Blog by Tom Parnell | Senior Communications Manager | Health Economics Unit

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) often gets a bad rap as just another box-ticking exercise. But at the Health Economics Unit, we’ve redefined CSR as a chance to make a real difference, combining our passion, collaboration, and commitment to excellence. From charity gigs with our office band to community cleanups and inspiring the next generation, we’re aiming to do more good in every way we can.

Corporate Social Responsibility

The phrase ‘corporate social responsibility’ sounds like the sort of thing that might turn up in your inbox on a Monday morning, conjuring images of uninspiring ‘box-ticking’ exercises and the dreaded ‘mandatory fun’. This poor choice of label may potentially have put organisations off engaging fully with rewarding and creative experiences, which should really be called ‘doing a bit more good’.

At the Health Economics Unit, we have brought our values of being outstanding, collaborative and passionate to corporate social responsibility, and the results have been fantastic.

One of our first endeavours perfectly matches our passion with inspiration – our team band, The Heuristics. This band was originally formed during the extensive COVID lockdowns, using music as a way to bring us together while we were all being held apart. Whether learning an instrument from scratch, or brushing up on existing abilities, all were welcome to participate, and the band started practising together in person, building up successful cover songs in a range of genres.

This preparation led to the band’s first gig, which raised over £1,000 for the excellent charity Music in Hospitals and Care. Since then the band has played in a school, raising awareness of STEM careers, and another charity gig is open for tickets in October.

In March 2024, with their offices based in East London, the Health Economics Team found a way to directly give back to the community around them by participating in a cleanup day at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

Grabbing trowels, wheelbarrows and shovels, the team were instructed on the tasks needing doing, including weeding and planting flower beds and general tidying up the area. Our enthusiastic team spent the whole day working on the park and were told by organisers that they had carried out tasks which would have taken their small voluntary task force months if done alone.

The Health Economics Unit has also worked on sharing our passions to inspire others, including showing our support for Pride in London and giving talks at schools to the next generation of potential health economists. 

With every activity, our feedback has been far from corporate – with organisers delighted with what we have achieved, and participants enthused and energised by being able to use their passions to help others. We can’t wait to continue doing more good!