An organisation that puts the well-being of its people and our planet at the heart of their operations
The Reef-World Foundation — the international coordinator of the UN Environment Programme’s Green Fins initiative — has been selected for The Escape 100, a well-known campaign highlighting the top purpose-led organisations to ‘escape to’ in 2023!
Beating some 14,000 other company nominations, Reef-World has come out top thanks to their inspiring mission, positive impact and flexible working environment – ranking alongside social enterprise giants like Too Good To Go, Origin Coffee, Rude Health, FLOWN, City to Sea, HereWeFlo and Finisterre.
The charity prioritises a Culture of Care within the organisation that sits at the heart of decision-making. Reef-World is an exemplary marine conservation organisation and is considered a leading voice on sustainability in the marine tourism sector. They are determined and fully committed to ensuring that Reef-World also continues to be an exemplary employer, attracting and retaining champions of marine conservation today and tomorrow.
The Escape 100 campaign was started by Escape the City. While on their mission to help 1,000,000 quit their corporate jobs and find work that matters to them and the world, they began to wonder: what actually makes an organisation different, forward-thinking, and impactful? They came up with a scoring system of 6 criteria (Impact, People, Mission, Planet, Innovation and B-Corp) to rank companies, including anonymous employee reviews – and ‘The Escape 100’ was born.
This campaign comes at a key moment in working history. Since the pandemic started, employees all over the world have been given time to think about what really matters to them, and are increasingly prioritising finding new meaningful, flexible and forward-thinking work environments (as reported by The Times). In Escape the City’s recent survey of 1500 job-seekers, 89% want a career with a clear sense of purpose (up from 71% in 2015), with 73% saying that their reflection time during the pandemic has made them reevaluate their path. Furthermore, for 74% of professionals, a flexible working location is the primary barometer they use when choosing a new role.
Dom Jackman, Founder of Escape the City, explained further: “The job market is still dealing with the impact of the pandemic, and job seekers will have to work harder than ever to find opportunities that align with their values. This list has been designed to rank organisations on the metrics that really matter. What are they doing to save our planet? How do they look after their people? What problems are they solving? These are all things that job seekers want to know in 2023, and we hope this list helps talented people discover interesting opportunities and organisations that they might not have found otherwise.”
The Reef-World Foundation’s Operations Director, JJ Harvey, commented on what the campaign means to the charity: “Being recognised for the 3rd year in a row and ranking 6th in the world is a testament to our dedication to ensure that our staff feel valued, respected and continue to receive job satisfaction working at Reef-World. We continually strive to become a forward-thinking organisation that delivers on our goals and commitments to our stakeholders with fresh approaches and not being afraid of steering away from a “normal approach.” This approach is not only applied to our programmes of work but also internally and carries over to our culture of care for our team. We wouldn’t be where we are without the hard work and dedication of the staff, and their wishes must be respected and listened to. We can only grow and evolve with both ears open, and that’s what we intend to continue to do. We appreciate there is still lots more we can do as we seek to ensure we are all working in a fair and equitable work environment.”
James Greenhalgh, Digital Strategy Manager at The Reef-World Foundation, commented: “The Reef-World Foundation is a phenomenal place to work where everyone’s contribution is valued, and our team is able to punch well above our weight in terms of conservation impact. It has been an absolute pleasure to contribute to Reef-World’s output for the last 3.5 years.”
