Cleaning services company morphs into social enterprise

Within a five-year plan, the company says it will reinvest most of its profits in due course into social programmes across education, employment, and healthcare.

The family-owned business, with revenues of £840 million, employs 125,000 workers annually in schools, hospitals, care homes, security and specialist roles such as engineering.

It believes it is “this powerful multi-sector reach that can deliver a lasting social impact by direct engagement and by redistributing its wealth to a majority – at an individual and society level – not just a minority of shareholders, driven solely by profit”.

Cordant has already capped all executive salaries at 20 times that of the lowest-paid worker and has agreed to be independently audited, using recognised Social Impact measurements.

While Cordant’s businesses will operate as normal, it says these changes will enable it to reinvest profits into key initiatives, including:

• A teacher programme being developed by international education expert Richard Gerver to examine the link between the classroom and life/work preparation.
• IT platforms offered at zero cost for the healthcare sector, enabling hospital trusts to offer shifts directly to doctors and nurses, saving the NHS millions of pounds.
• Partnerships with key clients focusing on upskilling and training for the temporary workforce to drive productivity but deliver deeper satisfaction.
• The creation of a profit-share scheme for staff.
• Ongoing investment in technology to better connect pupils to apprenticeships, workers to jobs, and patients to doctors and carers.

Guy Pakenham, managing director at Cordant Cleaning, said: “This initiative is unique in the cleaning industry and is a further differentiation for our business. We believe it will benefit our colleagues, workers, customers and their related communities, adding further value to our industry leading solutions.”

Chris Kenneally, CEO, Cordant Group, added: “It is business as usual at Cordant, but with one key difference – profits will now be used to deliver a broader prosperity, benefiting society as a whole and not just our shareholders. Whilst we believe this is an important moral position given the overwhelming response, we also know it will be positive for our businesses and drive efficiency, productivity and profitability. Our key customers are keen to work and partner with us on a journey that will create deeper relationships and returns.”

In 2015 the Cordant Group launched Cordant Services, comprising of four service provider divisions in cleaning, security, technical and specialist services.