High Speed Training & the Community During COVID-19
4 min read
It goes without saying that the past 8 weeks have been a tough time for everyone. Here at High Speed Training, we count ourselves incredibly lucky to have been able to work from home, with only a few teething issues at the start.
One of the things that has been keeping us going is hearing all the positive stories, contributions and acts of kindness that many people are doing in light of the global pandemic. We’d love to share with you what we have been up to…
What Have We Been Doing During the Pandemic?
Sharing Advice & Tips
A large number of our staff are parents, and as a result are juggling work with being ‘back at school,’ so it was a pleasure to exchange tips and get creative inspiration.
Similarly, we’re a sensitive bunch and know the importance of looking after ourselves when the usual routine goes out of the window, so it was refreshing to hear tried and tested advice on how our fellow teammates are all getting used to a new normal.
Staying True to Our Mission and Values
The wider community is incredibly important to us as a business, so various members of the team and our dedicated ‘Giving Back Group’ were quick to adapt to virtual meetings to think about where we could give the most support.
Free Personal Protective Equipment Course for Frontline Healthcare Workers
As a training provider, education and learning are two of our passions. Our mission is to make sure that everyone is safe, effective and engaged in the workplace so we wanted to see if there was anything we could do to help during this time.
We already provided a PPE course, however, this was geared towards the protective equipment needed on construction sites or workshops and pre-dated COVID-19. Our customer facing teams answered a lot of calls regarding this subject in healthcare, with many looking for guidance surrounding what equipment to wear, when to wear it, how to put it on, take it off and how to dispose of it safely. Many of the people we spoke to were frustrated with the lack of specific guidance and were struggling to find clear information all in one place.
Fast forward 3 weeks and we produced a fully online PPE Course for Healthcare Workers, free for all frontline staff. We had nearly 1500 sign ups for the course before it went live, hundreds of which were for NHS workers. Now, two weeks after the course has been released, we have successfully trained nearly 1000 people in this field, completely for free.
Making the COVID-19 Business Pledge
The COVID-19 Business Pledge encourages businesses to use whatever power and resource they can to do good during this time.
For us, this was a no-brainer, as our fantastic employees, wonderful customers and valued community are so important to us. We are proud to have made the commitment to the Pledge, along with over 250 other businesses.
You can read more about the COVID-19 Business Pledge here.
How Else Are We Putting Our Mission & Values in Action?
We revisited some of our company objectives and have formed a new one: Ensure The Safety And Long Term Security Of Our Staff to reflect that this is, and will always be, a number one priority for us.
It is incredibly likely that we will see an increase in isolation, mental health and financial issues in our communities and more widely.
We also have a dedicated ‘Giving Back’ team who are in charge of our annual charity and volunteering budget and we wanted to make sure we could still support our chosen charities, even when we couldn’t be there ourselves. Here is a snippet of what they have been up to:
1. Fareshare
For every staff member at High Speed Training, we donated funds to provide families with meals for a week through the fantastic charity, Fareshare. Fareshare will use the money to feed those in the most urgent need.
Find out more about what Fareshare does here.
2. Participate
Our team had a great time volunteering with Participate last year, helping to build outdoor learning spaces and renovate gardens in local schools. We were really sad that we’d not be able to do the same this year and didn’t want this to affect the organisation.
We decided to donate the same amount that we would have spent if we still volunteered for the day and rest assured, we look forward to going back to volunteer with them when it is deemed safe to do so.
Participate has taken on an amazing new role in the communities of Bradford by making sure that essential items are being delivered. They are also using their van to drop off supplies and treats to front line workers at BRI. Find out more about them here.
3. NSPCC
The NSPCC is asking for £10 donations to help children during this difficult time. We based our donation on the amount of staff we have and the number of children in the average family, so we could help as many children as possible.
Safeguarding is incredibly close to our hearts and we felt a responsibility to help the NSPCC, so they can continue to support children who may be at increased risk of abuse or harm during this period. For more information, click here.
4. Hospitality Action
Hospitality is a close industry friend of ours and arguably one of the worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitality Action set up an emergency appeal to raise funds so they can supply individuals in the industry with grants. We have donated to support ten people who might be facing financial hardship as a result of the situation.
You can read more about what Hospitality Action does here.
There are more fantastic charities going over and above to support those who need it by providing food supplies. We donated Level 2 Food Hygiene for Catering courses to Fountain Foodbank and Kommunity Kitchen, in order to help them provide the much needed support in the safest way possible.
We’re hopeful that we have managed to make a difference during this truly awful time, and we definitely know that we are much stronger all together. It is a core part of our mission, vision and values to support our team and the community so we are still identifying more ways to reach the people who need it most.
Further Reading:
Post Author
