SPINNING FOR SUCCESS IN THE WORKPLACE
Harris Lamb has signed up for its first charity activity of 2020 by pledging to cycle 500 miles in the run up to International Women’s Day to support the Smart Works charity.
Spin 2020 will see 15 members of the team take part in the fundraising initiative to support the charity’s work with unemployed women in need.
The UK charity provides high quality interview clothes and interview training to unemployed women in need. Women are referred to Smart Works from organisations such as job centres, work programmes, prisons, care homes, homeless shelters and mental health charities. Half of the women put into contact with the charity have been unsuccessful in over 20 applications, and a third have been turned down from over 50 jobs.
After giving each woman an overhaul in terms of their personal image, the charity provides one-to-one interview coaching, after which 64 per cent of clients go on to get the job they apply for.
Abi Linford, who signed Harris lamb up to the challenge, said: “Smart Works has organised this to raise awareness of its work with unemployed women throughout the UK,and to help fund it. Last year, 138 teams took part, raising £72,000 for the charity, and having attended a number of Smart Works events, we decided it was something we wanted to take part in.
“While plenty of the Harris Lamb crew are no strangers to the saddle, some of us have a more fairweather approach to our exertions, and as such, we’ll be bringing stationary bikes into the office for the challenge, which starts on February 28th and ends on March 8th. It’s a fantastic initiative to both build relationships within our teams and the confidence of those women that Smart Works supports, and a very fitting event to coincide with International Women’s Day.
“The objective is to have teams of five notch up 500 miles during the challenge period, and we’re putting together three teams. Given how competitive some of our team are, I imagine it will turn into a battle of wills between the groups as they try to better the other; which can only be a good thing for Smart Works. We’ve set ourselves an internal fundraising target of £500, and we’re raring to clamber on board before and after work, and during our lunch breaks, to get things underway,” she added.
Image: iStock/gradyreese