On Tuesday the 20^th of August, Sword welcomed the Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy to their Aberdeen HQ to discuss how the Scottish Business Pledge initiative is helping to boost  productivity, engagement and company growth.

The minister sat down with the Sword team to find out how the Scottish Business Pledge initiative was positively impacting the working environment and supporting employee development within the business.

Kevin Moreton, Sword COO said  “We are delighted to have had the opportunity to sit down with the minister to discuss the positive impact that Scottish Business Pledge initiative has had on our business as whole.  Since committing to the business pledges, we have seen an increase in workforce engagement levels, a boost in productivity along with company growth within the market.”

Debi Brockett, Sword Account Executive added “Signing up to the Scottish Business Pledge initiative was important to us, we wanted to demonstrate our business alignment with the wider Scottish Public Sector community, as we share the same values and are truly committed to improving the delivery of Public Services through Technology enablement”

Last year, Sword joined the 500+ Scottish business in committing to a number of the Scottish Business Pledges as part of the value-led partnership between Scottish Government and Business in Scotland.

The pledges set out to build stronger businesses in Scotland and incorporates a shared ambition of boosting productivity, competitiveness, sustainable employment, and workforce engagement and development.

The pledge is built on the following key aims:

• a commitment from the Scottish Government, and its partners, to support sustainable business growth in Scotland
• a voluntary code of business practice which you can use to guide and boost the future development of your company
• a mutual pledge to ensure that prosperity, innovation, fairness and opportunity develop hand in hand in Scotland

There are 9 pledges in total, covering the following:

1. Adhering to the real living wage
2. Avoiding the use of zero hour contracts
3. Encouraging positive workforce engagement
4. Providing flexible working and a balanced workforce
5. Investing in young people through apprenticeship/internship programmes
6. Innovation through the creativity and exploitation of new ideas
7. Exploring opportunities through Internationalisation
8. Giving back to the local community
9. Efficient and prompt payment of invoices/bills

Sword is fully committed to actively encouraging workforce engagement through the implementation of employee engagement programmes along with providing a Health and Wellness scheme for staff.  Sword support a balanced workforce by offering flexible working and are a Microsoft accredited Diversity and Inclusion Partner.

Sword adhere to the real living wage and avoid the use of zero hour contracts. Sword also provide prompt paymentof invoice/bills to all of their suppliers and partners.

Sword has a strong focus on investing in young people and the community through engagement with local universities and participate in graduate programmes along with giving back to the local community through regular, planned activities.

Sword operate internationally and deliver services from its UK bases to Europe and the Middle East which supports Scottish Energy sector customers.

For further information about the Scottish Business Pledge, please use the link below:

Sword deliver Digital Transformation, Information Management and IT Support services to the Energy, Public and Commercial sectors throughout the UK.   

For more information, contact our Marketing Team on +44(0)131 300 0567 (ext 567)