JUST An Hour is the most obvious example of Northumbrian Water's commitment to putting something back into the community.

The scheme, introduced last year, allows staff to use an hour's paid work time every month to do voluntary work and, at the last count, 25 per cent of the 2,400-strong workforce had signed up.

That equates to about 7,000 man hours a year devoted to community work, which is, on the face of it, an expensive commitment. But, according to head of communications John Mowbray, it represents value for money compared with the alternative costs of staff development training and public relations and has an immediate impact in terms of productivity.

"A company like ours has a huge impact on the community, not just in terms of the service we provide, but also things like the disruption caused when we dig up the roads, so this is about putting a bit back.

"In the 1980s, we would have handed a cheque over to a community organisation, but volunteering helps our workers develop as individuals and also creates a feel-good factor about the work they do.

"If you don't feel good about your job and you don't feel happy, you will give 50 per cent at best. If you feel happy, you will give 100 per cent.

"We have motivated staff and that is priceless - you can't put a cost on it."

Among the more unexpected benefits has been greater teamwork as office and manual staff work together on projects.

Among the most recent successes was a project in which 48 employees armed with chainsaws cleared two miles of trees, overgrown shrubs and debris between Wolsingham and Stanhope along the line of the restored Weardale Railway, which opens this summer.

Water production manager for Northumbrian Water, Simon Platten, who is based at Broken Scar Water Treatment Works, in Darlington, enjoyed a change to his usual routine. He said: "It was great to get out into the fresh air in such beautiful surroundings, something different from the usual day job.

"It was tiring work, but it feels good to know that we have contributed to something which is going to benefit Weardale and the North-East as a whole."

The company is also engaged in office-based work, such as the Partners In Leadership programme, in which senior managers work with head teachers to impart business skills, E-Pals, in which workers act as e-mail mentors for schoolchildren and the Chill Out scheme, which has placed water coolers in schools and encourages children to drink more water.

The company has also established special links with Framwellgate School, in Durham City, helping with science projects and managing the wetland in the school grounds.