When Doug and Mary Perkins set Specsavers up back in 1984, they just wanted to make a difference. Back then it was about making quality, affordable eyecare accessible to everyone, which was pretty life-changing for many people. Nowadays we still believe in changing lives through better sight, and now better hearing too, as we move towards our ambition to offer total care in the space of sight and hearing.
Since then we’ve grown quite a bit, with stores, teams, and customers all across the world. That’s why we’re challenging ourselves to make better sense of the role we play in the lives of the people we work with, the communities we serve, and the planet we all share. We’re looking at everything we do through a new lens to make sure we’re doing all we can to work towards our belief of changing lives for the better.
Our people
We wouldn’t be anything without our people. Our store colleagues are changing lives on a daily basis, along with the support teams across our offices and manufacturing sites. As a family-run business, we have family values deep in our roots which keeps us always striving for better.
So our plan is to provide more accessible careers, better care and well-being programmes, plus greater opportunities for volunteering so that everyone feels valued and supported and gets the very best out of their career with us.
We’re proud to have people from all walks of life working with us all across the globe and it’s important to us that we are a place we’re all proud to belong.
Our communities
A huge part of our heritage lies in the communities we serve across the globe. Our unique partnership structure means that every Specsavers store is owned and locally run by people dedicated to serving their local community. This drives everyone to deliver the best possible care for every person we see, often going beyond the day-to-day of their role.
Our store teams have always done an amazing job, but we think there’s always room for us to do more and play a bigger, more responsible role in society. So we’re pushing ourselves even further to make sure no one gets left behind when it comes to better sight and hearing, regardless of their financial or social situation. We want to reach those people that might not be able to access our services in the usual way to help them with any sight or hearing challenges that may be impacting their life.
Our planet
The one thing we all have in common is the home we share, and we all have a responsibility to reduce the impact we have on our planet, which is why it’s up there at the top of our list for change at Specsavers. After all, without our planet, there’s no us.
The first step on our roadmap to achieve net zero carbon emissions across our global operations and supply chain by 2050 is to reduce our operational (scope 1 and 2) emissions by 50% and our supply chain emissions (scope 3) by 25%, both by 2030. We have aligned our carbon reduction strategy with science-based targets which give us a clearly defined pathway to reduce our carbon emissions. These have been externally validated with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) a global body who defines and promotes best practice in carbon emissions reductions and net-zero targets in line with climate science. We will maximise the reduction of carbon emissions across our global business and our supply chain by procuring the residual carbon we need from renewable sources.
If all that sounds ambitious, well, it is. But we’re ready for the challenge and are committed to changing lives – not just through better sight and hearing, but with everything we do.
John Perkins
Sustainability Officer
