OCS Social Value roundtable: Opening Doors for Opportunity

At OCS, people and places are at the heart of what we do. Therefore, we are always looking at ways we can improve and bring awareness to Diversity and Inclusion practices, Employability and Environmental Sustainability. As part of this journey, we are embedding social value actions into every aspect of our work, from supporting the communities around us to helping marginalised individuals find employment.

However, we understand that we can’t do this alone. We work closely with a network of partners to ensure that everything we do has a meaningful impact, whether that’s helping young people build skills that can be transferred into the workplace or opening the doors to sustainable employment for people that are often overlooked. 

With social value becoming increasingly aligned to responsible business practices, we hosted our first Social Value roundtable to discuss the challenges and opportunities it brings. Representatives from a range of organisations were in attendance to share their insights on how conversations around the topic can be transformed to positive actions. 

We interview our Social Value Manager, Ann-Marie Conlon-Taylor, to learn more about the discussion.    

In your opinion, why was the roundtable a positive step in the context of social value?

It shows that OCS are putting social value front and centre of its agenda. 

We want to learn, develop and adapt when it comes to our social value and this puts a marker in the ground to continue that journey. Importantly, we also want to work with others in a collaborative way to make the most impact – and the roundtable has helped us do that. 

For you, what were the key learnings of the roundtable?

For me, it showed the willingness of partners, customers, and other organisations to collaborate together to make this part of their DNA. It also highlighted their desire to make an impact to enable change to happen. 

Social value is a journey. While the Public Services (Social Value) Act was implemented in 2012, it was often perceived as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a necessity. It came to the forefront when it was embedded into contracts as a result of the Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 06/20 and companies had to consider social value as part of the bidding process. 

Collaborating with stakeholders enables conversations to move away from commercialisation, elevating the significance of social value and the positive difference it can make.  

Were you surprised by anything that was discussed?

No but I think the roundtable showed some of our attendees how they could get more involved with social value within their own companies.

Listening to the discussion, some attendees worked in companies that had fully embraced it to the point where they have had their data verified.  Whereas for others, they were still on a journey and were looking to learn more about it.

When you are working in social value every day, you assume that everybody knows everything about it but actually some people don’t.

Did roundtable attendees discuss any common challenges surrounding social value within their own organisations?

There are all sorts of metrics you can use for measuring social value and this can cause frustration. As a business, if you have five or six contracts that are using different systems to manage social value and measure its impact, it can become confusing.

There is currently no national standard for measurement – this would be useful as it would get rid of the confusion.

Were there any initiatives that stood out for you?

I found Sunbelt Rental’s Forests with Impact programme an inspirational project. Traditionally, Environmental, Social and Governance have sat individually under the ESG umbrella and often don’t overlap. Yet, Forests with Impact are merging the ‘E’ and the ‘S’.

Forests with Impact work with prisoners to grow seeds into saplings. This not only helps offenders build skills that are unique to an industry that has a real skill shortage, but it also contributes to the environment. In the UK, we often import our tree saplings which, unfortunately, can bring in disease.

The programme works with a network of partners to help offenders gain sustainable employment following release. Whereas the saplings that are grown are sold with profits reinvested back into local communities.

It’s a great example of how organisations can embrace and overlap ESG.

What areas of the discussion did you feel most passionate about?

There are two real passions for me in the social value arena – social mobility and supporting communities. 

Within social mobility, I’m particularly interested in young people and ex-offenders. This came up in the roundtable. Roundtable attendees agreed that ex-offenders do come with a past but we need to start looking past this.

Every offender that goes through the court system costs the taxpayer circa £50,000; those who don’t find employment after release frequently find themselves on a revolving door and end up back in prison. Now imagine if we gave them an opportunity to gain sustainable employment and prevent that reoccurring cycle; the savings to society would be huge. 

And when it comes to communities, for me, it’s about empowering them with the tools needed to grow and develop themselves, ensuring long-term sustainability.

If you could take away one learning from the roundtable, what would it be?

There’s always a way. Other individuals or organisations may have explored different pathways and experienced the challenges you are currently having within your business. 

And that collaboration and working together to make things happen can be extremely powerful. 

Why do conversations around social value need to continue to take place?

It’s important for innovation – and innovation means we can explore new possibilities. 

Previously working as a business advisor, I would always say that a business plan should have coffee stains on it; it should be a living, breathing document. Not just something you write at the start of the year and come back to at the end of the year.  It is your roadmap and you should be asking yourself, what did I do today to get one step closer to my goals and business objectives? 

The same logic applies to social value. Having these conversations will help us innovate and not stagnate and enable us to explore new avenues for the business that we haven’t yet thought about. This is crucial for personal, professional and company development. 

Any closing thoughts?

We have to keep the momentum going. The roundtable can’t be seen as an event, it needs to be a continuation of our social value efforts and our commitment to ESG. 

If you want to learn more about our social value initiatives and want to get involved, head over to: https://ocs.com/uk/social/