UBS

 

UBS has a long history of community involvement with East London and in particular the borough of Hackney. Our partnership dates back over 20 years and originated at the time when the Broadgate complex, where UBS has its head office, was created. The original boundary markings tipped UBS into the borough of Hackney thereby establishing the firm as its largest employer and cementing our association with that community. Although the boundary markings have since changed and UBS now falls into the City of London, our involvement remains strong and continues to evolve.

 

Since our initial engagement, founded on the principles of sharing best practice through employee involvement, our community investment activities have become more strategically focussed to enable greater interaction between the local community and our employees, suppliers, clients and other stakeholders. By leveraging the wealth of talent and business skills at UBS we are able to offer professional resources to assist in the economic and social regeneration of Hackney.

 

UBS’s community programme is managed by the Community Affairs team which facilitates the entire process of employee engagement and community partnerships, embracing a wide range of private sector support – from employee volunteering to financial contributions – with the aim of achieving pre-defined and mutually beneficial outcomes. We are able to tap into a diverse and wide range of skills within our workforce - from lawyers to project managers, IT specialist to HR experts, accountants to marketing executives – and the fact that 20% of employees were involved in community projects last year and that some of our partnerships have been ongoing for at least 10 years speaks volumes. Projects can range from reading to a young pupil to mentoring a small business. Involvement is designed so that the greatest impact is achieved in the areas of need, such as education and regeneration.

 

 

Our community involvement initiatives are supported at the most senior level with the Bank. The UBS Charity Committee which determines the policy and shape of our programme evidences leadership and purpose in its structure. Members of the Committee are at Managing Director level (including Vice Chair and Board Members) and all engage in a practical and advisory fashion in dealing with CSR policy issues, financial allocations and partnership management. Indeed, Charity Committee members not only endorse the various initiatives and projects which comprise our Community Affairs programme, but actively encourage participation form their colleagues.

 

These initiatives include a myriad of volunteering projects which involve working with schools, local businesses, charities and the public and voluntary sectors. Opportunities for involvement are quite diverse and are tailored to complement employee commitment levels and development needs which best enable a positive outcome for the community.  Projects range from spending half an hour talking to young people about career planning to perhaps working with a charity on developing a business plan or website. There is a strong culture of giving at the bank and all employees are entitled to take two day each year to pursue charitable activities. However, we have a flexible approach to this and many employees can take the odd hour out to mentor students, or community managers or small businesses without this impacting on their volunteering leave allowance.

 

 

A core strand of our CSR programme centres around developing and supporting education in its many forms within the local community. As a result we have established in depth relationships with a number of schools as well as the education authority, The Learning Trust, and the education business partnership, Inspire. This year will see the launch of our flagship community project, the Bridge Academy, Hackney, which UBS is sponsoring. This reinforces the message that we are here for the long haul and committed to assisting in raising educational standards and achievement through schools partnerships. Our most recent collaboration with Hidden Art involves the bringing together of young people and local enterprise whilst also supporting work related learning for secondary school students.

 

 

UBS recognises that in Hackney, a vibrant borough rich in creativity, the cultural industries play an important role in its economic development and diversity of character. Agents such as Hidden Art which work in the background are crucial to ensuring the sustainability of those industries and the nurturing of creative talent.

 

We have worked with Hidden Art for more than a decade and seen amazing transformations in local enterprise. Those transformations have extended to the way we engage our employees in community initiatives and opened the door to different forms of volunteering where employees have a dual objective of offering community support whilst developing their skills and knowledge in a different, new or unusual environment. This all adds to the challenge of participation. Local businesses participating in Innovative Routes to Market have a great opportunity to tap into our huge resource of business skills and experience which might otherwise be a costly exercise) in delivering tried and tested best practice options, services and solutions.

 

Innovative Routes to Market is a successful model of partnership and engagement which Hidden Art have created by drawing on the expertise of UBS and the creative talent of Hidden Art members to the mutual benefit of all the parties concerned and, importantly, to the economic viability of local enterprise in Hackney.

 

 

We plan to give the Hidden Art businesses involved the opportunity to showcase their work. 2007 will also involve a workshop which will help them achieve their essential tasks, such as writing up their business plans. Then there will be a networking element where employees can just drop in to have a chat with all the Hidden Art businesses who are participating in Innovative Routes To Market, just to see if they would gel on a personal level and find out more about what the business is and what help they need. We want to do it informally; following the meetings, businesses and volunteers can decide if they are able to work together.

 

Hidden Art should perhaps be known as Revealing Art in Business and Business in Art for their role in bringing together our neighbouring communities, it’s just not a very catchy name is it?