Employer Spotlight: Leanne Cooper, Head of Intermarket Supply, Nestlé UK & Ireland
Welcome to November’s 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 Leanne Cooper, Head of Intermarket Supply, Nestlé UK & Ireland and York Cares Board Director. We are incredibly grateful to Nestlé for their long term and their involvement across all of York Cares’ programmes.
Thank you very much to Leanne for taking the time to write this feature, and for sharing your experience of York Cares membership. Here’s to many more years of working together!
Nestlé, formerly Rowntree’s, has been an integral part of the York community since the 1860s. Our legacy includes iconic confectionery brands like KitKat, Aero, Yorkie and many more, loved both in the UK and worldwide.
Today, our site on Haxby Road is home to a 24/7 confectionery factory, offices, a distribution warehouse and the Nestlé Product Technology Centre (NPTC). The NPTC is Nestlé’s global centre of excellence for research and development in chocolate, sugar confectionery and biscuits. The site has also just become home to the Cereal Partners Worldwide Research and Development Centre.
As a major employer in York, we want to make a positive impact on the local community where we can. Everybody at Nestlé is given two days leave each year to volunteer for good causes. In York, that’s potentially more than 4,000 days a year where we can give back to the city.
Volunteering is an essential part of Nestlé’s commitment to making a positive difference, but importantly, it also provides our employees with the chance to develop new skills, engage with the community and creates a sense of pride.
A key part of this is our work with York Cares which enables us to connect our employees to community projects where they can have the most impact. We’ve been a Board member since 2016 and I joined the Ambassadors in late 2023. For me, it’s about giving back to the local community and encouraging my colleagues to do the same.
In the past year, the Nestlé team has got on board with various initiatives organised by York Cares. One of the first events I got involved in was the Shimmer and Shine Christmas party. We donated food items, raffle prizes, and volunteered our time to ensure the event ran smoothly. It was lovely to hear stories and fond memories of Nestlé and Rowntree’s from former employees and their family members.
We’ve also participated in donation drives with York Cares, including the Christmas collection and Work Wardrobe initiative, which allows colleagues to donate workwear they no longer wear for people looking for employment. Additionally, we donated 500 Easter eggs to provide our Older Neighbours across York with a special Easter treat. We’ve taken part in Environment and Sustainability initiatives, such as spring clean events and Big Community Challenges.
We got involved in the Girls: Enrichment and Motivation for Success project, which aims to empower secondary school-age girls facing challenges such as confidence struggles, academic difficulties, social pressures, and a lack of accessible role models. Through workshops, employer visits, and future career planning, GEMS provides these girls with opportunities to develop their skills and confidence.
To any organisations that are not currently members of York Cares, I would say that being a part of York Cares offers a great opportunity to give back to the community in which we work and live. It not only benefits the community but also supports the well-being of our employees.
It’s also a wonderful way to connect with other businesses and organisations in the area and it gives people a chance to collaborate with like-minded individuals and make a collective impact on the community.
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.
