POLLY CARES
Our culture is diverse, creative and collaborative. Our teams are committed, ambitious and hard working. We offer an environment to flourish and develop.
WHAT WE'RE DOING
Corporate social responsibility
We are following our Code of Conduct across the whole value chain, especially within production and manufacturing. You can find more information about how we manufacture below.
Gender split
71% of our senior roles are held by women. 70% of our employees within the company are women.
Zero tolerance: Discrimination
We have a zero-tolerance policy for any form of discrimination or harassment based on someone’s sexual orientation, gender, civil status, family status, religion, race, age, or disability. 30 of our managers have received a Level 2 Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. All members of our team complete a training module about Equality and Diversity and Bullying and Harassment within their first 2 weeks at Oh Polly.
Mental wellbeing
We are a Suicide Safer Organisation. We have 18 Mental Health First Aiders, 12 Suicide Prevention First Aiders and 12 Sucide Alert Helpers on site. The courses are delivered by the Martin Gallier Project through their Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST).
Employee assistance program
Colleagues can access a confidential helpline, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Alongside other mental wellbeing resources.
INVESTING IN PEOPLE
Sustainability champions
Several colleagues have volunteered to join our sustainability champion programme. They support the sustainability team by integrating sustainability throughout the business.
UK Scholarship programme
Oh Polly and Glasgow Caledonian University are proud to support upcoming, new talent through a scholarship programme for Black British students. Since 2020, Oh Polly has provided Glasgow Caledonian fashion students with a generous financial package throughout the duration of their studies as well as work experience opportunities within the brand. The scholarship programme was created by Oh Polly and Glasgow Caledonian University to encourage diversity and help build a more inclusive environment within the fashion industry.
UK Industry Placements
2024 will be our second year of running industry placements for undergraduate students. The roles this year will be Customer Experience, IT, Design and Pattern Cutting.
HOW WE MANUFACTURE
Our product development and manufacturing process is unique to most. At Oh Polly, we like to be different and always with you in mind! An environment that is safe and beneficial for our staff is our top priority here at Oh Polly. Here are some examples of how we take care of our workforce.
MORE THAN JUST DREAMY FITS
The majority of our stock is produced in our in-house factories, meaning that our production is tightly managed by us.
For external factories we choose our supplier carefully. We prefer to form a direct association with manufacturers so we can have full visibility on working standards and quality control. This means, we also have a presence in our manufacturing units to ensure worker welfare at every stage. We follow a strict code of conduct in our own factory and make sure these are implemented with our manufacturing partners.
Healthcare
A doctor and nurse visit the factory for consultations free of charge.
Life pension
We provide a life pension for the low-income family of a worker who has passed away in hospital from a health-related issue.
Paid time off
For short-term sickness.
Wage advances and interest-free micro plans
We do this to help ease the pressure on employees when unexpected expenses occur.
Profit share
We’ve issued our Bangladesh factory with a 2% profit share, each year for the past five years.
Child exploitation
Everyone who works in our factories must be of legal working age in that country. This is usually 17 or 18 years old. For an apprentice, they must be older than 16.
Bribery and corruption
All our staff choose to work there. We do not allow people to be coerced or forced into labour.
Slave labour
Everyone in our factories is paid for the work they do.
No unpaid overtime
Anything less than the minimum wage. We personally make sure that all workers are paid for the hours they do, and this must be above the legal minimum wage in their country.
Excessive overtime
When overtime is required for certain projects, it’s always proportional and paid at the correct rate, for example time and a half.
Unsafe working practices
Employees are given the necessary equipment to do their jobs, provided with training on how to use the machinery and are made aware of the health and safety regulations.
You can read our statements by clicking this link
Charity donations
As well as our own charity, The Brannerson Foundation, we also regularly donate a portion of our profits to different charities throughout the year. Each charity helps to combat different environmental or social issues across the globe. Our employee of the month also picks a charity to donate £250! They are always personal charities that we love to help.
Since 2016 we've donated £953,869.05
UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Our current initiatives support the following goals:
- Goal 1 - No Poverty
- Goal 3 - Good Health and Wellbeing
- Goal 4 - Quality Education
- Goal 5 - Gender Equality
- Goal 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Goal 10 - Reduced Inequalities
- Goal 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.
- Goal 17 - Partnerships for the Goals
Find out more about the goals here.
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