Our Environmental, Social and Governance strategy and business ethics at CJM in 2025.
Despite being a micro- company, we have made some amazing progress in terms of our Environmental, Social and Governance strategy and business ethics at CJM in 2025.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. It’s a framework used to assess how responsibly and sustainably a company operates – beyond pure financial performance.
- Environmental is how a company impacts the planet (e.g., carbon emissions, waste management, energy use).
- Social is about how it treats people (e.g., employees, customers, communities, supply-chain workers).
- Governance looks at how well it’s run (e.g., leadership accountability, ethical decision-making, transparency, risk management).
Improving ESG performance means taking intentional actions such as:
- Reducing environmental footprint such as energy efficiency and greener operations
- Enhancing social practices like employee wellbeing, diversity & inclusion
- Strengthening governance for clear policies, strong leadership oversight, transparent reporting
Overall it’s about making your business more sustainable, ethical, and resilient.
Just some of the things we are proud of doing in 2025 include:
- Conducted an ESG impact assessment, completed a refresh of over 20 ESG related policies and have developed a plan to track and measure our progress in key areas annually
- Carried out 18 separate community engagements by providing pro bono financial or advisory support to local Scottish organisations
- Supported over 50% of our staff members to gain a significant professional development or qualification in their respective fields by giving them paid and/or flexible leave to complete over 275 hours of training, as well as internal training to keep up to dateon responsible business policies.
- Registered as disability confident and have put a plan in place to increase the level of support we offer in 2026
- Conducted an employee Pulse survey to gauge the levels of employee engagement, with some amazing feedback including:
- CJM’s average overall job satisfaction rating is 9.43 out of 10
- We scored an average rating of 9.57 out of 10 employees recommending CJM as a great place to work
- We are proud to say that 100% of our staff either agree or strongly agree with the statements “I feel a sense of belonging and inclusion in work” and “I feel motivated to do my best work every day”
- We piloted a program offering all our employees 1 paid day off community volunteering every year, so they can support a cause that matters most to them
- Specific training courses were completed by all members of CJM staff so that we stay are all aware of best practice to conduct business in these areas, for example, this year our employees received tailored training in;
· Data privacy and GDPR to reflect legislative changes in 2025
· Neurodiversity to recognise and apply care when providing services
· Responsible business to embed the correct conduct
· Environmentalsustainability to increase awareness of ways to reduce our footprint and influence others to do the same
- 50% of our leadership team are female. We aim to maintain this.
- Conducted an anonymous diversity survey amongst our employees to analyse and actively improve diversity statistics in our workplace. After analysing the results, we supported this via specific training and procedural updates in 2025.
- We have a carbon reduction plan to half our carbon footprint by 2030. Last year we reduced our EPC rating by one band and switched to paperless. This year we reviewed our environmental policy and implemented staff sustainability training
We conducted our first ever Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey with our clients. We received 5 anonymous responses and scored 100%!
Testimonial
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Suzanne Smith Regional Manager dh Recruitment & Driver Hire, Fife – December 2023
I had 3 of my staff on your webinar this morning
. I was listening in and I have to say this has been one of the best training sessions I have ever heard.
Once they got in their heads to use what you were saying in our business lots of things clicked.
And a lot of what you said they were all saying 'that's what you say to us' so thank you for concreting that I give them good advise and training.Read more -
Jim, Northwood Central November 2023
This is the first Business Gateway seminar that I have attended and it will certainly not be the last. I missed the start so unfortunately I didn't pick up the presenter's name. He has a relaxed, easy style of presenting that I found to be very comfortable. He covered a lot of ground but made it easy to follow. Many of the things he said were reminders of things we should be doing rather than new things but this is great reinforcement. He gave us some really useful ways of considering things such as closing, developing a business plan and looking at things for the potential customer's point of view and considering why people buy.
Great seminar (10 out of 10)Read more -
Tom September 2023
Great presentation and really hit the mark for me. No nonsense, straight to the point. Will definitely take a lot of confidence from your advice.
Good luck for the future.Read more -
Lucy Todd Safe Place Beds EU. Rest Assured – August 2023
Thanks for all the help starting up. I still regularly dip into the BG webinars. They are really helpful.
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Hugh Lightbody Chief Officer, Business Gateway National Unit – May 2021
CJM have a wealth of experience and knowledge in the business support sector coupled to a pragmatic and practical approach. CJM are focussed on the customer and their friendly and approachable style ensures that clients feel supported, engaged and open to the considerable learning that they can share. CJM ensures effective delivery of the client brief and responds to the customers requirements, adding value to the process, and increasing the effectiveness of the work their staff engage in through the insight they bring to the table.
