ESG or Environmental, Social, and Governance pillars are, you might say, a passion for Tidy Green Clean. Our corporate values of People, Standards, and the Environment mirror or match the three main topics that Deloitte describes ‘captures the non-financial risks and opportunities, inherent to a company’s day-to-day activities’ – and who are we to argue?
Our dedicated web page characterises our approach to ESG, looking at our commitments, support, knowledge, eco-friendliness, focus, accreditations, and mindset, and it’s worth a read if you’re looking for a quick understanding of what we’re about.
This still doesn’t quite explain why we’ve adopted an ESG approach to our business. Yet a closer look at what ESG focus on, and our values, will show that our priority, what comes first, is People.
The Environmental element of ESG is in our name – Tidy Green Clean. The motivation for this is entirely based on creating a better planet for all of us, not just our children. Our approach to business, not just cleaning, is to put the environment first, wherever possible in order to halt the decline caused by the climate crisis, which is affecting our oceans, destroying animal life and the sustainability of human life as well.
We’re carbon negative (for a fifth consecutive year) and we were the first commercial cleaning business in Scotland to achieve that status. We educate our staff and our customers about our environmental stance and many of our customers choose us in part because we help support their own ESG commitments.
The Governance, or Standards, element of ESG is all about accountability and standards. We opted to become ISO accredited in the big three – ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 – almost as soon as we started, and we achieved them all within three years. We committed to achieving those standards because we believe that they keep people safe. One of them is focused on Health & Safety. One is on environmental systems. ISO9001 is focused on administrative processes. They provide clarity, minimum base lines, correct ways of doing things, and in many cases fulfil legal requirements as well. All of them help maintain people’s wellbeing, one way or another.
It’s the Social element of the three ESG pillars that represents the People element of our values. It’s central. Having globally recognised governance, being environmentally pioneering, without the Social/People element, has zero relevance or impact. Of course, the obvious examples are our Safe Contractor accreditation and our Living Wage Foundation and Disability Employer commitments. Beyond this though, we support a wide range of sports clubs and charities in the communities where we’re based.
Our Communities
page gives a really good overview of our Social pillar commitments, beyond the more commercial aspects of our Social ESG element. It may sound cliched, but we believe in giving back. We believe companies should give back to the communities that have made them successful. We encourage our staff to let us know if they’re aware of any charities, sports or other youth or cultural organisations seeking support and if we can, we’ll help.
The Commercial Cleaning industry has a low rating, and in many quarters, a poor reputation for how it treats it staff, how we serve our customers, for pay, for standards – even for job satisfaction. And Tidy Green Clean is changing that, has been changing that, since 2016. What’s even more satisfying is that in raising the bar, in upholding our values o of People, Standards, Environment, of pursuing the three pillars of Environment, Social and Governance, that frame our business, we’ve raised the bar. Competitors are following us, starting to talk our talk, learning to walk our walk. In short, these softer values, these caring credentials, are actually business critical essentials that drive business, secure jobs, and improve the cities and regions where we’re working.