CDW’s Steggles: 'A good CSR strategy attracts talent, promotes equality, and improves company culture’

VAR giant’s UK sustainability and social value manager talks about the benefits of giving back on a corporate level and the importance of social inclusion

The number of hours that CDW’s people are spending on social impact initiatives has grown 100 per cent year-on-year, and there are more people getting on board every year.

Jon Steggles (pictured below), sustainability and social value manager at CDW UK, said the VAR’s workforce had clocked up 4,515 hours’ worth of volunteering in 2024 for a huge range of organisations, and 2025 was set to be even bigger.

“We have been working with marquee organisations like the Sick Children’s Trust, the King’s Trust, but also a long tail of another 50 or so organisations where we helped deliver a range of opportunities from upskilling and improving life opportunities, through to the preparation of meals for those who have nothing,” he said.

“This year we have also added partnerships with London Zoo, Cancer Research UK, Woodgreen Animal Shelter and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust to name just a few.

“We are leveraging our relationships with vendors like HP to undertake mass cleanups. Last year it was Brighton beach, this year’s event is in Manchester at the end of August and will see our teams joined by customers for the first time. Also, our partnership with Dell saw teams from CDW taking part in its annual four-day management challenge, this year raising £6,500 for the Talent Foundry,” he added.

Steggles said the act of volunteering brought many benefits for mental health and well-being, but from a company perspective, it brings real business benefits.

“There’s stacks of empirical evidence that a strong [corporate] social conscience is a reason for a Millennial or Gen Z to join an organisation; and a lack of clear impact in the communities you serve can be a reason why you don’t attract and retain the best talent. So this is something we are heavily focused on,” he explained.

“We want to continue to expand our reach into new areas as well. There are so many areas we can have an impact. We are massive on digital equality. We are huge on closing the digital divide because that leads to better social mobility. I’m particularly proud of the work we are doing to address inequality. Talent is everywhere and you don’t need a first-class honours degree from Oxbridge to have a really impactful, compelling and advantageous career in the tech sector.”

CDW’s annual work experience programme represents a further strand to the firm’s community commitment, he added. Scaled from one event to three this year in Manchester, London and Peterborough, the weeklong programmes immersed more than 30 young people in CDW’s daily operations, with sessions from sales, finance, ESG, marketing, AI, solutions and more. Learners also completed a capstone project focused on a business challenge which culminated in a Dragon’s Den-style pitch to a panel of senior leaders.

Steggles said he remains shocked that gender parity still does not exist in the industry.

“Why is our industry not attracting more female talent and what is it we need to do? There is still a perception in schools/education establishments that careers in tech are about building stuff, coding and being left brained. We know that our industry is wider than that.

“We need to do a better job of saying ‘you don’t have to be a ‘geek’ to work in our industry’ – you don’t need to really understand technology for 70-80 per cent of the roles that are available,” he said. “And then we have other factors to think about such as accessibility for those with disabilities and including neurodivergent people.”

Size doesn’t matter

While it may be easier for companies the size of CDW with large budgets at their disposal, Steggles said smaller channel firms can still make a big difference and have their own CSR strategy.

“The first thing to do is make a start. It may sound obvious, but what do you want to be recognised for? What skills, capacity and expertise do you have in your organisation that will bring value elsewhere in the community?,” he said.

“Every organisation has people with unique skills that can make a difference to others, so you don’t need to be investing hundreds of thousands of pounds. It is about finding your purpose and relevance.

“One of the great things about CDW’s volunteering programme is it is non-prescriptive. Yes, we are running large scale programmes and yes, we have curated lists of opportunities. But if someone wanted to go and volunteer in their local charity shop for a day, they can. They might want to do something outside the traditional nine to five and that is fine too. There is always an organisation or event that can benefit from what you can offer. And that is a great starting point.”