In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, THE One Mushrif staff wore pink during their monthly breakfast bash on 8th October to highlight the importance of breast cancer awareness, education, and research of its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure.
We have a saying at THE One: Why just be a human being when you can be a human doing good? Our aim is to get involved and make a difference in the lives of the disadvantaged in our communities. We do this through organising regular Local Volunteering initiatives and participating in events in support of our chosen causes.
THE One currently employs 15 Challenged individuals, one of whom has been with us for over 15 years. What’s more, our three Emirati special needs employees are all celebrating 12 years with THE One this year! THE One takes every opportunity to hire Challenged Employees.
THE One’s refreshingly romantic Trendy Taupe home fashion style from their newly launched Autumn/Winter 2018 collection, puts classic femininity and understated opulence on the menu. The chic tone-on-tone colour palette of this gorgeously soft and sophisticated look creates a refreshingly light and airy feel for fall, with silver and antique mirror details and hints of soft pastels adding touches of elegance. The subtle shimmering wall design provides a charming layered backdrop for indulgently tactile fabrics, glass and copper pieces, elegant and graceful ceramics, while stylish crystal pendant chandeliers add the finishing flourish to a haven of understated opulence and sophistication.
In the past year, our Onederworkers reached out to our local communities through various volunteering initiatives. To name a few:
8 Onederworkers, of which 3 Challenged, volunteered as hosts at the ‘From One Family to Another’ opening event of the new Kalimati Communication & Rehabilitation Centre. The event was attended by His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan (Minister of Tolerance) and Hussein – the Arabic Super Star Singer.
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42 Onederworkers participated in the Abu Dhabi Mall Breast Cancer Awareness Event, for the 3rd consecutive year
41 Onederworkers participated in The Blood Donation Drive for Abu Dhabi Bloodbank
50 Onederworkers raised funds to be able to distribute 80 gift bags to the car cleaners of Dubai as part of Eid Giving
Our Onederworkers this year also reached out beyond their local communities of the workplace with our THE One Planet Plastic-free initiative. This initiative, featured on Instagram stories, saw our Onederworkers across a period of 4 months:
a) Create Awareness: through internal presentations at our huddles and tracking personal consumption of single-use plastic Onederworkers became Plastic Aware
b) Pay-it-Forward: Through the power of storytelling and Pay It Forward, we brought our awareness across to our children, their children, our families and friends
c) We took a pledge with our families and friends to break-up from single-use plastic under the motto: if we Can’t Re-use – We Refuse
d) We pledged to give up single-use plastic for a day, week or month during the Plastic Free month in July
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We work with the Rugmark Foundation – a private, non-profit organisation that ensures that each rug bearing its label has been woven without the use of child labour. A portion of the purchase price of all Rugmark carpets goes towards the education, rehabilitation, and healthcare of children who have been taken out of the weaving industry. A further portion is donated by the manufacturer towards aiding impoverished weaving communities and paying for inspectors to spot-check factories, the safety of looms and working conditions of the weavers. Rugmark has thus far established seven schools, a mobile health clinic and a rehabilitation centre caring for more than 2,070 students and employing more than 90 teachers and inspectors. Eighty-five percent of all rugs sold by THE One bear the Rugmark label.
The beauty of our CSR initiatives is that besides benefitting communities, our customers also benefit, as they can automatically Do Good whilst shopping with a company that has real values. They get to shop in a more caring environment with better service, as our staff members really care. And they get a better product for a better price because our suppliers care.
We believe that in today’s world, the best talent wants to work for a company that cares and allows them to make a meaningful difference in the world as part of their daily job. Companies without real values will not only lose their staff but also their customers. Our people are the soul of THE One and our first priority is to take care of them. We, therefore, provide our tribe members with security in a financially strong company and a friendly, supportive and rewarding team atmosphere rooted in our Core Values of LOVE, LIVE, DARE and BELIEVE.
We take pride in training our staff well and provide them with all the tools they need to perform, add meaning to their daily job, recognise and reward performance, and celebrate wins! The key is to engage and entertain.
By training our staff on our new ERP system and launching it in April 2018, internal processes have become more streamlined, increasing staff productivity and resulting in a significant reduction in customer waiting time in-store.
As an incentive for store teams, we created a unique product sale program that recognises and rewards performance on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. This company-funded programme builds team spirit by recognising and rewarding achievements by giving prizes, throwing parties and a whole lot more.
Finally, climbing from fourth place on last year’s list whilst having ranked in the Top 5 amongst multinationals for seven consecutive years, THE One took not only the top spot but Thomas
Lundgren was also named ‘Leader Of The Year 2017’ on the UAE Great Place To Work® List and was also rewarded the Most Responsible Retailer of the Year 2017.
Big on reusing instead of reducing our planet’s precious resources, we have a wide variety of eco-chic products. Like our Good Wood furniture collection that features wood from managed forests or plantations and not from illegal logging, or our eco-friendly candle ranges, made from sustainable soy and beeswax instead of paraffin.
Finally, we give shoppers a choice between degradable plastic shopping bags, chic denim tote bags, or a chance to help us reuse our packaging material.
At THE One we continue to find ways to differentiate ourselves from other brands and hold on to what makes us unique – being magical and meaningful.
We believe that the world does not need another retailer; we believe we need a better world. For 22 years we have been developing a solid reputation in engaging with society and empowering our communities to evolve. For us it’s not about the bottom line but about Creating Shared Value; benefitting People, the Planet and also our Profit, because the better we do as a company, the more good we can do.
As the company’s turnover is the funding source for our CSR activities, the better the business does the more good we can do. We will continue to make a difference by Changing the World Together as long as our home fashion fans continue to ‘purchase with purpose’ at THE One.
Challenges:
a) As a brand with CSR embedded in its DNA, how do we continue to build long-term loyalty over short-term wins?
b) How can we attract more engagement and social sharing to help advance a customer’s own personal values?
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