to women working at Cadent. Women in Cadent’s Menopause sub-group lead, Lucy Stuart has been the driving force behind these changes, herself a national finalist in the Friendly Employer 2022 awards for her work. Read more about it here...
This is the story of how a team from our Cadent family helped a community allotment project achieve in less than three days what it had only dreamed to achieve over the next two years. Woodhouse Community Garden Project, part of Woodhouse and District Community Forum, is a space for people to sow, grow and harvest crops, promoting healthy lifestyles and positive wellbeing, and learning new skills. An absolute hive of activity, it is used by people from lots of different backgrounds, including Scouts, people with disabilities, and young offenders. Activities take place throughout the week. Volunteer-led, the project in Sheffield occupies a large section of an allotment site – which includes 20 planting beds, a wildlife area, fruit trees, a 15ft by 40ft polytunnel and many, many more facilities. It had aims, over the next couple of years, to make the site more accessible. The existing footpath stopped halfway through the plot, for example, and areas were overgrown. Too much work for the volunteers alone. This is where Cadent and our extended family came in. Read more here...
With Pride Month set to end today, Reuben Clarke, Co-Chair of the Pride at Work Community at Cadent, shares why the month–long celebration is so important. “Why do we need Pride Month? Why should corporations support the LGBTQ+ Community when all they see to do is commercialise them?” These were the thoughts that I had when joining the Cadent LGBTQ+ representation group, Pride at Work, two years ago. I felt that the LGBTQ+ questions had mostly been debated and answered, that Diversity and Inclusion groups were just there to tick a box. A lot has changed in two years...
All week we have been celebrating International Women in Engineering Day (23 June) #IWED22 Meet Oliwia Knowles: rising high at Cadent and supporting women in engineering Oliwia Knowles is rising high in engineering (literally). Less than 15 years ago she was a single mum, without a job, without any money, and unable to speak English. Oliwia is originally from Poland and came to England in 2007. She had endured a difficult relationship, one that ended with her alone here in the North West, with a young child and often wondering how she’d be able to put food on the table. She gained qualifications and volunteered in schools, worked as a teaching assistant, a cleaner, an interpreter and then as an outreach worker supporting women affected by domestic violence. Determined, resilient, and simply incredible. But she had a long-standing wish for a career in engineering. “I like anything practical, having obstacles and then finding ways to overcome them.” When she was 33, she applied for Cadent’s Engineering Training Programme and we're so glad she did. Read her incredible story here....
