Creating an awesome place to work

We ranked 1st in top 10 best performers for women on boards with 75%. We are one of 75 companies with at least one woman in the four key roles; Chair, SID, CEO & FD.

We're passionate about putting customers at the heart of everything we do. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we serve, so creating an inclusive environment is very important to us. The provision of occupational health programmes is of crucial importance to Severn Trent with the aim of keeping our employees fit, healthy and well, including an employee assistance program.

We are fully committed to supporting applications made by people with disabilities, and make reasonable adjustments to their environment where possible, to create a workplace that suits their needs. If any employee becomes disabled during their time with us, we will re-train that employee and make reasonable adjustments to their work environment where possible, to keep them in employment with us.

We have set up a working group who will be focusing on the practical steps we can make to ensure we are removing barriers from the recruitment process and career progression.

We aim to embed best practice in our approach to improving Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) representation as we create a truly diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone can reach their full potential.

We have continued to champion the voices of colleagues from diverse backgrounds, in part through our four Employee Advisory Groups, one of which is LGBTQ+. You can read more about their achievements throughout the year in our Sustainability Report.

We continue to have a strong presence in D&I indices, including being 23rd in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index and a Gold employer for our commitment to being a truly inclusive LGBTQ+ employer 2023.
 

We value diverse thinking and an inclusive culture.  We know that diverse teams are more innovative, consider a broader range of options, make more informed decisions and drive better outcomes for the business.

There is a well-established LGBTQ+ network here who work with the leadership teams across the organisation to drive an inclusive culture that we're proud of. Since 2017, the network has worked in partnership with Stonewall to become a diversity champion, updating our policies and procedures to be more inclusive.

We've introduced LGBTQ+ messages to our Twitter and Facebook channels, which has enabled us to show our support to customers and wider communities, sharing photos, videos and posts of our team members attending Pride events all over our region and openly celebrating Pride in our offices.

To help our employees with childcare commitments, we offer tax savings on childcare vouchers, flexible working, and the option to buy or sell up to a week of extra annual leave.

All this is underpinned by maternity, paternity, adoption and career break polices which go to above and beyond the statutory requirements. The mental and physical wellbeing of all of our employees is very important to us so we provide an Employee Assistance Programme – a free and confidential support service designed to give employees unlimited access to information, advice and emotional support –income protection and personal accident cover.

In addition, employees can select a range of healthcare benefits from our Lifestyle platform including, cycle to work schemes, discounted gym membership and our Healthcare Cash Plan which provides a range of health insurance options for employees and their family members, as well as a 24 hour virtual GP service. With up to two paid volunteering days and charitable giving through payroll, we support our employees in giving something back to our communities too.

We offer a market-leading defined contribution pension scheme and double contributions that our employees make, up to a maximum of 15% of salary, regardless of their level or seniority.

As our people approach retirement we provide education and support to help them plan for the next stage of their lives.

We are proud to be an accredited Living Wage Employer. We also contractually require suppliers to sign up to the real Living Wage. In April 2024 we became an accredited Living Hours Employer.

The standards to which it holds employers includes: a right to a contract which reflects the hours worked; offering a minimum of 16 hours per week (employees can request less); and providing at least four weeks’ notice of a change to working patterns.

It currently applies to all our employees, and we are working to raise awareness across our supply chain

Our commitment to improving social mobility in the Midlands has been recognised for the fifth year running, with Severn Trent being named as one of the top performing companies in the UK in the latest Social Mobility Employer Index.

The Social Mobility Employer Index ranks UK employers on the actions they’re taking to ensure they’re open to accessing and progressing talent from all backgrounds.

We have met our commitment to provide over 100,000 hours of free employability training for anyone living in our region, provided young people from low-income families with financial support through university with funding and internships.

Our Societal Strategy made a pledge that by 2033 we would have helped 100,000 people at risk of water poverty by providing support with skills and training opportunities as well as help with finding work

The provision of occupational health programmes, including an employee assistance program, is of crucial importance to us and our desire to keep our employees fit, healthy and well.

Our commitment to attracting talented people, whatever their background or circumstances, means that we support those with a disability or health condition by providing equipment and adjustments to ensure they can reach their full potential.

If any employee becomes disabled during their time with us, we will re-train them and make reasonable adjustments to their work environment, where possible, to keep them in employment with us.

We have signed up to the Government's Disability Confident Scheme and have formed a disability working group with representatives from across the organisation, who come together to highlight opportunities to create an accessible and inclusive environment for our colleagues.

We have a strong partnership across three trade union groups; Unison, GMB and Unite, and we come together to discuss the areas that are most important and impactful for the majority of the workforce.

Any agreements which require substantive changes in pay and other conditions of employment are referred to the Company Forum for approval. This function covers all employees excluding middle and senior managers and all employees of Severn Trent Business Services.

We recognise the right of all employees to Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining. We actively seek to promote positive co-operation between employees, our management team and recognised Trade Unions, ensuring all groups are represented in any major change initiative. We meet with our Trade Unions on a quarterly basis at the Company Forum, and see mutual benefit in sharing information with our colleagues and seek their feedback and suggestions.

We believe this fosters a common understanding of business needs and helps to deliver joint solutions with a shared agenda of making our business successful. As well as enabling time to attend these forums we are also very supportive in providing Company time for Trade Union reps to support individual employees through difficult situations such as disciplinary, grievance, performance and prolonged period of absences.

Externally we enable attendance at trade union conferences, membership recruitment activities and dedicated training for new representatives. Our Company Forum provides an invaluable opportunity for engagement with the whole workforce to ensure workforce views are taken into account. To enable workforce matters to be considered at Board level, Non-Executive Directors regularly attend the Company Forum.