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Richard Campbell Business Team Manager, North Ayrshire Council – May 2021
The team at CJM provide an exceptional service to small businesses. The breadth of their expertise, professionalism and ability to build lasting relationships with small businesses, make them a great choice for growth, development and specialist financial advice.
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Craig Rutherford Business Team Co-ordinator, Business Gateway Fife – May 2021
CJM are a supplier on our Specialist Framework, delivering financial services to businesses in Fife. They are friendly, very helpful and diligent in providing a fantastic service. I would happily recommend them
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Rory Grosse Business Administrator, North Ayrshire Council – May 2021
CJM are 100% professional, easy to work with and perfectly balance delivering exactly what is promised with a method that is easy for everyone to follow no matter what their own level of understanding or experience is. CJM's approach is very flexible and always based around the individual needs of their clients, making them a reliably sound choice and a pleasure to work with. I would highly recommend CJM for their vast expertise and consistent excellence for any project.
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Christine Penman CMgr, FCMI – May 2021
CJM are highly skilled specialists in the field of finance. Their expertise in Project Financial Management, and supporting Economic Development and SME's is second to none.
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Kerry McGuire Business Adviser, North Ayrshire Council – May 2021CJM are a pleasure to work with. I would highly recommend them to anyone as I am sure they will impress with their knowledge, skills connections and professionalism.Read more
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Craig Hume Director, Utopia Computers – May 2021Talented and determined to get the best for the client. I was impressed with CJM's ability to understand the key drivers that were important to my team and connect them to actions that they could deliver.Read more
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Sandy Rose Project Analyst, SCMGCJM have provided expert advice, training and support to a range of clients from the private, public and third sector, assisting them to sustain and grow their businesses and organisations.Read more
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Oliver Buhlinger Head of Technology, New Intelligence – June 2021CJM have supported GO LEAN Ltd for the last two years, providing financial management, business planning, fundraising support and smart accountancy services. The service delivery is seamless and digitalised, and I can recommend CJM to any business owner or charity.Read more
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Nicola Cosgrove Investment Readiness Officer, DSL Investment – June 2021CJM go above and beyond to help clients especially when they are new start businesses and are still learning the world of business. CJM ensures both the business understands their financial planning and business plan but also that they are in a format for a lender.Read more
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Jacquelyn O’Brien Business Growth Adviser, - August 2021CJM have provided excellent advice to businesses, both large and small, in a wide variety of sectors including non-profits. They bring clarity to complex decision making with their superb technical knowledge and strong ability to communicate.Read more
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Willie Stewart Director, Stewart Travel Consultancy Ltd – May 2021CJM are consummate professionals and a pleasure to work with. They are knowledgeable, extremely well connected and will bring to you and your team a dynamic dimension that will add impetus to whatever they are tasked with.Read more
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Emma McConalogue Founder of Kesero – May 2021CJM's early direction and encouragement have been instrumental in going from idea to launching an MVP, which is where I am now. I would encourage anyone to take the time to talk to them.Read more
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Vicky Mustard Digital Marketing Strategist – May 2021CJM have considerable knowledge of many subjects and are continually looking for innovative ways to improve and help others succeed.Read more
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Alistair Hastie Owner/Managing Director, UK Storage Solutions Ltd – May 2021CJM provide us with an excellent on point service, allowing us to concentrate on what we do. Over 2 years later we are growing as a company and I would have no issue recommending CJM to any company, start up or existingRead more
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Laura Molloy MCIM Business Owner, Goody Foody Gardens – May 2021CJM are always professional, committed and goes the extra mile to help everyone. They have a great deal of integrity and I would recommend them to anyone.Read more
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Catherine Lawson Business Owner and Educationalist – May 2021CJM supported our small business through every stage; business planning, cash flow forecasts, financial management and funding applications. We can’t thank CJM enough.Read more
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Gary Ennis Trainer and Consultant, DigitalBoost – May 2021Professional but approachable, expert but modest. An excellent team to work with!Read more
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Susan Earle Chartered MCIPD, Associate HR Consultant, Connect Three – May 2021CJM are consummate professionals with a client centred approach. They go above and beyond to ensure that clients get the best standard of service in the most efficient way.Read more