Hitachi

Construction Machinery company Hitachi joins South Tyneside Pledge

Formed over 50 years ago, Hitachi Construction Machinery UK Ltd is a supplier of construction machinery which provides specialised solutions to customers and is renowned for high quality and advanced technology. The company is part of a wider global organisation, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with approximately 25,000 employees worldwide.

Hebburn-based, Hitachi has a desire to recruit locally and has recently expanded into new space to meet rapid business growth, adjacent to its existing South Tyneside HQ at Monkton Business Park .

As well as signing up to the South Tyneside Pledge, the company has taken a number of steps to support both current employees and new recruits as they look into expanding further in 2023.  

Sara Whittaker, Health and Wellbeing Coordinator at Hitachi , was recruited in April last year and is taking a lead on driving forward health and wellbeing initiatives across the business. In this time, she has led on the Better Health at Work Awards, achieving bronze within six months.

In line with the programme, Sara has organised monthly health campaigns focusing on healthy eating, promotion of exercise, cancer awareness and mental wellbeing. The business has in place fifteen trained mental health ambassadors and first aiders who support colleagues across the whole business.

As well as being sponsors of Hebburn Football Club and encouraging staff to support and attend home matches, Hitachi is looking to introduce staff volunteer days in 2023.

Andrew Shield, Chief Financial Officer said:

“As a larger company that is expanding, we believe it’s important that we offer benefits that support the health and welfare of all our staff.

“We have so far taken on 57 new recruits across numerous roles and with such a big talent pool across South Tyneside, we have high hopes for the growth of our Hebburn head office.

“With the steps we have recently taken as a business, we felt signing up to the pledge fitted extremely well with our values and ethos. Our aim for 2023 is to continue to work alongside South Tyneside Council to help increase recruitment and welfare in the area. ”

Cllr Tracey Dixon, Leader of South Tyneside Council and Chair of South Tyneside Partnership, said:

“We are proud to have supported such a well-represented company and the work carried out by Sara and the rest of the team shows the incredible support they have for the welfare of all their staff. We have no doubts that they will continue to thrive in 2023 and we look forward to seeing them prosper.”

Launched in January 2022, the South Tyneside Pledge aims to boost local economic activity, reduce health inequalities, cut carbon emissions and enhance civic pride for the benefit of the whole Borough. The pledge sets out nine commitments, which are all about keeping things local, through a short report every six months.

If you would like to find out more about Hitachi Construction Machinery UK Ltd, visit: https://www.hitachicm.co.uk/

Organisations, public and private, big businesses and small firms, can sign up at any time and become part of the Pledge South Tyneside network at www.investsouthtyneside.com/south-tyneside-pledge/