| Social Responsibility |
| Past and Future Generations of |
The provision of education for members and workers is one of the pillars of the Rochdale Pioneers Principles of Co-operation. In support of this tradition, The Co-operative Bank seeks to involve itself in a wide range of social, cultural and educational activities. In the previous section we outlined that our support for work outside the Bank which advanced 'Co-operative Causes' amounted to 14% of charitable giving. In addition, within the Bank itself, we have dedicated a significant amount of resources to ensuring that staff appreciate Co-operative Heritage, Culture and Values. Below we describe the scale of activities organised to date and the response of staff as determined in the recent Staff Survey.
2) Heritage, Culture and Values in the workplace
In 1995, the Bank developed a training course on Co-operative Heritage, Culture and Values. The course is aimed at improving the level of knowledge and understanding of the origins and principles of the Co-operative Movement, and goes on to explore the natural link between co-operation and ethical business. Over the period 1995-1997 all staff should have attended the course, and new members are introduced to it through their induction training programme.
[ Existing commitment ]
Through the Mission Statement the Bank aims to "act as a caring and responsible employer encouraging the development and training of all our staff and encouraging commitment and pride in each other and the Group".
[ Performance ]
In our 1997 Staff Survey, the vast majority of staff (86%) said they believe that the Bank performs well in terms of 'being co-operative', and 13% ofstaff said this was the main reason they worked at The Co-operative Bank. However, 2% of staff said that the 'co-operative values' prevalent in the organisation rated as amongst the three worst things about working for the Bank.
[ Comment ]
There is a good deal of support amongst staff at the Bank for its co-operative values, with 1 in 6 stating that it is the principal reason for working for the Bank. This high level of support is partially related to the time and effort that has been spent explaining Co-operative Heritage, Culture and Values. This is borne out by the Staff Survey which found that two thirds of employees considered the culture training received to be very or quite good.
[ Future objective ]
The Bank will continue to stress the importance of its Heritage, Culture & Values to ongoing business success.
JANET FROST Human Resources Manager
SARA MACKIAN Partnership Audit Officer
| The Co-operative Bank began more than 100 and twenty five years ago as the Loan and deposit Department of the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS). | |
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| A Look at what the Co-operative Bank is doing to advance the cause of sustainable development. | |
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