Dawnus firmly believes that our operations should bring tangible benefits to the communities where we work. This belief is reflected throughout our Company both in UK and internationally through local sustainable employment, training, community initiatives, sponsorship and charitable giving. This is firmly in line with our Corporate Social Responsibility Policy.
Employment
We employ locally by region and aim to place employees on projects close to their homes where practicable and appropriate. Our 2011 UK staff turnover was 0.1% which we feel reflects the commitment we provide to our employees and which they in turn reciprocate. We also increased our staff numbers from 1218 in 2010 to 1842 by the end of 2011, many of these being Sierra Leone Nationals working under fair trade conditions on our civils and infrastructure project in their country.
Training
In the last 12 months Dawnus has provided approximately 3820 training days, excluding NVQs and CPCS/CPCS training, this has increased from 2150 days in 2010-11. We have exceeded our target of 90% of site employees holding CSCS and CPCS qualifications, with 99% of site employees now holding these qualifications. We have been awarded a Platinum Certificate of Commitment by the CITB for our performance on the scheme.
Sponsorship and charitable giving
Dawnus provides sponsorship to many sports clubs and teams. We have recently embarked on a three year partnership with the Llanelli Scarlets Next Generation which is a programme designed for developing the skills of young rugby players and have also provided shirts and sponsorship to several local football, rugby and cricket teams. We also worked with Swansea City Football Club last year to arrange for the donation of 800 football shirts to children in Sierra Leone. Other affiliations include the Wooden Spoon Charity which helps raise money for disadvantaged children and the RNLI for whom we have raised money through numerous initiatives over several years.
Community
As an organisation as a whole and on individual projects, we endeavour to involve ourselves in the local communities affected by our works. This ranges from volunteering to clean beaches, or the gutters of a local church, providing marshals for a charity cycling event, donating bikes to local youth centres, taking on local apprentices and tree planting, to climbing the three peaks to raise money for charity. Our Good Neighbour Score for the Considerate Contractors Scheme averaged 4.5 /5 in 2011 which reflects the level of involvement in the local community displayed by our project teams.