systems has been significant, even in such a short space of time. According to David Curtin, Quality Officer with
Lipton, “Rehab Recycle has totally changed our waste management.
One of the items we were trying to recycle was plastic that had been stained during our manufacturing process. Rehab Recycle found a way of getting this recycled and were the only company to provide an alternative to landfill.”
Rehab Logistics staff in Limerick. R ehab enteRpRises’ aReas of operation have diversified considerably over the years and are now centred on recycling, logistics and retail. Recent substantial investment in its processes, systems and people, both in Ireland and further afield in Europe, have given it the capability and reach to confidently support the needs and requirements of its commercial partners irrespective of scale.
Corporate social responsibility is something that many companies take into consideration when developing their strategic business plans and, in this regard, Rehab Enterprises is the perfect partner. Martin Reddy,
General Manager of Rehab’s electrical and electronic reuse and recycling operations, believes that companies do business with Rehab not only because they can be sure of a job well done but also because they want to support the employment of people with disabilities. He says,
“We’ve had positive testimonials from organisations such as AIB, Microsoft and Symantec, among others, who have had good experiences working with us. Being able to say that your company supports Rehab can have a really positive effect in encouraging others to do business with you. It shows your company cares.”
Lipton Operations Manager, Fergal
Moloney, highlights the effect the CSR aspect of working with Rehab Recycle has had on the company from within but also from further afield. He says customers appreciate and value its association with Rehab Recycle and the commitment of Unilever to a sense of social solidarity, but he has also detected a change in the morale of the company’s workforce. “Our staff are happy to see Rehab coming in. They know the kind of work
Rehab does and that we are giving something back to society in a way.” When businesses take CSR into consideration they try to align corporate needs, such as profits and revenue, with social needs, such as community and the environment.
Rehab Recycle, the recycling arm of
Rehab Enterprises, works with Lipton
Soft Drinks Ireland, a member of the
Unilever group. Based in Carrigaline,
Co. Cork, Lipton employs 32 workers in the high season and 22 workers in the low season and makes concentrate for Lipton Ice Tea. They began working with Rehab Recycle in March of this year recycling plastic, cardboard, and confidential materials.
The effect on Lipton’s recycling
In Limerick, Dell works with Rehab
Logistics, Rehab Enterprises’ manufacturing, assembly, warehousing and distribution arm, on the production of keyboards for their computers. Rehab Logistics provides a flexible keyboard printing service that covers tampo printing, silk screen printing and laser printing. Rehab also works directly with Dell and its supply base to provide a quick-turn service on product screening, testing and repair.
Pat Fogarty, Procurement Manager at Dell, is especially impressed with
46 Rehab News | Winter 2011/2012

Rehab Group recognises the benefits of corporate social responsibility for the people who use its employment and educational services.
the highly professional and efficient service provided by Rehab Enterprises’ operations. “Rehab provides a very efficient and flexible service. Given the language complexity that exists in Europe, it is critical that we have a local quick-turn, responsive partner that can quickly respond to our needs and ensure zero impact on our customer base. Rehab is very professional and constantly responds positively to the challenges we present to them.”
Rehab’s employment of disabled people fits neatly into the CSR ethos embraced by Dell. According to Fogarty, it is one of Dell’s “core values to build an inclusive organisation. The company believes in embracing diversity in the workplace and ensuring that everyone can achieve their true potential.”
This core value is borne out in Dell’s other activities as they ensure that candidates with disabilities and special needs have full access to the hiring process. Dell is also linked with the University of Limerick in providing mentoring to third level students with a disability. While the CSR benefits of working with Rehab Logistics are substantial, Dell recognises that they choose Rehab
Logistics, first and foremost, because of its excellent service. “In choosing a partner like Rehab Logistics we benefit from the professionalism, delivery, quality and talent of both the organisation and its employees.”
The work placements undertaken by those who use
RehabCare's services and students of National Learning
Network’s Employer Based Training course can be hugely beneficial for their careers and their efforts to enter, or in some cases re-enter, the workforce. The businesses in question become closely linked to the community in general and help the students to gain experience of being in employment, to hone their skills and to build their CV.
“It is important for National Learning Network to recognise the contribution made by the very many employers who provide work experience placements to our students,” says Eoin Kelly,
Area Manager, National Learning Network, Model Farm Road,
Cork. In May, for instance, National Learning Network in Cork held its fourth annual Employer Recognition Awards in the River Lee
Hotel, Cork. Over 30 employers and businesses were presented with certificates of recognition. According to Eoin, “The Employer
Recognition Awards provide us with an opportunity to promote the concept of supported learning in the workplace as an example of corporate social responsibility working hand in hand with experiential learning.”
Corporate social responsibility has incredible advantages for the disabled people who receive supported employment from the Rehab Group and those who take part in Employer Based
Training in National Learning Network. As a result, the Rehab
Group recognises those businesses that promote corporate social responsibility and would like to increase their level of community involvement.
Geraldine Maguire is Senior Sponsor of the CitidisAbility network with Citi, host to one of ten SMILES Newsagents shops dotted around the city of Dublin. She says “Citi globally is very diversity-focused; we have a number of employee networks covering diversity programmes and one of them is on disability.
“When Rehab came to us we thought it was a great opportunity because people just see it as a shop, they don’t see it as a Rehab shop, they see it as a SMILES
Newsagent. That is the whole point of what we are trying to do, we are aiming for engagement of people of all abilities so that there is no longer any difference.”
CSR has its benefits, including improving how a company is perceived in the community and its workforce’s mood.
As a result, doing business with Rehab Enterprises makes commercial sense and allows a business to achieve its
CSR objectives by being associated with an organisation that provides employment for people with disabilities.
Dell, Lipton, and Citibank, among many other companies, have clearly enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, the benefits of working with Rehab Enterprises. Considering the diversity and depth of Rehab Enterprises’ ventures, there are likely to be many others that do business with Rehab
Enterprises in the future. n
John Mullins, CeO, bord Gáis and president of Cork Chamber of Commerce,
(second from left) presenting Ms elaine bermingham, Manager, Model
Farm Road Childcare, (third from left) with a certificate of recognition at the recent employer Recognition awards held by national Learning network
(nLn) in holyhill, Cork. also pictured (left to right) are eoin Kelly, area
Manager, nLn; anna O’Donoghue, student; Donal Kerr, Regional Director,
FÁs and June Morley, employer based training Co-ordinator, nLn.
www.rehab.ie | Winter 2011/2012 47