How Clarke Willmott’s new starter gifts step up their ESG strategy

Who: With seven office locations across the UK, the leading law firm, Clarke Willmott provides support on complex legal matters to individuals and businesses in the UK and abroad.

When: We’ve created these new starter gifts together since early 2023.

What: New starter onboarding gifts delivered in eco-friendly tote bags given out to new joiners.

Results: These gifts have helped to support education projects globally, fed school children in some of the world’s poorest areas and donated bikes to UK schools.

An ethical welcome gift for new starters

With new joiners starting almost every week, making sure they’re receiving a warm welcome to the business is top priority for Clarke Willmott and an initiative started off the back of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“We went through a period where we had new joiners, joining remotely, working remotely, and that led us to having a real think about all of our people strategies,” says Daniel Jones, Director of Human Resources. It was vital to ensure that while the new team members felt welcomed and onboarded in an on-brand way, that the HR team also demonstrated the company commitment to sustainable practices.”

This is something that new joiners in fact expect too. Jones explains that “it’s typical for new entrants coming into the firm as well as interviewees to ask about our values and purpose.”

With wellbeing becoming more and more a part of people strategies, for Jones this means connecting the people and ESG strategies together. “There’s clearly physical health, mental health, financial health, but the social and environmental aspects are as important as well.  Being connected, having purpose, delivering value, feeling like you’re having a positive impact on the world around you, I think, is one of the key pillars of supporting our wellbeing.”

Sustainable branded onboarding packs

“It’s really important we ‘walk the walk’ as a responsible business,” says Karen Higgins, Head of ESG, who joined the team in 2022. Of the ‘S’ in ESG, she says it is “of equal importance as the ‘E’” to the business.

Originally the onboarding gifts came in our iconic ripple gift boxes, but the team recently made the decision to switch to tote bags to make all the packaging as reusable as possible. Continuing to iterate in this way is part of the culture and journey towards a more sustainable workplace. “We want to integrate the entire ESG framework into every aspect of our operations – from procurement and supplier selection to the benefits and opportunities we provide to our people,” Higgins adds.

Gifts are distributed at the welcome onboarding induction event and include a notebook, reusable water bottle and desk garden to brighten up the desk, wherever that might be.

Onboarding merch and gifts helping others get an education

Just some of the gifts’ tangible impacts included…

Notebooks funding education projects worldwide

These notebooks are one design from a range that uses a number of intriguing, recycled and reclaimed materials to make their covers, such as lavender and coffee beans to wool, cotton and ocean waste plastic. 

Mixing these materials with other recycled cards helps reduce the amount of card needed, allowing for this recycled resource to be used elsewhere and of course takes the reclaimed material from the waste stream. A double positive. 

The notebooks included in Clarke Willmott’s welcome gifts are made using 30% repurposed coffee bean waste. The production method is responsible too, made using 100% green energy.

Above and beyond the way these notebooks are produced, they also help to fund children’s education projects across the globe, as they donate 5% of the net sales price to Plan International UK. “Plan is a children’s charity working in all multiple areas of relief and in all quarters of the planet,” explains founder Evan Lewis. “Our contributions are ring-fenced into their education projects that cover many areas; girls finishing their secondary education in Pakistan, getting children back to school after the pandemic or natural disasters, training women in their local areas to become teachers.” 

Reusable water bottles feeding school children 

Staying hydrated whether in the office, working remotely or moving between, is all the easier with a reusable water bottle. It’s why Clarke Willmott includes one in their new team gift packs. 

Every one of these bottles helps to contribute meals to a child in need, via the charity Mary’s Meals who get nutritious food to children in some of the world’s poorest areas. It costs £19.15 for them to feed a child for a whole school year, helping keep them healthy and in education. 

 

Through the 300 water bottles they’ve gifted, Clarke Willmott has contributed to feeding kids at two schools in Liberia. 

The bottles are also supporting local marine life in the UK, helping rehabilitate seals on the Norfolk coast. 

Bags, pens and desktop gardens donating bikes

Lastly, we worked with a social enterprise to source bags, pens and desktop gardens for Clarke Willmott that help to promote and create solutions for sustainable travel. Through purchases of these items since 2023, Clarke Willmott has funded the equivalent of two refurbished bikes for teachers at a UK school, including locks, safety equipment and security marking.

The impact of these bikes has been manifold, addressing UN Sustainable Development Goals 3, 5, 8, 11 and 13. 

Enabling teachers to develop healthy travel habits, they’ve also normalised greener habits among students, for instance the female teachers influencing young girls to cycle to school too. This initiative also supports green school travel plans and school climate strategies which promote carbon-friendly ways of travelling, inspiring the next generation.

Lasting impact from the moment of employee onboarding

The welcome for new Clarke Willmott employees is all the warmer thanks to the stories of positive impact underlying these onboarding gifts. The company has well and truly embedded ESG into their onboarding process here, ensuring they’re championing their brand values and impressing new starters at the same time. 

Want to create your own impactful new starter gifts? Speak to us now.