BLOG: Centrica's Responsible Business

One of the reasons I love my role at Centrica is seeing the difference we all make in local communities and working with like-minded charities to have a real impact on the causes that are important to us. Centrica colleagues have given over 850 days to volunteer with Groundwork projects since 2023, and this year we’re hoping to do even more, in support of our People & Planet Plan commitment to give 100,000 days to local communities by 2030. 

At Centrica, we know that a volunteering culture is an engaged culture, and our amazing colleagues can take up to two days of volunteering leave each year for causes they care about. Whether it’s providing companionship to patients in hospital wards, educating people about energy usage, or nurturing the next generation through grassroots sports coaching. Working with Groundwork we’ve taken senior leaders into their Green Doctors programme to give strategic guidance, and colleagues at every level in the business regularly volunteer to ensure that local green spaces are safe and sustainable havens for communities.

Volunteering is also an important way for our colleagues to connect to Centrica’s purpose of energising a greener, fairer future. Collaborating with a partner like Groundwork, where we have an alignment on purpose, means that we know colleagues are volunteering safely and in a way that has a meaningful impact on their local environment. 

There will always be a place for the type of volunteering that Groundwork offers us. It allows team members to experience the connection and wellbeing benefits of a day spent in nature; getting to know their team-mates as the real people behind the computer screen; seeing immediate results and returning to work with a sense of pride and a deeper connection to each other and their community.

Our colleagues are also fully committed to serving our 10 million customers, so collaborating with partners like Groundwork streamlines the process for our busy customer-facing colleagues. The experts there handle everything from risk assessments to safety briefings, allowing our teams to focus on making a difference as soon as they arrive on-site to volunteer.

Working together with the dedicated and hard-working team at Groundwork, who really value our volunteer support, means our relationship has a solid basis to evolve and grow, enabling us to work together to positively impact even more communities across the UK.