Heineken boosts CSR focus around local communities
Heineken is to focus CSR efforts on backing community projects aimed at tackling alcohol misuse and other social issues in a bid to put itself at the “heart of local communities”.
The move comes after an internal poll by the brewer revealed that its staff wanted to make a positive change to the communities they work in.
Heineken will launch a series of community initiatives in partnership with social enterprise Your Square Mile at three of the company’s breweries in Tadcaster, Manchester and Ledbury initially ahead of a wider rollout to the company’s other UK sites.
The two will conduct an audit to match the interests and skills of Heineken’s staff with the needs of communities, which will then be used to develop community projects through local workshops.
Heineken says the initiative aims to increase the work it does with communities around its breweries after focusing most of its CSR efforts in recent years on national campaigns with alcohol addiction charities.
Jeremy Beadles, corporate relations director at Heineken, adds: “We’ve worked with national charities in the past but want to do more targeted initiatives now because that allows us to work closer with communities to tackle alcohol misuse.
“We want to understand the issues that matter to our colleagues and the people that live locally to our sites to put our business at the heart of the local community.”
Additionally Your Square Mile has worked with other brands including O2’s Think Big programme and the Asda Foundation.
