ESG Quarterly Update - April 2024

We aim to share our progress and efforts towards building a more sustainable future.

ESG factors are becoming increasingly important for companies to consider, not only in terms of compliance and risk management but also as a means of creating long-term value and securing client trust.

One of our values is to always give back to our clients, and we continue to do this by offering free resources such as business reports on the current market; salary guides to determine competitive salaries and market rates, and by creating a platform for businesses to drive business development.

In this report, we will highlight our ESG initiatives and performance over the past quarter, including our progress towards reducing our environmental impact, enhancing our social responsibility, and improving our DE & I practices. 

We believe that transparency and accountability are essential for driving positive change, and we look forward to sharing our journey with you!

Environment

• Our flexible working approach allows us to work from home on which days suit best – this quarter we worked on average 56% of our working days from home!
• If everyone in the office came in 5 days a week, our fuel consumption would average 3763 litres– that’s enough to fill up a small to medium-sized swimming pool! With our flexi schedule, this has allowed us to save around 2018 litres for every quarter.
• We are taking the first steps to cutting our carbon emissions in half by 2030, and aiming to reach Net Zero by 2050. No matter how small your business, what industry or part of the UK you’re in, your commitment could make a real difference – to the planet, to your customers and to your running costs! Even the smallest businesses produce carbon emissions – it could be through your building, your vehicles or your suppliers.
• We have calculated our carbon emissions for the last quarter…

Social

• Google review emails are sent out on a weekly basis to candidates and clients who we have placed the week before - We donate £20 to The Hospice of St Francis for each review we receive from a client.
• Last quarter we receieved 7 very positive reviews from some happy candidates and clients!

Employee Wellbeing

• We have 3 Mental Health First Responders in the team who have been awarded with the FutureQuals Level 2 Award in Mental Health: Workplace Responder qualification, which gives them an understanding of mental health issues that can affect individuals at work, and how to spot the signs.
• Some milestones were hit at MRK this quarter as Chris celebrated his 4 year anniversary here, and Rob hit his 5 year mark! Both were presented with gift vouchers of their choice. We couldn't be more thankful to have them both on our team.
• In February, we wished Lucy good luck on her relocation to Dubai, where she will be hitting the international revenue management market for MRK! After her successful years focusing in the UK, we don’t doubt she’ll flourish in this new market, and what better location to do it from!?
• With Lucy’s relocation, we needed someone to backfill her thriving UK market. With Iqra’s success in the finance interim market, she felt up to the challenge to move across internally and tackle Lucy’s UK market, while she takes on things internationally. We wish them the best of luck!

MRK Internal Diversity

Customer

• We’ve received over 7860 adverts responses over the last 12 weeks for the jobs we had registered this quarter. Every advert response received a reply. Unsuitable candidates received a rejection email, whereas suitable candidates were shortlisted and approached. Every candidate receives a response from us whether positive or negative! We don’t like to leave them in the dark with their application. 96.09% unsuitable vs 3.91% shortlisted applications.
• We released our newest Salary Guides for 2024/25. Our salary guides provide clients with market insight and trends within Revenue Management and Finance, with comparisons across the UK, to ensure they’re up to date with the latest salary information for their hiring process. Don’t begin your search without being equipped with up-to-date salary information!
• Revenue Management salary guides downloaded: 122
• Finance salary guides downloaded: 70

Clients worked with

Events we hosted and attended this quarter

Finance Director Leadership event

• We hosted our first Finance Director Leadership event of 2024 in February at Shendish Manor Hotel & Golf Club ‘Navigating the Future of Finance’. The event is focusing on finance transformation and understanding in depth why and how continuous improvement and transformation can benefit your business.
• We were honoured to have two experts in transformation speaking at the event Chris Reid & Joanne Lane, who delivered 2 excellent presentations. A huge thank you to everyone who joined us at the event.

Data Roundtable

• Our first Home Counties Data Roundtable happened in March in Hemel Hempstead with 15 senior data leaders coming together to discuss trends, issues, thoughts and ideas across Data and Tech.
• With a great lunch from Oakman Inns group included on the day, many topics from data strategy, data governance, data infrastructure and tech stack developments to data monetisation, business impact, ROI and, of course, recruitment.

Longdean Secondary School

• We hosted a placement day for a student from Longdean Secondary School. Daniel came and spent with day with us to see what an office environment looks like and to understand what the world of recruitment involves.
• We attended the Longdean Speed Networking Event talking to over 200 students in groups of 6-8 students in Year 9 discussing the world of work, what we do at MRK Associates, and how to think about what GCSEs to pick, answering any questions they have.

DE & I

• We make an effort to reduce any unconscious bias from employers; before a CV gets sent to the client, we remove any personal contact details, D.O.B’s, religion/ethnicity.
• We took a look into the diversity of our candidates we’ve registered, placed, and clients we’ve worked with, as well as our own internal diversity.

Candidates registered

Placements made