SUEZ is a forward-thinking company recognised as one of the top places in the UK to work. We are proud of the fantastic opportunities for personal growth and development we offer our people. As we continue to develop and grow, you can play an important part in the essential work we are doing to build a sustainable future that doesn't cost the earth.
5,700
employees across 300 locations
Our four core values
Promoting collaboration and guiding us in all our daily activities
Commitment to the environment
We preserve, restore and protect
our planet. We act to reduce, reuse,
recycle and recover resources.
Team spirit
Together, we work, we collaborate,
we problem solve, we support,
we encourage and we celebrate.
Respect
We care, we can be our authentic selves,
we’re compassionate, we’re ethical and we’re honest.
We act to keep everyone safe and well.
Customer focus
We’re dedicated, focused and creative.
We innovate, we advocate and we collaborate
with our customers for the environment.
Our employees
Alongside safety and wellbeing, there was an added focus in 2021 on inclusion and diversity, as well as on enhancing the employee experience. We recognise that people and businesses thrive when individuals feel that their wellness, creativity and continuous learning are valued and supported - and their efforts contribute to a greater societal and environmental good.
Safety
Called Safety in Mind, our comprehensive health
and safety programme was devised with the input of
employees across the organisation a decade ago. It is
designed to promote a positive safety culture. As well
as training, this involves ‘Safety in Mind conversations’
when team members can discuss any aspect of safety,
‘near miss’ reporting and investigation and ‘vigiminutes’
– assessments of tasks to identify hazards and
prevent accidents.
This industry-leading programme has underpinned
a significant improvement in safety performance –
especially over the last five years, when the three
main indicators for incident frequency and severity
fell by around half.
Our wellbeing programme had its origins in the Wellness
for All charter drawn up by our employees in 2019.
It recognises the importance of wellness in the workplace
and beyond it, and how we must empower our people to
maintain a healthy work/life balance.
In 2020, we accelerated the programme amid
the pandemic, and last year appointed a dedicated
Wellbeing and Inclusion Manager.
Our inclusion and diversity plan was launched with
strong support from senior leaders. They recognise
that a successful and sustainable business needs
to attract, retain and engage all the talent available
within our communities.
In a series of ongoing listening sessions,
board directors heard colleagues from minority
groups describe their lived experience. All are
members of our 50-strong Inclusion and Diversity
Network, which meets quarterly to review inclusion
and diversity activities and planning.
More than 1,500 employees across the business had
completed unconscious bias training by the year-end.
The course has been well received.
Through webinars and other events, we raise
awareness of different areas of diversity,
including autism, dyslexia, LGBTQIA+,
and cultural festivals, such as Diwali.
Three additional networks have been formed
for ethnicity, LGBTQIA+ and disability.
Members provide support, make suggestions
for how we can improve as an employer and
help raise awareness.
Training
Our learning and development team has digitalised
90% of our wide offering. In the process, we have
improved the quality of training, whilst increasing
accessibility, saving travel time and costs,
and reducing our carbon footprint. Over the year,
70,280 person‑hours of learning were completed,
equivalent to 12 hours per employee.
Opportunities
An equal opportunities employer, we also aim to widen
the career opportunities for employees – for example,
through talent management – and new recruits.
We operate dedicated schemes for interns and
work placement experience. In 2021, we provided
16 placements under the government’s
Kickstart scheme. Our company has stepped
up apprentice training in recent years. In 2021,
we signed up another 55, working across a wide range
of functions. We also co-designed and delivered an
apprentice exchange programme with Unilever.
In addition, we work with the Business Disability
Forum and Leonard Cheshire charity to provide
work experience, and job offers where possible,
to disabled people.
We value the skills of ex-military personnel,
have stepped up our recruitment efforts, and set
up an active support network for veterans and their
families across the company. More than 280 employees
are veterans. The Defence Employer Recognition
Scheme awarded us its gold medal in September.
Several of our contract teams work closely with
local employment initiatives. In Surrey, for example,
we create opportunities for prison leavers with the
New Futures Network. Our involvement ranges from
sponsoring a bicycle repair workshop in HMP Ford to
job offers. In October 2021, we shared our experience
at an employers’ summit, and our regional manager
met Justice Secretary Dominic Raab to discuss how the
government could improve the process for employers.
Our company has been consistently ranked among
the UK’s best employers. In 2021, our people were
recognised for their excellence with a series of
industry awards:
Five of our younger employees were listed among
the sector’s rising talent in the letsrecycle.com
‘35 under 35’ awards. Molly Bell, a Technical Plant
Engineer at our Teesside energy‑from‑waste
facility, was in the top three.
Our human resources team was highly
commended in the CIPP Annual Excellence
Awards in two categories – best coronavirus
crisis response, and people analytics.
Teesside’s energy-from-waste team achieved
bronze and silver Better Health at Work awards
for employers in the North East and Cumbria.
Our excellence as an employer was endorsed by the
Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter.
Our communities
One of our sustainability principles is to connect with
the local community. Everyone is encouraged to take
part in, or organise, at least two events per year –
often as a volunteer. Following feedback from our
employees in 2021, each employee is entitled to a
day’s paid volunteering in 2022 for a good cause,
which also triggers a £5 company donation to
Macmillan Cancer Support.
These activities, which are in addition to our charity
sponsorship and funding of community projects,
range from litter picking to working with local schools
and hosting visits at our sites.
£
4,200,000
donated or invested in local communities across the UK
£
160,000
raised for Macmillan Cancer Support by SUEZ staff
Our society
Education
Our company has long championed education,
locally and nationally. We provide online resources
for students and teachers, and our outreach team visits schools to support curriculum
lessons and careers events, while our sites host many
tours by school groups.
Thought leadership
SUEZ experts are active in industry bodies and forums,
and they offer advice on national policy reform and the
challenges facing our customers.
We also commission original research and host events
to illuminate issues critical to the circular economy. These efforts include ...
Two days of events at Glasgow’s COP26 focusing
on key issues absent from the conference agenda –
resources and consumption – in partnership with the
Green Alliance, Aldersgate Group and ReLondon.
Joint research with the British Chambers of
Commerce on business attitudes to social value.
A guide to maximising social value through
local authority procurement, produced with
consultants Eunomia.
Our continuing webinar programme (launched
amid the pandemic in 2020) explored different
aspects of the triple bottom line in 28 webinars
with 3,560 attendees.
An interactive digital map showing recycling
performance by local authority area.
Recommendations to curb microplastic pollution
from car tyres were set out in a report co-authored
with environmental research practice SOENECS.
A SUEZ customer conference attended
by over 70 delegates.
