IPA backs open letter from businesses in support of /together

Sunday 5 July marks the 72nd birthday of the NHS and the nation is going to come together to give thanks. Thanks to all those who have helped us through this crisis, those who have gone to work to keep us healthy and supplied, our neighbours who have looked after the vulnerable and the whole country for sticking with social distancing, even when it was hard.

As businesses we will be part of that moment because we too have many people to thank. Our colleagues, our suppliers, our customers and our communities. These have been difficult times for us all and we have only survived because of them.

But saying thanks is only the start. We know that this crisis will have long lasting and widespread ramifications with the potential impact on livelihoods as profound as the crisis itself. We know too that the only way we will get through this is if we build on the connections and community spirit, we have nurtured in the last few months to build a kinder, compassionate, considerate world that can support each other through the years ahead.

Businesses have a key role to play and as business leaders we are committing ourselves to doing all that we can to be part of building closer communities to build broader prosperity for all. What that will look like will be different for different businesses, and it might include supporting volunteering in the local community, providing resources to local community groups or helping our colleagues connect better with each other. We know that this will have huge benefits for both our communities and for our individual mental and physical wellbeing.

While the roles that we can play will be different, the outcomes we seek are the same: a closer connected society where we know each other better, are better able to support each other and where we build caring communities in which we all feel we belong. We hope that that will become one of the positive legacies of the devastating virus.