Sledge has expanded its team, relaunched the company’s values, and enhanced its sustainability plans.

The agency has enlisted the support of a specialist sustainability consultant, who is collaborating with the team over a ten-month period to develop the agency’s existing sustainability vision, goals and roadmap.

Actions include developing a Sustainability Management System (SMS), which incorporates International Best Practice, the UN SDG’s, GRI Standards, and B Corp – which recognises companies that are employee owned as structured around an Impact Business Model, and a Responsible Client Decision Tree.

The focus is on ensuring Sledge has a robust process in place, which can be applied when team members are assessing the risks and opportunities associated with a project.

Meanwhile, the project team has been strengthened with the appointment of Megan Hughes to the role of project manager, who brings several years’ experience to the agency, and in keeping with Sledge’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of talent, Seán Higgins joins as a new grad, taking on the role of Project Executive.

The appointments follow the recent promotion of Rebecca Shanks to creative services director. As one of the agency’s longest standing employees and a trustee to the Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), Shanks collaborates with the board and her colleagues to enhance Sledge’s internal culture to the benefit of its people on an ongoing basis.

Sledge transitioned to an EOT in November 2022, and all employees have played a pivotal role in integrating the core tenets of the EOT throughout the company. Key steps have included re-evaluating its values as a collective to ensure they reflect Sledge’s core DNA of people, planet and entrusted growth, and launching Squads, whereby team members meet on a monthly basis to share ideas and feedback for communicating with leadership.

Sledge MD Sarah Yeats said: “Becoming employee owned is about much more than a badge of honour. For us, it means ensuring our people are actively involved in shaping the future of the business to their benefit, those of our clients, and the planet, and these recent actions are just the beginning of what will be a continuous development and enhancement process.

“Our recent team promotions and appointments are inextricably linked to the EOT, whereby Becca plays a vital role in its implementation, meanwhile both Megan and Seán, who we’re thrilled to have join us, embody our new values and core DNA.”