OREANDA-NEWS.  Alstom has won its first UK Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) award, at the UK Rail Industry Awards, in recognition of its actions as an ethical employer.

The award commends Alstom's efforts to prioritise diversity and engagement with young people in the UK – something the company believes is essential to the future success of its company. But it’s just one aspect of Alstom's commitment to CSR.

In 2013, Alstom made a conscious decision to drive positive change across all of its UK businesses; and an important step towards this transformation was joining Business in the Community (BITC) in June 2014.

BITC is the Prince’s Responsible Business Network, a charity that works with businesses to build a fairer society and more sustainable future. Alstom's collaboration with BITC helped the company to significantly strengthen its CSR strategy in four ways:
    
Education and skills: Developing engineering skills for Britain’s future generations is a key principle for Alstom. And it’s why STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) education is a cornerstone of our CSR strategy. We have about 130 certified STEM Ambassadors who engage with young people to talk about the skills and subjects they need to prosper in engineering.

People: Our employees’ wellbeing is essential for business. So we aim to create a safe working environment that will nurture a healthy and diverse workforce – helping us to be a leading competitor.
    
Community: With over 30 sites across the UK, supporting local communities, either through charitable partnerships or supporting regional events is our way of giving back to the societies where we work.

Sustainability: Climate change, fresh water scarcity, emissions and waste all have a major impact on our world and our business. So we commit to reducing adverse impact by focussing on sustainable innovation and supply chains, as well as on helping create positive environments for local conservation and biodiversity activities.

These four pillars – education and skills, people, community and sustainability – all reflect our core values of team, trust and action. It's also important to note that all of these CSR activities are conducted by our employees in addition to their day-to-day responsibilities, and often in peoples’ own time. It’s an amazing effort.

Alstom is very proud of the focus and support everyone gives to CSR work, and of the continued work by company teams to show a true positive impact not just in business, but in the wider community.