Responsible Business

We are building a business we are proud of

We have set ourselves targets to improve our environmental and social performance in the areas that are most important to our customers, colleagues, communities and investors.

By delivering these, we will help to deliver our purpose of helping the nation feel house proud.

For more details on our approach to being a responsible business, please visit our corporate website.

Homes

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Environment

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People

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Products that support sustainability

We are increasing the number of products that help make your home more energy efficient, whilst continuing to provide great value and brilliant customer service. We already sell products like insulation and energy-efficient light bulbs that help people to save energy. We have recently launched new product ranges for solar power panels, air source heat pumps and electric vehicle charging accessories.

We have an interactive guide on our website to help you create an Energy Efficient Home. We also provide information to help you save money by saving energy, which is independently verified by the Energy Saving Trust.

To help you when you are deciding what to buy, our website highlights additional credentials for our Wickes-branded products that support sustainability. You can then find further information on each of these in the product details section of each page.

Responsible sourcing

As a retailer, we have a bigger impact on the environment through the sourcing, manufacture and transport of the products we sell, than from our own operations. We are committed to upholding human rights, promoting positive working conditions and making positive choices that will reduce our impact on the environment throughout our supply chain.

99.8% of all the timber we sell is certified as responsibly sourced by either the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

We have stopped sourcing bagged compost containing peat, and we offer peat-free alternatives that perform well at great value. We also do not use peat in the compost used for the plants we sell.

Climate change

We are cutting carbon from our stores, transport, and supply chain, to do our bit in the fight against climate change. We have set targets to reduce our carbon emissions and take us on our journey to achieve net zero. We have solar PV panels on the roofs of seven stores. We have plans to fit more, as well as switching from gas boilers to air source heat pumps.

Waste and recycling

We produce a lot of waste from our activities - managing this is a huge area of focus for us. During kitchen and bathroom installation projects, our waste partners collect the waste from our customers' homes and take it for sorting into waste that can be recycled and waste that can’t. And from our stores, we also collect a lot of packaging waste which we send for recycling.

If you have waste batteries or small items of waste electrical equipment, you can also return these to your nearest Wickes store for recycling.

It is important to us to also look at how we can reduce waste being produced in the first place. We are phasing out single-use plastic bags. We give the money we raise from the plastic bag charge to our charity partner, The Brain Tumour Charity.

Packaging

Packaging plays a critical role in looking after products so that they reach you in a safe and good condition. We are working to reduce the amount of packaging we use while ensuring your products are protected.

First, we are focussing on our own brand products by doing away with all unnecessary packaging and ensuring that all our packaging is easy to reuse or recycle. We are also increasing the amount of recycled material in the packaging that remains.

Community and charity

We are incredibly proud of our support for charities and local community projects. We encourage colleagues to get involved with our local communities through fundraising and volunteering. Through our Wickes Community programme, our colleagues can support local community projects by providing product donations. We are also raising £2 million for the Brain Tumour Charity between 2023 and 2025.

Health, safety and wellbeing

We make it our priority to ensure that everyone who works and shops with us goes home safe and well every single day. We also want our colleagues to thrive at work and in their daily lives and we are working hard to create an environment that helps protect our teams’ physical and mental health.

Diversity and inclusion

At Wickes, we’re building a space where anyone - no matter who they are or where they’re from - can feel at home. We believe that creating a more inclusive and diverse place to work benefits all parts of our business, including attracting and retaining great people to work with us.

For more information on our approach and current vacancies, please go to our careers website.

Career development

We are passionate about creating a great place to work and committed to building skills in our local communities and providing development opportunities for upskilling our workforce to best serve our customers. We currently offer a range of Apprenticeships from Levels 2 to 7 and we were the first national retailer to launch an Installation Apprenticeship scheme in response to the identification of a skills gap of kitchen installers and strong demand for skilled tradespeople.