We aim to create a business that is ready for the future and where everyone can thrive, regardless of age and experience. We want to support and engage with customers and colleagues in building a more sustainable future for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Why we started...
We actually started as a Youth Board whose aim was to act as a voice for the younger colleagues across the business.
Over the years, the Youth Board took on a few different forms but we identified that all our ideas were focused around the future of Wickes - whether that’s the current young colleagues who are our future leaders, how we appeal to younger customers, or how the business can be more sustainable - and so we rebranded as the Forward Focus Network.
Future Focus
We are proud of the progress we have made so far:
We delivered several colleague focused events in 2022, to drive engagement on environmental issues across the business. These have included: Clothes donations, Waste awareness week for store colleagues, British Retail Consortium’s Climate Action Week and sourcing reusable cups for Support Centre colleagues to encourage people to reduce the number of disposable cups used in the office
Using our colleague learning and communication platform the Forward Focus Network created a Climate and Sustainability learning platform that brings together information about our broader Responsible Business Strategy, as well as updates from international climate conferences (for example COP 27), and giving access to learning materials.