Thursday 11th November is Social Enterprise Day 2021. This is of particular interest to me as we run Cordell Health as a social enterprise, committed to reinvesting profits to create positive social change. Our business is driven by a social mission, changing the employment focus from disability to ability.
Social enterprises are businesses that want to change the world for the better. Like traditional businesses we aim to make a profit but it’s what we do with our profits that sets us apart.
A different model for occupational health
When we formed Cordell Health I wanted to look at delivering occupational health differently; my husband and co-founder Robin Cordell felt the same way. We identified the need for a dynamic business offering bespoke evidence-based advice to employers. We developed a strategy to lead on clinical excellence in workplace health and wellbeing, and remove, wherever possible, the barriers to employment faced by those with disabilities and long-term medical conditions. We built an unrivaled service of specialist expertise, working proactively with HR and managers to promote workplace health and wellbeing, and enable employees to work productively and happily.
People are our products
Occupational health is ultimately a people business. We not only consider our staff to be our greatest asset, but we actively empower them to be the best. We reinvest a proportion of our profits into our staff, to inspire and motivate them in working towards our common purpose: the delivery of exceptional occupational health services.
The logic is simple. The more we reinvest in our own social enterprise the further we can extend our framework and resources to support those businesses and employees who couldn’t otherwise afford access to our services. The more we grow, the more we can fulfil our social mission and deliver value more broadly in society too.
Driven by making a difference
Making a difference was one of the values that attracted us to the social enterprise model and it’s been something that has been more important than ever this year. At Cordell Health we’ve been providing regular Covid-19 briefing notes and have created a bank of free support resources for employers. It’s something that we’ve invested heavily in as we strive to help employers and their people stay as safe as they can throughout this on-going pandemic. If you are interested in our Covid-19 resources, please visit our website here.
More about social enterprises
Cordell Health are in good company with over 100,000 social enterprises in the UK, contributing over £60 billion to the UK economy and employing over two million people. Well known examples include The Big Issue, Divine Chocolate and the Eden Project – but they exist in many sectors from consumer goods to healthcare, community energy to creative agencies, restaurants to facilities management.
The common link, as it is for us, is that they want to change the world for the better and, as part of this, pledge to reinvest or give away at least half of their profits or surpluses towards their social purpose.
Find out more about social enterprises, and Social Enterprise Day 2021, here.
Dr Nikki Cordell
November 2021
