Corporate Social Responsibility
This policy describes how Zest Assure, a trading name of Juicy Media Ltd, approaches corporate social responsibility. Juicy Media Ltd is registered in England & Wales under company number 05514688, is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration Z1589829), and has its registered office at DiSH, Heron House, 47 Lloyd Street, Manchester, M2 5LN. It applies to everything we do: building and operating the Zest Assure compliance platform, supporting our customers, and providing guidance on certification to ISO 9001, ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus.
Purpose
We build software that helps organisations manage compliance well — compliance workspaces, evidence management, reviews, assessor collaboration, staff training and audit-ready exports. A business whose product is trust has a particular duty to earn it. This policy sets out the standards we hold ourselves to across our services:
- Our platform — developing and running the Zest Assure service securely, reliably and accessibly, so that customers can depend on it for work that matters to their own certifications;
- Customer support — dealing with the people who use our platform honestly, promptly and with respect, and never overselling what the software can do; and
- Guidance — where we advise customers on security and compliance practice, giving that guidance responsibly, based on the published requirements of the relevant standards rather than on what is commercially convenient for us.
We hold ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certification ourselves, so the disciplines we ask our customers to adopt are disciplines we practise daily. Our broader commitments to the communities we work in are described in our Social Values Policy.
Compliance with UK laws and regulations
Meeting our legal obligations is the foundation of this policy, not its ceiling. We comply with all legislation and regulation applicable to our business in England & Wales, including company, employment, health and safety, consumer protection, competition, anti-bribery and environmental law. We handle personal data in accordance with UK data protection legislation, as set out in our GDPR Policy and Data Protection Policy, and we maintain our registration with the Information Commissioner's Office. Where the law changes, we change with it, and where good practice goes further than the law, we aim to follow good practice.
Environmental responsibility
As a software business we have a modest physical footprint, but not a negligible one: the infrastructure our platform runs on, the equipment we buy, the energy we use and the journeys we make all carry a cost. We work to keep that cost down by choosing efficient cloud infrastructure, extending the life of our hardware and disposing of it responsibly, minimising travel in favour of remote collaboration, and keeping our operations substantially paperless — something a digital evidence platform makes easier for our customers too.
Our detailed commitments, targets and measures are set out in our Environmental Policy and our Carbon Reduction Plan.
Social responsibility
Our responsibilities to people begin with the people who work for us. We are committed to:
- Fair employment — recruiting on merit, paying fairly, providing clear terms, and offering equal opportunity regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation;
- Wellbeing — maintaining a safe and healthy working environment, supporting flexible working, taking mental health as seriously as physical health, and investing in training and professional development; and
- Community — contributing to the Manchester technology community in which we are based, supporting local initiatives where we can add genuine value, and sharing compliance knowledge openly so that smaller organisations can reach good security and quality practice without excessive cost.
We do not tolerate slavery, servitude, forced labour or human trafficking in our business or supply chain; our position and the steps we take are set out in our Modern Slavery Statement.
Ethical business conduct
We compete on the quality of our platform and nothing else. In practice this means:
- Anti-bribery — we do not offer, give, solicit or accept bribes, facilitation payments or improper inducements of any kind, in line with the Bribery Act 2010, and we expect the same of our suppliers and partners;
- Fair competition — we do not disparage competitors dishonestly, misuse confidential information, or enter into anti-competitive arrangements; and
- Honest marketing — we describe our platform and services accurately, we do not claim that using Zest Assure guarantees certification, and we correct any material error in our published content promptly, as described in our Editorial Policy.
We choose suppliers who share these standards and we pay them on time.
Stakeholder engagement
We listen to the people our business affects. We gather customer feedback continuously through support channels and product reviews, and it directly shapes our development roadmap. We engage with assessors and certification bodies so the platform reflects how audits actually work. We consult our team on decisions that affect their work, and we keep suppliers, partners and our local community informed about changes that matter to them. Anyone can raise a concern about our conduct by emailing [email protected] or calling 0161 464 9252; we take every concern seriously and respond to all of them.
Reporting and continuous improvement
Good intentions need evidence — the principle our own product is built on. We set measurable objectives for the commitments in this policy, monitor progress against them through our ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 management systems, and review the results at management review meetings. Where we fall short, we record it, work out why, and act on the cause rather than the symptom. We report on our environmental performance through our Carbon Reduction Plan and publish updates to our policies on this website at www.zestassure.com.
Responsibilities and accountability
Responsibility for this policy sits at board level. The directors of Juicy Media Ltd own it, approve it, and are accountable for the resources and priorities needed to deliver it. Managers are responsible for applying it within their teams and for making sure the people they manage understand what it requires of them. Every member of staff is expected to act in line with this policy and to speak up — without fear of reprisal — if they believe we are failing to live up to it.
Review and update
We review this policy at least annually, and sooner if our business, the law or stakeholder expectations change in a way that affects it. The date of the most recent revision is shown at the top of this page. This policy is governed by the law of England & Wales. Questions about it can be sent to [email protected].