People

Supporting and inspiring our people

We are committed to inspiring our people, to be socially and environmentally responsible by doing what is right and leading the sustainability agenda.

Your Voice overview

In March 2017 we ran our annual employee engagement survey as part of our ongoing commitment to our people.

This year we were pleased to maintain a strong engagement score of 71% for a second year, compared to our selected benchmark group of 15 food and logistics companies, which averaged an engagement score of 65%. We were also happy to see even more employees taking part, with our response rate increasing by a further 2% since 2016 to 85% (benchmark group average 78%).

Dare to Share

In February 2017 we launched a new scheme daring our employees to share their improvement ideas directly with our leadership team.

During the two month submission window we received over 420 suggestions, and as part of the process we committed to providing a response for every employee who took the time to submit an idea. Some of the more complicated or specialist ideas have gone back out to the business to review feasibility and the final selection of ideas will be presented to the leadership team later in the year.

Development opportunities for apprentices

The apprenticeships we offer are from Level 2 in Warehousing or Business Administration, which is equivalent to five GCSE passes. This runs all the way through to a Level 6 degree apprenticeship for our top talent, which is equivalent to a bachelor degree. In July 2017, we recruited Jodie as Admin & Site Excellence Support Apprentice. Jodie has had a significant impact at our Birmingham depot, settling in quickly with her ‘can do’ attitude she has gone from strength to strength. Jodie passed her Business Administration Apprenticeship in July 2018 and was promoted to Site Excellence Co-ordinator, demonstrating the true value of an apprentice.

“The training and development opportunities with apprenticeships are fantastic. I’ve been able to develop skills and knowledge within a work place environment, build respect and trust with colleagues, giving me the chance to succeed and progress within a field I wasn’t experienced in.” Jodie Hall, Site Excellence Co-ordinator Support Administrator.

Sustainability coordinators – determined to make a difference

We have over 90 voluntary sustainability coordinators – all of them with a passion for sustainability. As well as their job roles, they are responsible for coordinating site community engagement activity and working with a wide range of local organisations and charity groups. They attend regional workshops twice a year to ensure they are up to date and can be the best ambassadors possible for our sustainability strategy. They have a huge impact on how much our employees engage, and they play a vital role in communicating messages and campaigns across all our sites. Without them our sustainability plans simply wouldn’t work.

We asked four of our sustainability coordinators to give us more information about what they do and why.

Martin Winfield, Site Excellence Manager, Nottingham

“Over the past five years I have seen the sustainability coordinator network grow greatly, as sustainability has become more and more important to more businesses and individuals. I enjoy working with local charities, employees, customers and local projects. The feedback I receive is fantastic and makes all the hard work completely worthwhile.

“We have increased our recycling at our depot to 92%, and I have been invited to speak to other sites to give them advice on how they can improve their rates too. As part of a wider network it’s easy for me to ask for advice and get solutions from others. At our twice-yearly workshops I get to meet other coordinators who share the same vision and passion to make sustainability work in the business, which renews my determination.”

Mac Kumpas – Facilities Manager, Slough

“I help to promote and deliver sustainability efforts at the Slough depot and in the business support centre. This involves attending the regional sustainability coordinator workshops and conferences to bring best practice and new ideas to my site as well as overseeing recycling programmes and refuse streaming with our cleaning and waste contractors.

“I came to the role through the links between office services, facilities, site excellence and sustainability – it’s about making best use of resource and avoiding waste to drive value for spend as much as it is about keeping our planet fit for habitation.”

Emma Denton, customer service/admin supervisor

“As a sustainability coordinator for just over a year I have already had the chance to take part in some amazing projects. This includes working with a local charity – Streets2Homes – to donate surplus food that otherwise would have gone to waste, arranging our site’s activities for the volunteering week, arranging for sugar that would have been thrown away due to packaging defects to be collected by a local beekeeper. In return the beekeeper give us the honey which we sell in the canteen to help fund other sustainability initiatives on site.”

Julie Reid, admin manager, Birmingham

“I work collaboratively with all of the depot’s employees to implement and promote sustainability ideas as well as to evaluate performance. This includes continually thinking of our environment, recycling, pollution prevention and energy / waste reduction. I have really enjoyed it and recently went to a local supplier fair representing our sustainability team which was a fun day out and gave me a great opportunity to see what other organisations are doing to play their part.”