Jaguar Land Rover Celebrates Record-Breaking Year Of Employee Volunteering

Jaguar Land Rover, Business in the Community's 'Responsible Business of the Year 2013‑2014', is celebrating a record‑breaking year of employee volunteering and educational engagement.

More than 9,600 employees, comprising over 30% of the company's UK workforce, supported volunteering in 2014, donating over 115,000 hours or 14,400 working days to support their local communities. This record‑breaking performance is an increase of 36% on employee participation and 45% in time donated compared to 2013, which saw 5,860 employees donate 63,400 hours

Around 85% of volunteers supported Jaguar Land Rover's 'Inspiring Tomorrow's Engineers' programme, which engaged 300,000 young people in the UK last year. Employees support Education Business Partnership Centres which run school visits and work placements at the company's sites by helping develop curriculum materials, delivering presentations to groups, supporting external careers events or mentoring young people on work experience placements.

Jonathan Garrett, CSR Director, Jaguar Land Rover, commented, "Employee volunteering plays a pivotal  role in our Community Relations strategy and we are delighted that so many of our employees donated their skills and time to benefit others. The fact that the majority of volunteers supported our 'Inspiring Tomorrow's Engineers' education programme demonstrates the passion and commitment of our workforce helping the next generation gain the skills and experience they need for successful working careers. As well as making a positive impact on young people's aspirations and attainment, our education activities also promote advanced manufacturing careers at Jaguar Land Rover and our supply chain as well as acting as a pipeline for young talent, which is essential for the business to achieve its ambitious global growth plans."

Genie Creamer‑Hyland, Principle Engineer at Solihull Operations commented, "I joined the company in 2011 as a graduate and have enjoyed supporting educational programmes such as 'Young Woman in the Know' alongside my production role.  Last year I donated 200 hours of work time to educational events which saw me mentor several work experience students during week‑long placements and also gave engineering talks to school students visiting the onsite Education Business Partnership Centre. When I was younger, there was little information available about engineering careers so I'm really passionate about giving others the opportunities which were not available to me. These events give an overview to how vast and varied engineering roles are which many young people are not aware of. I particularly enjoy seeing how fascinated and excited students become when learning about how the plant works and enjoy promoting my role as a successful engineer. I'm very proud that several students I've supported over the past few years have now joined Jaguar Land Rover's apprentice programme and look forward to inspiring many more young people to pursue engineering careers in the future."

Jaguar Land Rover releases employees from the workplace for up to two days per year to support projects focussing on regeneration, education, young people, charity work and the environment. Projects are identified through a volunteering challenge database or are nominated by employees.

Many team projects involve physical improvements such as redecoration of community centres, creating sensory gardens or allotments, all of which improve facilities for the local community. As well as helping the local community and strengthening Jaguar Land Rover's reputation as a responsible business, group projects offer personal development opportunities including the development of leadership and project management skills.

ENDS