Employer Spotlight: Joselyn Rankin, Portakabin

Welcome to our most recent Employer Spotlight Feature! This feature is designed to give an insight into one of our members, to find out a bit more about what they do, and to give an insight into why employee-volunteering is important within their organisation.

This month’s feature is written by Joselyn Rankin, Head of Communications, Portakabin, who is also one of the York Cares Ambassadors for the organisation. In 2024, Portakabin are celebrating 10 years of York Cares membership.

Thank you very much to Joselyn for taking the time to write this feature, and for sharing your experience of York Cares membership. Here’s to the next 10 years of working together!

Joselyn writes, “Portakabin has been part of the York business community since 1961 and the Shepherd family have been a Yorkshire institution since 1890. Our International Head Office is located in Huntington, to the north of the city, where it delivers modular buildings across the UK, Ireland and Europe. A pioneer in offsite construction, Portakabin prides itself on growing its business in a way that is good for society.

Our vision is to always create positive social impact. We aim to be the employer of choice and a great place to work, in line with our values. We will support communities by providing jobs, interacting with local schools, supporting local wellbeing and contributing to charities and voluntary organisations.

Actively supporting the communities where we operate is integral for us to continue to grow and demonstrate being a responsible business. All Portakabin employees are eligible to take part in voluntary work within the community and are given one paid day (per calendar year) to do so. This time can be taken flexibly, one full day or broken down into hours to fit the needs of the volunteering activity, the employee and the business.

We see volunteering as mutually beneficial because; it can help colleagues develop a wide range of skills including teamwork, decision making, problem-solving and communication skills; improve their morale, physical health and work-life balance; and give something back to their local communities.

Portakabin also actively helps develop and create economically viable, cohesive communities by supporting young people in schools.

Together with the Responsible Business Champions (RBCs) from around the Portakabin business in the UK and Ireland, we have created a calendar of action for 2024. Our hope is that this will enable us to take local action on national topics and themes and we can improve the lives of the communities around us. We plan to do this by:

  • Arranging local collections for national challenges
  • Celebrating and supporting national initiatives and delivering these locally at the
    heart of our communities
  • Fundraising for national and local charities to heighten awareness.

Portakabin has been a member of York Cares for 10 years, and we have been on the York Cares board since 2020. We love the fact that the York Cares team are an extension of our own passionate group of champions.

Our RBCs know and communicate regularly with the entire York Cares team and we often help each other out where we can. Just recently our joinery department provided a custom designed sign for the Work Wardrobe and in a couple of months, the York Cares team will attend an Insight Day for our employees on benefits to support us in sharing some of the advantages of being a Portakabin employee!

To any organisation in York who isn’t yet part of the York Cares family, I would encourage you to reach out and have a chat with the team. Within weeks, you could be connected with a number of organisations in our city, many of whom will share the same challenges and aspirations as you. York Cares brings the businesses of York together, and creates a community where we all share a common ethos and work together to deliver brilliant things for our local area.”

If you’d like to feature your organisation as a future Employer Spotlight feature, we’d love to hear from you. Contact Georgia via info@yorkcares.co.uk for more information.

It’s our members who make the difference within the city, the more organisations we have
involved, the bigger the difference that can be made. For more information about York Cares membership and how to get involved, please contact Holly via info@yorkcares.co.uk.