Employee involvement

We provide opportunities for our employees to get involved in their local communities whilst developing their own skills and experience.

In 2005 we worked with Community Service Volunteers, and our employees invested more than 15,000 hours in volunteering, which equates to around £420,000 of in-kind support. In the UK we backed Volunteering England’s Year of the Volunteer campaign and Direct Energy sponsored the Volunteer Citizen of the Year award in Alberta.

Our volunteering policy enables employees to take up to 16 hours out of work time each year to get involved in volunteering activities. Research shows that these activities are good for morale, building teams and developing personal skills, whilst also giving something back to the communities in which we live and work. Download our volunteering policy (PDF 35K).

There are many skills employees can develop through volunteer work, not least team working, planning, marketing, project management, delegation, collaboration and customer focus skills. We see our commitment to volunteering as a way of supporting individual and team development.

In 2006 we will launch an intranet site to help employees find volunteering opportunities in their community. The ‘Get Involved’ site will provide access to thousands of volunteering assignments across the UK. In North America, Direct Energy employees will still be able to volunteer their time to support a range of charities including Raising the Roof.