The group acknowledges Volunteers’ Week every year and sets community-connected targets for itself. 

By the end of May, OSB Group’s colleagues logged more than 1,700 hours of volunteer work in 2024. This equated to 243 working days that were dedicated to supporting local communities, with the help of 46 organisations across the UK. 

The group found it was more than halfway – 52% – towards meeting its target of 3,300 hours of volunteer work this year. 

OSB Group has set itself an aim of ‘being better neighbours’ and believes this can be done not just by donating money, but also giving up time, skills and expertise. To demonstrate this, its employees are entitled to 14 hours of volunteering time each year and are encouraged to use these up to give back to communities. 

Various causes have been supported through this initiative, with colleagues volunteering with gardening, as well as helping at food banks and animal sanctuaries. 

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OSB Group has formed an ongoing relationship with Friends of Di’s Kitchen, a food bank in Wolverhampton. 

Victoria Bladon (pictured, right), an underwriter at OSB Group, has organised 177 hours of volunteering support for the food bank and manages the relationship between the firm’s employees and the organisation. 

Bladon has also arranged regular food donations to the organisation. 

She said: “We are all experiencing the impact the cost-of-living crisis is having, but some members of our local community are really struggling to feed themselves and their families, and that’s where Jan and her wonderful team of volunteers at Friends of Di’s Kitchen come in, providing food to people in need across Wolverhampton.

“Luckily OSB Group gives us the opportunity to help our local community with 14 hours of volunteer work each year, which we have been putting to great use.”

Bladon added: “Our team of volunteers at OSB have been giving a few hours each week to help deliver the food, and it’s having such an amazing impact on the community. As of 23 May 2024, Friends of Di’s Kitchen have supplied food to 100,000 guests.”