Member Article

Yorkshire tech firm pays staff to undertake NHS volunteering

Elland-headquartered technology specialist Vapour Cloud has decided that colleagues from throughout the entire business will be given paid leave to undertake NHS volunteering and support the fight against COVID-19.

CEO Tim Mercer announced today that everyone will be granted up to half a day of paid time out per week to ‘do their bit’.

The move follows the launch of the Government’s appeal for 250,000 people to support the 1.5 million vulnerable residents unable to leave their homes for the next 12 weeks in a bid to shield themselves from the virus.

British citizens in good health have been asked to assist with shopping, deliver medicines, telephone the housebound and, where they have a career background in the NHS, return to the front-line. And – at the time of writing – more than half a million have already signed up.

Speaking about the decision to support the ‘national effort’ called for by Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Vapour’s CEO Tim Mercer said: “As the UK community continues its battle against COVID-19, it’s certainly a time to ‘dig deep’ in whatever way businesses and individuals possibly can. From pressing ahead with pioneering engineering and tech research, to donating to food banks in the local community and simply applauding the efforts of frontline NHS workers, there are many ways for people to come together.

“Offering paid leave for colleagues who take time out to ‘do their bit’, is another little gesture – put forward by our head of cloud services and NHS volunteer Craig Holmes – to help us stick together as a nation and provide support when it’s needed. I hope as many colleagues as possible will take advantage of this opportunity to give something back.”

Last week, Vapour also announced that free technical consultancy was also being offered to support businesses of all shapes and sizes with the shift to remote working.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Katie Mallinson .