“A very rewarding day”
All employees are encouraged to spend a day a year, taking part in a volunteering activity and here in the UK we refer to this as our Lend a Hand day. Connecting and giving back to local communities, delivering social value, team building, discovering new skills and adding variety and fun to a working day at Cemex are among some of benefits we see in employee volunteering.
This year we launched our first Cemex UK Lend a Hand Week from 17th – 21st June 2024. Throughout the week eight teams from across our UK businesses spent their volunteering day taking part in a wide range of fantastic activities supporting many different local organisations.
Teams from Customer Experience based at our Coventry Head Office volunteered at Westlands Care Home in Rugby town centre, where they were fence painting, general garden maintenance and building outdoor furniture for the residents. Teams also volunteered at a local heritage site, Charterhouse in Coventry where they were doing garden maintenance and removing invasive ivy covering the historic walls.
A team from HR spent their day volunteering at a local Emmaus residential site for vulnerable people, doing garden maintenance activities.
Our Readymix North West team spent a day with the Collaborative Women team in Manchester volunteering on a property providing shelter to women fleeing domestic violence – the team spent their time restoring a garden which provides a wellbeing sanctuary for the women.
The Supply Chain Rail team spent their day volunteering at Barby Woodland Trust near Rugby. This is a long-term project where Cemex UK is supporting the local community in restoring 27 acres of native woodland. The team cleared the site in preparation for the establishment of a woodland forest school for local children. A week later the Materials Senior Management team spent their volunteering day setting up the equipment for this forest school and installing signage around the site.
The UK Sustainability team spent their day in Horton removing invasive plants (balsam bashing) from the Colne Brook riverbank. This work enables the restoration of biodiversity and the regrowth of native plant species.
Some of our Customer Experience colleagues shared their experiences:
Tuesday 18th June – Charter house, Coventry
“I had a fantastic day. It was so lovely to be outdoors and doing something worthwhile. It was so nice to meet other people who work at Cemex, as we do not often get to mingle with people in different departments.” – Sue McNeilis
“We had such a lovely day and really enjoyed it; we didn’t actually want to leave! We were very well looked after by the team there. In the morning we had to clear a large area of brambles, ivy etc, which was so rewarding when we had completed the task. In the afternoon we watered the gardens and made a rockery. It is definitely a hidden gem and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to lend a hand.” – Hannah Dickson
Wednesday 19th June – Westlands Care Home Rugby
“A thoroughly enjoyable day updating and improving some of the outdoor spaces at Westlands Care Home for the residents. A great team-building exercise and an opportunity to get to know others within Cemex better, who you don’t normally work alongside day to day. The work we put in had clearly visible results – a very rewarding day for all.” – Lianne Morgan
Thursday 20th June – Charter house, Coventry
“It was a satisfying day giving back to the community volunteering at the Charterhouse. We helped with watering and maintenance of the gardens along with building a TV unit for a 65-inch TV, this took a good chunk of the day shall we say…..! We were shown around the Charterhouse and its gardens, which were steeped with history, we learnt about the history of the charterhouse which was a nice addition to the day.” – Amanda Walker