Our ethics

Making a difference

Footprint Ecology was set up to help balance the needs of wildlife and people. To do this most effectively we need to maintain high standards of professionalism and integrity. As ecologists we recognise the links between environmental sustainability and conservation and as humans we aim to treat our staff, clients, contractors and others fairly.

Sustainability

We aim to minimise our impact on the wider environment by:

• Reducing car journeys, for instance by having virtual meetings and using public transport as much as possible, facilitating hybrid working and encouraging Active Travel for our commutes
• We have a pool Electric Vehicle that is charged using renewables as far as possible
• Reusing and recycling stationery, batteries etc and closing the loop by buying recycled goods where we can
• Reducing energy used by office heating and equipment
• Aiming for net zero via reduction and offsetting via voluntary carbon offsets, choosing supported projects carefully

Ethical practices

• We aim to provide rewarding employment in a pleasant and fair working environment. We offer generous terms and conditions, and hope to develop our employees’ potential in the context of a fair and diverse workplace.
• We have a strong Health & Safety culture with open lines of communication.
• We treat our contractors fairly, with reasonable remuneration and prompt payment.
• When buying food and drink for the office and our training courses we aim to buy fairly traded or local, organic produce, from suppliers with similar ethical policies.
• We are careful to work with clients whose values are closely aligned with our own. We do not work for commercial developers.

Quality assurance

Understanding and meeting the needs of our clients is as important to us as undertaking original, independent work to the highest standard. To ensure we do this, we have a Practice Manager at the hub of our team of ecologists. Our Practice Manager uses project management techniques to ensure projects are managed smoothly and efficiently, and are completed to deadline and within budget. She takes control of the logistical element of each contract, whether it is planning timelines, organising events, scheduling fieldwork or submitting paperwork, meaning that all our administration is carried out by a professional.

We have a Quality Manual covering all aspects of our work and a Business Continuity Plan that is updated regularly and reviewed annually. We have a dedicated server where all files and data are stored, which is backed up online every hour. We are in the process of migrating all of our files to SharePoint. This ensures that we could recover from total loss of data and/or hardware within 48 hours. Our contingency planning means that if an unforeseen event occurs, it should not affect our ability to complete any contract.

Voluntary contributions to conservation

As part of our belief in contributing to the wider conservation effort, we ensure that biological data collected during the course of contracts is, with the client’s permission, submitted to the appropriate records centre. Wherever appropriate, and without infringing intellectual property rights, we make our work freely available to others. In addition to this, we also undertake voluntary work on a regular basis.