We focus on enhancing and expanding the social aspect of what we do for our staff, our customers, our suppliers, our funders and our community.
Education
We work with local schools, colleges and universities to offer work experience and training for students to help them learn more about topics such as:
- CV writing
- Interviews
- Commercial awareness
- Application forms
Alongside this, we provide expertise knowledge and information for our customers through informative blogs and help on our resource pages.
We also provide support and learning for our internal staff, providing apprenticeships and qualifications for employees to further improve their knowledge.
Community and Volunteering
We hold quarterly charity days to support charitable and good causes as well as offering employees 2 paid days leave a year for them to volunteer for charitable causes of their choice. This allows staff to donate their time and skills to support registered charities, non-profit distributing organisations or a social enterprise whilst reaping many benefits for themselves too!
Shire Leasing are also official sponsors of Blindvision’s keynote and motivational speaker, Steve Cunningham (pictured in photo). Steve has broken barriers in sport and beyond, including claiming title of ‘The World’s Fastest Blind Man’. By sharing his personal experiences and moving life story, Steve inspires and motivates businesses and the education sector nationally and internationally.
Culture
Our Workplace Charter provides a framework of standards for both Shire Leasing and all of our colleagues to follow. It sets out the support that we can all reasonably expect from Shire and the commitment needed from us all in return in order to enable us to deliver a quality service to all of our customers, internally and externally and for us all to benefit from a supportive and harmonious work environment.
We also hold events for employees throughout the year such as, Summer parties, Christmas parties, Employee Forum led days and more, we believe these events are important for staff to establish team building, relationships and a work life balance.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
Here at Shire Leasing, we are proud to have a diverse workforce which is inclusive and welcoming of everyone.
Our CFO, Helen Lumb, is also a board member of the Leasing Foundation, representing Diversity and Inclusion where she champion’s:
- Mental health
- Disability
- Inclusivity
- And more
Wellbeing
Shire offers support to employees by offering various training sessions, holding mental health weeks and making free support apps available for staff as well as being a registered mindful employer. We have held training days and events internally and externally, covering topics such as:
- Menopause
- Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Time To Talk
- Financial Wellbeing
We are working towards reducing our own environmental impact whilst using our products and market influence to support customers and our network in making positive changes.
Clean Air Zone
Through our Driving Clean Air programme, we work with local authorities to deliver government grants and subsidised interest finance solutions to UK SMEs so they can upgrade affordably and avoid paying clean air zone charges.
Tree For A Lease
Through our partnership with Play It Green, every new lease transaction we fund results in a tree being planted, supporting reforestation and reducing our carbon footprint. Since 2021, we have commissioned the planting of over 14,700 trees.
Low Start for Low Emissions
This scheme supports eligible businesses to make greener investments, by allowing green asset projects to be installed and deliver benefits without rental payments beginning for up to 6 months.
Reducing Our Own Carbon Footprint
We have recently upgraded our solar panels and installed led lighting within the business, amongst other environmentally friendly installations to ensure that we are always doing our part to help the environment positively.
Supporting Customer ESG Goals
In 2022, we was a winner at the Leasing World Customer Service Excellence Awards. Recognised for various pioneering initiatives allowing us to deliver flexible business funding solutions to British businesses as an enabler for positive change.
As a growing, profitable financial services organisation that does business fairly and responsibly, we are committed to supporting the growth of SMEs by providing them with affordable finance solutions.
Independent Funders
We’re are an independent funder and with an Own Book facility of over £185m, this gives us the flexibility to support a wider range of businesses.
In July 2023, Shire Leasing was recognised as a Top 50 Asset Finance company by Asset Finance Connect, demonstrating our strength and contributions within the industry. We have also been ranked as one of the top 10 firms with the highest percentage growth rates over the past three years, a testament to supporting UK SMEs.
Partners of the British Business Bank
The British Business Bank works with over 180 finance partners to unlock finance for smaller businesses, Shire Leasing included. Being supported by the British Business Bank means that we are committed to supporting British businesses and have helped over 60,000 customers since 1990.
Implementing our Vision and Values
Every employee works with the same values to achieve the same vision, and in doing so we deliver a first class service to customers. For example, our SLAs around underwriting times are 4 hours for a manual decision, but due to our efficient nature, our average time is actually 1hr 37mins. And with innovation in mind, we give approved vendors the ability to deliver instant finance decisions for a wide range of customers.