“The environment is really not negotiable – it would be difficult to stand by Squad’s mission of “pursuing great results for our talent, businesses and the community by making an impact in others’ lives” – if we weren’t caring for the environment in some way.”
Kellie Howard, CEO
Squad is a community-minded Not for Profit organisation delivering employment, training and HR solutions to individuals and businesses for over 40 years. They joined Carbon Positive Australia in 2022 as a community partner, planting a tree for every customer and employee commenced to support the philosophy of their “Growing Your Future” campaign.
CEO of Squad, Kellie Howard, talks about how the plant a tree initiative started.
What are the inspirations behind your campaign?
As CEO I attended many strategy-focussed webinars during the 2 years working from home. The common thread in many of these sessions was the 3 P’s of business – profit, people and planet.
Squad has spent a considerable amount of time building our people and creating programs to see them thrive.
Squad is a not-for-profit, so the Profit P is different in our organisation, but we felt this is under control, particularly with my CPA Finance background.
The last P – Planet led to a few 3 am wakeups and required further thought – the usual solar, and electric cars were off the table. During a team meeting one of Squad’s team mentioned that an apprentice or trainee was a real solution for the business as it gave the business an opportunity to grow its own. This simple statement got me thinking. We came up with the idea of “growing your future”. It fits perfectly with Squad’s organisational purpose to grow people’s careers and skills. Bri Anson our marketing coordinator, researched and found Carbon Positive Australia, and the fit was perfect. It was more practical and impactful than our original idea of sending a pot plant to businesses over the East Coast of Australia which ultimately would increase Squad’s carbon footprint.
Why is caring for the environment important to you?
The environment is really not negotiable – it would be difficult to stand by Squad’s mission of “Pursuing great results for our talent, businesses and the community by making an impact in others’ lives” – if we weren’t caring for the environment in some way.
How is your organisation involved in other environmental or social initiatives?
Squad’s community focus sees us working with Youth, Women in non-traditional trades, and employees from culturally diverse backgrounds with a focus on regional communities.
Our partnership with Carbon Positive Australia is our first environmental initiative, and we hope to see many more native trees in the ground over the coming years.
To find out more about Squad visit https://www.squad.org.au/.
