Leading specialist services firm Kingdom is recognising this year’s White Ribbon Day on Friday 25 November with a special event at its national support & command centre, Kingdom House, Newton-le-Willows. The purpose of the event will be to encourage as many of its workforce as possible to sign up to become Ambassadors for the charity and play an important part in ending abuse and violence towards women.
A large proportion of Kingdom’s workforce are based out in the community, working in roles including security and litter enforcement, meaning there is often the opportunity to help prevent violence and abuse, or report it when it is happening.
White Ribbon is a global campaign that encourages people – especially males – to act and change the behaviour and culture that leads to abuse and violence individually and collectively. To wear a White Ribbon is to promise to never commit, excuse or remain silent about male violence against women.
Kingdom signed up to become part of the White Ribbon initiative earlier this year, leading to several high-profile members of management enrolling as an ambassador.
Kingdom IT Director Steve Jackson, who is part of the initiative, and a White Ribbon Ambassador, is encouraging other Kingdom colleagues to take part and get involved.
Commenting on the plans, Steve says: “I’m one of the first ambassadors at Kingdom, but the aim of the event later this month is to encourage as many of our other 7,000+ colleagues across Group to sign up and then for it to snowball from there. The more of us that sign up to be ambassadors, the bigger the difference we will be able to make. I’m looking forward to encouraging more of my colleagues to get involved.”
Steve Jackson is keen to give advice on keeping safe from a cyber perspective and changing cultures and habits to keep everyone safe at work and at home.
The White Ribbon initiative works by encouraging people to sign up to be Ambassadors and Champions. This requires all Ambassadors and Champions to sign up to the White Ribbon Code of Conduct.
Anthea Sully, Chief Executive of White Ribbon UK, says: “White Ribbon accredited organisations can make a real difference towards ending violence against women by promoting a culture of respect and equality, amongst their staff and wider communities.
“By raising awareness among employees, people can learn how to become allies and call out violent and abusive behaviour when they see it, at work and outside.”