Meet Euan Stronge, Operations Director. We had a quick chat with him about his role and visions at Coreus.
As a Coreus Director, how do you ensure the wellbeing of the team?
This is absolutely the most important thing to me. First and foremost I want everyone to operate in an environment that they are comfortable in. Whether that’s the amazing new HQ office we are in the process of designing with the team or the open and honest culture we strive to create, even down to the flexible working hours we promote to help with other priorities. We’ve also recently introduced a new staff benefit in the form of personal training sessions and team bootcamps which I think is a great way to promote and maintain positive both physical and mental health.
It’s no secret that the pandemic has provided some challenges and added pressure to striking a sustainable work life balance for everyone, but with that I genuinely believe our industry will benefit in the long run which in turn will promote a healthier and happier team. A large transformation that is hard to ignore is the reduction in travel we now make for one-off meetings which has driven efficiency in work. Whilst there are positives to that we also now have a duty to our staff that days aren’t filled with back to back calls which we all know are exhausting! Balance here is key and something that we all can and will continue to control.
Climate change is happening now. What targets do you have to ensure Coreus’s commitment to tackling this?
Whilst of course we have an aspiration and strategy in place to reach net zero in the coming years, it’s an incredibly challenging journey we are embarking on that will take time and learning as we have chosen to invest in reduction measures within our business first before turning to offsets. It is important that our targets are honest and meaningful, I believe sustainability should not be a marketing tool but instead a huge opportunity to be greener, cleaner and more responsible. To that, we’ve initiated a number of simple principles that we will increase exponentially over the coming years. Our immediate strategy is :
* Greener travel – 25% of our staff cycle or walk to work and we are in the process of securing electric communal pool cars
* Energy consumption – our new HQ will have a sustainable energy strategy in place and we also incentivise our staff to switch to renewable energy tariffs
* Recycling – we champion the use of refurbished laptops, challenge single use plastics and will continue to move into a fully paperless service
* Knowledge sharing – our in-house sustainability team supports our clients, projects and cost managers with industry leading sustainability advice and solutions
How are Coreus committed to developing future talent? What key attributes are you looking for?
It’s all about the right attitude! Combine that with our personal development programme, learning from our experienced team and the variety of projects that we can offer and you will create some amazing talent. The next Coreus Managing Director is out there somewhere at a college or university at the moment and I’m determined to find them!
Many of our senior team have come through the ranks of some well established businesses and so we understand first-hand how valuable it can be to be offered opportunities. It’s important that we repay and recreate this within Coreus. I’m proud to say that within the 2 years we have been active, we’ve taken on 5 new apprentices/graduates. This is something we are going to continue to do year on year as we grow further.
Finally, as Coreus continues to grow, how do you ensure you give back to the local community?
The breadth of value we bring to our local communities across our offices is fantastic. With continued growth will come more openings for us to keep providing employment and project prospects for the local community. Aside from that, we recently chose our South West charity for the year to be Cots for Tots following an employee engagement exercise which were all very excited to start supporting through volunteering, events and awareness. In addition, our staff regularly volunteer at colleges and universities supporting with mock interviews, presentations and employment fairs. Coreus also support Building Greater Exeter which is focussed on supporting the construction sector across Exeter, East Devon and Teignbridge to address the skills and recruitment challenges it faces. I was also very happy to be invited to support this by joining their steering group earlier in the year where we will now work hard to promote our industry and the long lasting careers it can bring.
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