At Hallgarten we believe that our responsibilities lie beyond delivering quality wines at every price point to the wine trade. We also have social and environmental obligations which we take seriously, and we are committed on making a positive impact across these areas in our business.
- People
- Sustainability
- Charitable Work
People
Investors in People
Investors in People is the international standard for people management, defining what it takes to lead, support, and manage people effectively to achieve sustainable results. Hallgarten achieved the standard in 2018 and again in 2021. In 2023 we were proud to achieve Silver accreditation, demonstrating our firm commitment to achieving success through realising the potential of our people. We will continue to look to make improvements, and our aim is to achieve Silver in 2023.
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Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
At Hallgarten we want to build and support a diverse and inclusive workforce, as well as influence the wider wine industry in this area by listening, learning, collaborating, and acting. This includes the implementation of an internal Equity, Inclusion & Diversity team to drive conversation and help implement a number of initiatives both internally and externally. Our aim is to attract individuals, from staff to suppliers and customers, to work in our industry who otherwise may not have the opportunity or confidence to do so. We recognise that people from different backgrounds have differing commitments outside of the workplace, be it family, religious observance or health needs, and as such seek to be accommodating of such needs through flexible working. By partnering with the wider drinks industry and associated groups we hope to make a change, reducing barriers and broadening general access to wine.
Wellbeing Team
We are acutely aware of the importance of looking after our people, and an important area is their mental health and wellbeing. We want to promote a positive culture by encouraging people to talk more freely about mental health, and help reduce the stigma of mental health in the workplace. Hallgarten has a team of four trained Mental Health First Aiders, made up from across the business, who are available to speak to confidentially at any time, and who can offer support or advice. As well as sending out regular bulletins with advice and tips to the business, the team also holds regular drop-in sessions for those in Head Office or remotely who want to have someone to talk to.
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Apprentice Programme
Hallgarten & Novum Wines’ 18-month ‘HeadStart’ Apprenticeship programme inspires the development and growth of new talent within the wine industry, providing a 360-degree calendar of activities for an individual to gain an understanding of the wine sector from vineyard to table. The HeadStart apprentice will experience all aspects of the Hallgarten & Novum Wines business, from time at head office in Luton with the customer services, finance, marketing and supplier management teams, as well as experience within the business’ nationwide sales teams, and through to “hands-on” harvest with one of the company’s key European partners.
Hiring Process
We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to the equality of opportunity for our current and future employees irrespective of their gender, age, race, disability, marital status, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We encourage internal mobility and career development in our organisation. Our adverts can be found via industry specific and mainstream recruitment channels. We work with partners that believe in a similar ethos, and CVs are anonymised to focus our recruitment efforts into reviewing a person’s skills and experience against our requirements. Candidates will experience a two-stage interview process with honest feedback and insights into our Company.
Our 5 values are Partnership, Positivity, Passion, Progression and Pride. You will find a collaborative, supportive friendly team at Hallgarten Wines which gives you the platform to succeed and grow.
Sustainability
At Hallgarten...
We believe sustainability is about making a positive impact in everything we do, from how we act as an organisation to the way in which we deliver wines and services to our customers.
We know that our supply chain operations impact the environment; however, we are committed to sustainability and sustainable operations, which will not only improve our environmental footprint but also reduce costs. We have a cross-functional group – the ‘Terroir Team’ – who report directly to the senior Management Team on our sustainability initiatives with monitoring and action throughout the year. We are ISO14001 accredited and want to go further with our sustainability efforts as we head towards our ‘Net Zero’ goal. Our next milestone is to gain carbon neutral accreditation (Scopes 1, 2 and 3) by the end of 2024.
We are proud corporate members of both the Woodland Trust and Butterfly Conservation organisations.
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With Our Producers...
We endeavour to work with producers worldwide who are actively engaged in exploring ways to combat the potentially catastrophic events brought on by climate change. This may be by improving biodiversity in the vineyard, looking at different grape varieties more capable of withstanding climate extremes, ways of conserving water, use of renewable energy sources or a myriad of other initiatives. We are happy that many of our producers are already sustainably certified, and when looking at potential new suppliers, we lay great emphasis on their sustainable credentials.
In 2023 we introduced our own Hallgarten Eco Standard, based on replies to a comprehensive sustainability survey sent to our producers and against which we have been able to rate them as Gold, Silver or Bronze, depending on their stage in their sustainability journey. This is an ongoing project, and we will continue to monitor our producers against this Eco Standard, to encourage them to achieve the next level.
Charitable Work
We are passionate about engaging our workforce in our ongoing Community Matters projects. For several years, we have been supporting a local hospice – Keech Hospice Care, which is based very close to our head office in Luton, with staff volunteering their time to help in various hospice projects. We also support a second charity each year, and this year we are supporting The Alzheimer’s Society. Organised and energised by our ‘Community Matters’ team, we help to raise vital funds for both these charities by hosting raffles, cake bakes and other fundraising initiatives.
Hallgarten & Novum Wines will continue to offer support to The Keech on an ongoing basis. However, the ‘Community Matters’ team will annually review the other charity that the company will be supporting for the following year. Suggestions for any other charitable and community-led initiatives from any employees are always welcome.
We support The Drinks Trust, committed to improving the quality of life for vulnerable people from the UK drinks industry, and we are a member of drinkaware supporting alcohol awareness and responsible drinking.
