Green Living: Sustainable jobs

While we might not normally have been thinking about expanding our team at this time of year, we were encouraged to do so by a new programme launched in association with the Department of Work and Pensions.

The Future Jobs Fund aims to match candidates who have been out of work for more than six months with positions in organisations with an environmental or social benefit.

In London the programme is being managed by Striding Out, which offers coaching and development to young entrepreneurs and runs an annual awards scheme for the 100 top young ethical businesses. It has been collaborating with Social Enterprise London to place 80 candidates so far, with the aim of reaching 500.

The benefits to the candidates are the chance to work in a progressive business which cares about environmental and community issues.

As a business, we receive funding to help towards the staffing costs for the first six months, so it's a real no-lose situation.

In the end the real winners will be taxpayers in London who will not only be contributing less to unemployment benefit but should also see a new generation of employees emerging with an ethical approach to their workplace.

Schemes like this used to be dismissed as the equivalent of convicts sewing mailbags, but by offering people an opportunity in socially minded businesses we can help to bridge the gap between unemployment and sustainability.

- Do you or your company have an environmentally friendly product or service you'd like featured in this column? Let us know by contacting Seventeen, a sustainable alternative for your event management needs, at andrew@seventeenevents.co.uk.