Our thinking

Warming hearts and homes

17 May, 2024

We’ve always seen the enormous potential in community corporate engagement to create positive impact on multiple levels, but we also know that it can feel like lip service, and often fails to make the most of a business’s key resources, and stay close to its core impact and purpose. 

So we’re excited to see two recent examples which show how to do it well. First up, our friends at Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) who are taking a tapping into their assets and skills to support vulnerable people in a meaningful way.  

Chronic loneliness affects 3.83 million people in the UK. Awareness of the issue peaked during the pandemic, when thousands (including some of the Good Business team) signed up as volunteers to provide check-in phone calls for elderly, isolated and vulnerable people in England. These calls were more than just a chat; they were a lifeline for social interaction that helped ease loneliness. 

Today, loneliness persists. According to disability charity Sense, two thirds of disabled people experience chronic loneliness. In response, VMO2 has joined forces with the charity, and invited its 15,000 employees to join the ‘Virtual Buddying’ service. This matches a volunteer with a disabled person to carry out activities together online. What’s great is that VMO2’s employees can use their five annual paid volunteering days to take part in the initiative. 

Next – we were also heartened to see a new collaboration between the Energy Systems Catapult and ScottishPower to launch a trial of the Warm Home Prescription (WHP) programme. This involves Catapult working with local NHS authorities to identify low-income households where people live with health conditions that are sensitive to cold or damp indoor environments. ScottishPower then steps in, at no cost to the homeowner, to fit homes with better insulation or new heating systems. If all goes well, this programme will be a great example of a collaborative approach to help tackle multiple social and environmental problems. 

It is exciting to see companies like VM02 and ScottishPower forming partnerships and doing meaningful work, using their skills to support vulnerable communities where it counts. If your business is working towards the same goal, we’d love to hear from you! 

By Charlotte Pounder