In 2009/10, 420 Moat employees took part in a ‘community day’ and gave up their time to venture into a Moat community and undertake a project to benefit the residents who live there. These projects varied from community centre refurbishments to rough sleeper counts and in total Moat gave up approximately 300 working days, equating to 2,100 hours and approximately £25,500 of value.
The value of these days lies not in any monetary cost but in the evident benefit to the Moat communities involved. A resident whose community facility was redecorated said that the refurbishment would allow the centre to “continue to serve us all well for many years to come”. A sheltered housing resident at a scheme who enjoyed a Moat organised Christmas party, said; “We told Moat that we wanted to get together more often at organised events and find out more about the company. It was great to meet different Moat staff and find out about other parts of the organisation.” Perhaps most rewarding of all is the feedback from a supported housing resident whose home was cleaned up and redecorated who said that he “feels much happier and can relax and enjoy (his) home again”.
Moat’s chief executive, Brian Johnson, says; “The community days were a huge success and we plan to run the programme again this year. The programme emerged a triumph, with employees returning to the office wishing that they could have remained with residents, meeting different faces and providing housing support in a completely different manner than is always possible in their day to day roles.”