By Business & Finance 
Pictured: Devi Lama, Nursery Manager, Nepal.
Recruiters.ie is a firm that celebrates new placements by planting trees and helping Nepali communities.
Written by Miguel Marinovic Sfeir.
Every time a vacancy is filled with the help of Recruiters.ie, two trees are planted and reforestation in Nepal continues, thanks to the Eden Project.
The project began in 2015 in Nepal to improve local livelihoods and restore forests while employing local citizens, over half of them women. Today it employs 8,271 people, including partial season staff, and has produced, planted and protected over 12 million trees.
Whenever a client fills a vacancy with Recruiters.ie, the company plants two trees, one for the new employee and another for the employer. So far, in 2022, 1,453 trees have been planted thanks to the Recruiters’ initiative, which will result in 600 tonnes of CO2 captured. The objective for the end of the year is to plant three thousand trees and five thousand in the upcoming year.
The Eden project works with Tree-Nation, which shares with contributors a progress report on how the planted trees are growing and maintained, which can be even more critical. If a tree is not maintained to ensure its growth for a minimum of 20 or 25 years, then a tree planting program like Recruiters.ie’s could inadvertently damage the planet.
Recruiters.ie decided to improve people’s lives while also having a positive impact on the planet. Nepal’s Eden Project was chosen because they realised it could make a more significant impact than in Ireland. They reforest and maintain trees and give jobs to the local communities.
Andrew Sheehan, Head of Marketing and Business Insights of Recruiters.ie, commented:
“We chose to partner with the Eden Projects in Nepal over projects based in Ireland because in doing so, we are not only contributing to reforestation, but we are also helping improve local livelihoods through fair wage job creation and gender equality on a large scale. There is a much more gender balance focus in the project in Nepal with the majority of those employed being women, which was also very appealing to us.”
Thanks to Goal Global, Recruiters.ie’s official charity partner since 2019, which has the mission to relieve poverty globally, Recruiters.ie realised that poverty is not around finances as much as it is about climate change and its impact on crops.
Recruiters.ie decided to partner with a project in Nepal rather than in Ireland because they believe businesses need to look beyond their doorstep to where they will have the biggest impact. However, it also becomes more challenging, as the Irish community may feel disconnected from their contributions.
“We need to be serious about looking at the countries that really need it and can gain more from our actions and prioritise that, to begin with. And the challenge is that quite often, when it is ten thousand miles away from where we live, we almost feel disconnected from it,” Sheehan said.
Someone who got an opportunity is Devi Lama, now a Nursery Manager in the Eden Project. Before joining, she was a housewife, and her family of five depended solely on her husband’s income. Her lack of education was also a limitation for her. Today, she helps provide for her family and contributes to Nepal’s reforestation.
Planting trees has not only been positive for the planet and Nepali communities. It also motivates Recruiters.ie workforce and clients, which is a key factor when they choose to work with the organisation. Sheehan believes it is not just something that encourages people to work with them but that the companies that are not doing it will start losing talent and clients.
How to contribute
Pictured from left to right: Gerard Doyle (MD), Andrew Sheehan (Head of Marketing), Patricia Lynch (Associate Director), Brian McFadden (Client Services Director). Recruiters.ie. Photographer: Paul Sherwood.
People can contribute to environmentally friendly initiatives like the Eden Project by publicly showing businesses how important it is for them to be part of these programmes while simultaneously not buying from companies that have a negative impact and are not doing enough about it.
Recruiters.ie also encourage other companies, including recruitment agencies, to be part of projects like Eden. Sheehan said:
“We are the first recruitment agency in Ireland to do anything like this, to actively set a target to plant three thousand trees in one year. We are the first recruitment agency in Ireland to sign up to the Science-based Targets Initiative to reduce our own emissions by 50% by 2030.”
Another initiative, besides the Eden Project, that Recruiters.ie is involved in is Clean Coasts. This organisation volunteers people to clean Irish coasts and canals. Waterways are the world’s second lung, in addition to carbon reduction through tree planting. Both contribute to absorbing CO2 and regulate the world’s climate.
Recruiters.ie is a fully Irish-owned recruitment services company with headquarters in Dublin. They promote a wide range of positions, including in finance and accounting.
