Being a company you can trust Running our company for the long term Put strong governance – leadership, ethics, and management of risks and opportunities – at the heart of our business. Being open about what we do and sharing what we know Build trust through transparency, and work with our sector on innovative solutions to our shared challenges. Living our Values Nurture a strong, open, one-team culture based on Company Values that articulate what we stand for. Balancing the interests of all our stakeholders Understand the needs of stakeholders in order to make business decisions that benefit shareholders, society and the environment. Helping people to thrive Providing a fair, inclusive and safe place to work Build a workforce that is reflective of the community we serve, and foster a culture where everyone can be themselves, driving better decision making and performance. Investing in skills and knowledge Support the skills base of our people and our region, and inspire the next generation of customers to adopt more sustainable behaviours. Building an innovative business As our sustainability depends on finding new ways of working, any progress we make is inextricably linked to our ability to innovate. Which is why we have such a strong focus on creating the right conditions for innovation in all areas of our business. We have created a new innovation framework, designed to ensure we maintain an appropriate balance of projects, prioritise them based on our strategic goals, and build the right processes and partnerships to achieve their aims. We are also using our Resource Recovery and Innovation Centre at Spernal, in Warwickshire, to test new technologies quickly. And we are bidding for funding from Ofwat’s innovation funds to forge close links with the wider water sector and to help accelerate projects of all sizes. And our established World Water Innovation Fund helps us solve problems and exchange ideas globally. Future-proofing our skills and knowledge Skills and knowledge are at the heart of our success as a business. We want to have the most skilled workforce in our sector, keeping us at the forefront of innovation and service. That means we place a high priority on developing our people. Our Severn Trent Academy provides the structure for this, a range of learning programmes on health, safety and wellbeing, technical, customer experience, leadership and professional development, all run out of a new purpose-built facility opened in February 2021. We also build on our skills and knowledge through our graduate and apprentice schemes. Creating a diverse and inclusive environment Our region is home to a diverse population, and we want to tap into that diversity, by having a workforce that reflects the communities we serve. A truly diverse workforce brings different ideas and perspectives to improve how we work, and helps us understand and meet the needs of the communities we serve. Therefore, we have set a long-term ambition to work towards a fair and inclusive environment for all our colleagues. We want our people to come to work and feel they can bring their whole self to work. Supporting our employees Our culture makes us one team and guides us in doing the right thing in all circumstances. It is also what allows our stakeholders to have confidence in us, and builds trust and a more sustainable business over the long term. In addition, no one should be hurt or become unwell by what we do and the health, safety and wellbeing of colleagues, customers and contractors is critical to the success of our business. During this last year, this was tested like no other year as we responded to the pandemic with appropriate Covid-19 support initiatives. Working with our suppliers We spend over £1.2 billion with our suppliers every year. Without their support, we would struggle to achieve our ambitious sustainability goals. We’ve been working hard to ensure they understand how they can help us, dealing with each of our 2,800 suppliers in a way that is relevant and appropriate to their scope of work. We will continue to build on these relationships over the coming years. We have developed our Supply Chain Sustainability Strategy and established sustainability considerations throughout our procurement and contract management process. We now ask suppliers to sign up to the principles outlined in our Supply Chain Sustainability Charter. Making decisions for the long term We believe a business with a strong sense of social purpose will achieve better and more sustainable outcomes for stakeholders. To earn the trust of our stakeholders, we focus not only on what we do, but also on how we do it, keeping to our commitments, reporting on our progress, and creating a governance framework that ensures effective decision making. This is all fundamental to our ability to interact with our stakeholders. Linked SDGs Linked SDGs Building a better business Fit for the future