• Be an employer of choice – adopt good employment practices throughout your business

• Support local employment – through your recruitment and training activities

• Buying locally – strengthening the local economy by sourcing goods and services from Watford-based suppliers

• Support the local community - focus your social value activities locally

• Adopt a green approach – embed environmentally sustainable practices

The Watford Business Pledge is open to all organisations based in Watford. They can be of any size and looking to make a positive impact. Whether you’re a start-up, an SME, or a well-established enterprise, this initiative provides a platform to connect, learn, and grow while contributing to the prosperity of the local community.

Why you should get involved:

• Positive brand: be recognised for being a responsible business

• Productivity gains: employers benefit from improved rates of productivity when employees feel valued

• Recruitment and retention: staff feeling valued and supported in the workplace can result in greater loyalty and lower staff turnover

• Competitive advantage: be a leader and advocate for best business practices

• Investor appeal: 4 out of 5 personal investors say that they will act based on sustainability or social responsibility factors

• Build you local business profile and increase brand reputation

• Your application content can be repurposed for tenders when bedding for new contracts or investments

• Find ways to extend your good practice by learning from other Watford Business Pledge organisations

What you get for being involved:

• Have a case study made for you and shared on various platforms

• Exclusive networking opportunities with key business leaders and local government

• Promotion through media and council channels to showcase their commitment to social responsibility

• Use of the Watford Business Pledge logo to enhance their brand and demonstrate credibility

• Support and resources to help meet pledge commitments and progress through recognition levels

• Feature in the Watford Business Newsletter

There are three award categories, businesses can be a Supporter, Member or an Ambassador of the Watford Business Pledge. Organisations will have the opportunity to apply for any level and the Watford Business Pledge Assessor Panel will determine if the organisation meets the requirements.

• Supporter - an organisation becomes a Supporter if they can demonstrate that they have a clear plan to meet all the Pledge criteria relevant to their size of organisation. The organisation may have already met some of the criteria but not all the criteria across the 5 Commitments.

• Member - an organisation becomes a Member if they can demonstrate that they have met all of the criteria across the 5 Commitments.

• Ambassador - an organisation becomes an Ambassador when they have met all criteria across the 5 Commitments relevant to their size of organisation and demonstrably act as an ambassador for the Pledge around one or more if its 5 Commitments by supporting other business on their journey. There are a wife range of ways through which this can be demonstrated. Please head to the Knowledge Hub to find out more.

There are three award categories and the Watford Business Pledge Assessor Panel will assess each application based solely on the information provided.

The Assessor Panel members are representatives from Watford's business community and economy stakeholders.

Assessor Panel: Saffron Johnson of Watford and West Herts Chamber of Commerce, Chris Luff - Watford Chamber of Conscience, Jeremy Freeman - Business Brainbox, Lisa Clark - iSales Academy and Liza Armstrong of Hertfordshire Growth Hub.

Book a 30 minute meeting with the Economic Development team! They can meet you via Teams or come and visit your premises.

During this meeting the team will answer any questions you have about the Watford Business Pledge and can provide you with information about business support and upcoming events. The team can also be your first point of call for the Council and put you in contact with the other departments.

Contact the team today to book your meeting! economicdevelopment@watford.gov.uk