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1) The Body Shop gives its entire staff half a day off a month to do voluntary work in the local community. We're currently working with a charity called 'Habitat for Humanity', which runs team-building programmes that involve building houses in deprived areas. It's an excellent alternative to the usual kind of team-building activities which may help to build team spirit within the company, but don't really help anyone else.

2) At NatWest we've launched a campaign for financial literacy. More than 4,000 staff are going into secondary schools to help young people become more financially aware. So far, we've reached 71,000 pupils. As we see it, our community involvement is for mutual benefit - a healthy society is beneficial for the long-term health of our business.

3) When I was working for St James' hospital in Leeds, I got sent by Voluntary Services Overseas to Sierra Leone. Quite a lot of companies loan employees with particular skills for short periods. It's basically a business partnership scheme, with VSO acting as an agent to recruit specialists - not just doctors ……accountants, agricultural experts, engineers sent out to work in developing countries. The idea's to train or re-skill local people …. help people to help themselves.