Sage
We, the undersigned, commit to honour the Armed Forces Covenant and support the Armed Forces Community. We recognise the value Serving Personnel, both Regular and Reservists, Veterans and military families contribute to our business and our country.
The Armed Forces Covenant
An enduring covenant between the people of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Government and all those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the Crown and their families
The first duty of Government is the defence of the realm. Our Armed Forces fulfil that responsibility on behalf of the Government, sacrificing some civilian freedoms, facing danger and, sometimes, suffering serious injury or death as a result of their duty. Families also play a vital role in supporting the operational effectiveness of our Armed Forces. In return, the whole nation has a moral obligation to the members of the Naval Service, the Army and the Royal Air Force, together with their families. They deserve our respect and support, and fair treatment.
Those who serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, and their families, should face no disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial services. Special consideration is appropriate in some cases, especially for those who have given most such as the injured and the bereaved.
This obligation involves the whole of society: it includes voluntary and charitable bodies, private organisations, and the actions of individuals in supporting the Armed Forces. Recognising those who have performed military duty unites the country and demonstrates the value of their contribution. This has no greater expression than in upholding this Covenant.
Section 1: Principles of the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant
1.1 We Sage will endeavour in our business dealings to uphold the key principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, which are:
- no member of the Armed Forces Community should face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial services compared to any other citizen;
- and in some circumstances that special treatment may be appropriate especially for the injured or bereaved.
Section 2: Demonstrating our commitment
2.1 Sage recognises the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families bring to our business. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, by pledging to the following:
- Armed Forces Friendly
- UK Service Veterans And Leavers
- UK Service Spouses And Partners
- Flexible Leave For Spouses
- UK Reservists
- UK Cadets
- Armed Forces Charities
We also pledge the following:
Promoting the fact that we are an armed forces friendly organisation by; - displaying the AFC on our UK website, intranet and relevant correspondence; - publicly celebrating our internal military community as well as those currently serving by support Armed Forces Day, Reserves Day and other Armed Forces events; - developing our internal military network further to create a supportive culture within the business towards the Armed Forces Community and a platform from which we can advocate internally. Continuing to support the Amazon Web Services re:Start Program as a key delivery partner by; - employing a full time military program manager to support the veteran/spouse/reservist candidates into the workplace through the Sage Military Mentoring Program; - providing free and discounted Non Regulated Qualifications in Sage Computerised Accounting to graduates of the AWS re:Start Program. - actively seeking businesses to provide placements by advocating the benefits of recruiting military talent and supporting the Armed Forces; - supporting participating organisations with free mentoring advice and training; Seeking to support the employment of veterans young and old by; - working with CTP, the Officers Association and X-Forces in order to establish a tailored employment pathway for Service Leavers, including the Wounded, Injured, Sick. - attending CTP and QA Careers events and hosting insight days specifically for Veterans and Service Leavers Striving to support the employment of services spouses and partners by; - endeavouring to find alternative employment within the business in another location if they need to relocate to accompany their partner. Supporting our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve forces by; - granting up to 10 additional paid days annual leave to accommodate mandatory training in line with current company policy. Additional activities can be taken as either annual leave or unpaid leave at a line manager’s discretion. Offering support to our local cadet units, either in our local community or in local schools by; - supporting employees who volunteer as Adult Cadet Instructors and supporting their annual training by allowing them to use their 5 days volunteering entitlement. - advertising Sage apprenticeships to Cadets. Supporting military charities and events by; - continuing our support of the Invictus Games with the multi year partnership of The Invictus Games foundation (signed 2016) - enabling employees to use their 5 annual volunteer days to help with the delivery of the Invictus Games. - supporting the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal by selling by poppies in our offices and observing the 2 minute silence on Armistice Day. - continuing our backing of military charities, in line with the support (18000 raised for Hire a Hero) demonstrated in 2017; - developing our support of other military charities in line with company policy. As a partner of X-Forces, Sage will work with X-Forces to support armed forces start up and scale up businesses as they develop to reach their potential.
2.2 We will publicise these commitments through our literature and/or on our website, setting out how we will seek to honour them and inviting feedback from the Service community and our customers on how we are doing.