Inside Vision: Staff Corporate Social Responsibility Stories – Claire Makin
In the second of our brand new series of posts aimed at highlighting how each of our global team commit to doing their bit for the good of the planet; whether that’s through environmental initiatives, charity work or just being more ecologically aware.
Vision prides itself on its corporate social responsibility programme, which we build upon year-on-year. In fact, we’re delighted to have introduced a brand new corporate car policy which encourages our staff to make the switch to electric vehicles. We expect to take delivery of our first 100% electric cars this coming June.
We’re hoping to be able to do what we can to preserve the future of our planet – and everything in it.
Our staff also echo this sentiment, as demonstrated by our Partnership Sales Manager, Claire Makin, who has been looking after the local wildlife.
Claire installed security cameras at her home last summer where she noticed hedgehogs coming and going from her garden. After monitoring the cameras for a while, she found that the hedgehogs were visiting every evening so she took to the internet to do a little research.
Claire said: “I did a little research online on what to feed them. I looked at the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, The People’s Trust for Endangered Animals and The British Hedgehog Preservation Society. They advised feeding them chicken-flavoured cat food, dry cat biscuits and mealworm so we started putting this out for them every evening.”
“We noticed the number of hedgehogs increasing over the summer period and, some evenings, we had six visiting at a time! We ensured we fed them each time they visited and soon the numbers began to decrease as the colder months started setting in.
Still, we had two young hedgehogs visiting us towards the end of October and we were concerned they may not be able to survive the winter alone so we took them to a rescue centre. We’re now eagerly awaiting the return of our new-found friends from spring!”
A 2018 report from conservation charity, People’s Trust for Endangered Species, suggests that hedgehog numbers are continuing to decline and have fallen by around 50% since the beginning of the century.
We’re pleased to see Claire doing something simple such as putting out food and water which will make a real difference to hedgehogs, the UK’s only spiny mammal, to ensure they remain a familiar and common part of British gardens.
Stay tuned for more Inside Vision: Staff Stories where we take a glimpse into the lives of Vision staff to see what they’re doing to help others, animals, and the planet. And if you missed the first in the series, click here to read it.