Sainsbury’s participation in Red Nose Day on 13 March 2009 also saw customers and colleagues help the company donate £11 million to Comic Relief an increase of 45 per cent over the previous event. We are the charity’s largest corporate partner having donated over £40 million in the past ten years.
Highlights during the year
Comic Relief: The £11 million donated to Comic Relief this year will help to support some of the most vulnerable people in both the UK and the developing world.
Active Kids: We have now donated over £70 million worth of sports equipment and experiences to schools, nurseries, Scouts and Girlguiding UK groups through our Active Kids scheme which was launched in 2005. In March 2009 we donated £18 million worth of equipment and resources, with more than 150,000 young people trying a new physical activity as a result. We are on target to donate £100 million worth of equipment by 2011.
Food donation: In 2008/09 we donated over £5 million worth of surplus food to a network of charities across the UK through our Food Donation programme.
Job creation: During the year ending March 2009 we generated 5,000 new jobs by opening 11 new supermarkets, 20 new convenience stores and a number of store extensions. We will continue our programme of store development in 2009/10 generating 6,500 additional jobs.
Alcohol: From September 2009 we will be introducing a Think 25 policy across all of our stores, further encouraging the responsible sale of alcohol.
A great place to work
Being a great place to work is rooted in Sainsbury’s heritage and values. The Company was one of the first shops to actively recruit women in 1914 and we set up a training school in 1915 initially to help women do the jobs of men away at war. It was so successful that other retailers started advertising for ‘Sainsbury’s-trained’ colleagues. We are committed to championing inclusion, diversity and flexible working and we aim to recruit, retain and engage colleagues from backgrounds that reflect the communities we serve.
Our colleague development programme ‘You Can’, combines established and new initiatives to support job opportunities for the long-term unemployed and disadvantaged and skills development for new and existing colleagues. Launched in November 2008 it offers colleagues development opportunities from support with literacy and numeracy through to Level 2 NVQ qualifications.
Highlights during the year
You Can: We now have over 2,000 colleagues participating in You Can. 760 colleagues have been recruited in 2008/09 by providing job opportunities to the long-term unemployed and disadvantaged, whilst around 1,300 colleagues are now benefiting from the online skills, job-related qualifications and apprenticeship opportunities offered through ‘You Can’.
Colleague bonus: 120,000 colleagues will share a bonus of £60 million this year bringing the total amount paid out over the last four years to over £210 million. The bonus scheme is linked to the delivery of great service and product availability as well as overall sales and profit measures.