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Small Company of the Year, All big ticks

Phoenix Gas - Phoenix LIFE

Phoenix continue to do outstanding work in the community and the Energy for Children Charity in particular has helped transform so many disadvantaged children's lives.

Robin NewtonStormont Minister, Northern Ireland Assembly

Phoenix Gas, a natural gas company based in Northern Ireland, has developed a wide-ranging and integrated CR programme called Phoenix LIFE.

The umbrella of Phoenix Life covers a variety of programmes ranging from health and wellbeing programmes for employees, initiatives to help the communities in which the business operates, education programmes, and a comprehensive environment strategy.

The story

Established in 1996, the Phoenix Gas group of companies are the leading suppliers and distributors of natural gas in Northern Ireland, with 140,000 customers in the Greater Belfast area.

Phoenix operates in the local communities in Northern Ireland every day and it has always been important for the Group to be pro-active in giving something back to the communities that it serves. For many years Phoenix has invested in valuable CR programmes.

In recent years the Group has focused its efforts on pulling together these programmes into an overarching framework for the range of initiatives undertaken by Phoenix to positively impact the marketplace, workplace, environment and community. – Phoenix LIFE, Leadership in the Market Place, Investing in our People, Fostering our community and Environmental Responsibility

The LIFE programme benefits from a strong management structure comprising of a Chairman, Phoenix’s CEO Peter Dixon, a LIFE Committee, LIFE Co-ordinator and LIFE Champions throughout the business. Each year, strategic objectives are agreed for LIFE through a clearly defined 5 stage process that ensures Phoenix-wide and employee input and continuous review of the fitness of the objectives for LIFE’s purposes.

A particular achievement for Phoenix LIFE is the establishment of the Phoenix Energy for Children Charitable Trust. The Trust focuses on those causes that are slipping through the net of the more established Charity network, and is founded on the principle that ‘all monies raised go directly to local children and young people’. Behind the scenes Phoenix provides all administrative support. To date the Energy for Children Charitable Trust has helped over 5,000 local disadvantaged children and every month continues to help more and more.

This is simply one example of a wide range of initiatives that make up Phoenix LIFE. Considerable thought has gone into Phoenix’s CR strategy and this has led to demonstrable results in all four impact areas.

For more information on Phoenix Gas, visit www.phoenixnaturalgas.com

Impact

Business Impact

2010 was Phoenix’s 10th Year of ‘year on year’ organic growth – the Group was also identified as one of the top 100 Private Equity Growth Companies.
Phoenix’s staff turnover fell by 6% in the past year keeping HR recruitment spend relatively low.
Feedback from Phoenix staff indicates that they view their time spent volunteering as beneficial – even beyond the sense of fulfilment that they gain from the experience. 82% of staff have indicated that volunteering has enhanced a number of their job-related skills.
Phoenix continues to invest in its staff by offering training courses throughout all of its departments. 39% of staff within the Group have been promoted at least once during their time with the organisation.

Social and Environmental Imact

Around 2.6million tonnes of CO2 has already been prevented from entering the local atmosphere by natural gas consumers in the Phoenix Natural Gas licence area, with continued savings of around 250,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum
Phoenix facilitates a number of Bridge to Employment and Energy and Utility Skills schemes, which provide training and up-skilling opportunities for unemployed youths from across Greater Belfast.
In 2010 alone, Phoenix invested more than £45,000 in sponsoring community initiatives - a 25% increase in investment in this area compared to 2009.
Through the effective delivery of the Sustainable Energy Fund programmes over 1,000 vulnerable homes were removed from the Fuel Poverty trap and through an innovative and collaborative approach Phoenix delivered a Northern Ireland Boiler Scrappage scheme, which resulted in total fuel bill savings of £1m per annum, without the need for any Government funds.

Sanander, Sponsor of Small Company of the Year

Phoenix Gas supporting STEM

Circle of Life, the symbol for Phoenix's CR strategy.

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