This week, we sat down with our Social Value team to understand how they have been driving community engagement on-site with Public Sector clients and local partners during lockdown. We explored what Social Value means to us, why it’s important and what types of activities we have been supporting our clients with.

What does Social Value Mean to Matrix SCM?

Social Value is all about using our resources to support the communities of our Public Sector clients. In our unique position as a Neutral Vendor Managed Service Provider, we have access to volunteers from the recruitment industry who are happy to donate their time and skills to support people in their search for work. Through working with our supply chain, partners and clients, we run CV writing workshops, practice interview sessions and take part in various careers events.

Why is Social Value Important?

For Matrix SCM, Social Value is vitally important as it helps us to become a partner with, not only our Public Sector clients, but also a partner to their communities and residents. This gives us a greater understanding of our clients’ needs and an opportunity to support the amazing communities we work in.

What Impacts has Covid-19 had in Being Able to Deliver your Social Value Plans?

The Covid-19 lockdown has changed the way we deliver social value. Before lockdown we tried to be out and about and visible in the boroughs and communities we support. However, since the restrictions on travel, we have had to re-think. Where we previously would have delivered workshops in schools, community centres and libraries, we have now taken to running workshops online. Workshops have turned into webinars and we have seen incredible levels of engagement as our Public Sector clients do everything they can to support their residents.

What are the Key Priorities from a Social Value Perspective that Customers are Focusing on?

There has been a definite focus on setting people up with the tools they need to be able to find and apply for jobs online. We have had a lot of interest in our remote workshops – especially ‘Using LinkedIn to Find Work’ and ‘Updating your CV for Online Job Searching’.

“I have found that our customers are pleased to have another resource to use to support their residents in this particularly difficult time.”

Siobhan Goss, Regeneration Manager, Matrix SCM

What are the Key Activities that Customers are Currently Undertaking?

The activities that are popular with the customers at the moment are anything that helps people feel better equipped for finding work online. ‘Using LinkedIn to Find Work’ and ‘Updating your CV for Online Job Searching’ have been very popular sessions across different groups in the community.

What Social Value Project are you Most Proud of?

The work we have been doing with Work Redbridge from Redbridge Council is definitely something to be proud of. Before lockdown, we had a series of interactive workshops booked in to run at Redbridge Central Library, called ‘An Intro To…’. These workshops were designed to share insight into different industries for job seekers who were choosing a career path.

As lockdown was put in place, it was clear these sessions could no longer go ahead as originally planned. We worked in partnership with the amazing team at Work Redbridge to quickly change the content of these sessions to meet the current needs of their clients and support them during this difficult time. Last week, we kicked off a series of 6 webinars designed to support their clients online job search.