Unipart Group, one of Europe’s leading private manufacturing, logistics and consultancy companies, is one of only a handful of companies to receive a five star rating in the Business in the Community 2015 Corporate Responsibility Index – the UK’s leading benchmark of responsible business.
Today’s announcement of the 2015 CR Index has been timed to coincide with Responsible Business Week (20-26 April 2015), an annual initiative to increase awareness of the positive contribution of business in society.
The CR Index is a robust benchmarking tool which assesses companies against a diverse range of factors. It provides businesses with a robust framework to systematically measure, manage and integrate responsible business practice into mainstream business strategy and operations.
Stephen Howard, Chief Executive, Business in the Community said: “The 2015 CR Index shows us that we are moving in the right direction and companies are now increasingly integrating responsible business practice into decision making right across the business.
“To truly change business culture, companies need to engage their people to embrace a different way of doing business with responsible values at the core. I congratulate Unipart for achieving its ranking,” he said.
Commenting on the award, Unipart Chairman and Group Chief Executive John Neill said: “We are delighted to have achieved this recognition. It provides us with another opportunity to thank and pay tribute to thousands of people throughout Unipart who strive every day to live by the company’s principles and philosophy and build its culture.
“The BITC index is highly regarded because of its rigor, and so improving on last year’s high score will be very inspiring for all of our employees.
“Many of our clients are as passionate about the environment as my colleagues in Unipart and we appreciate the constructive relationships that we have which enable us to achieve significant improvements in sustainability by working in close partnerships. Sky is one such good example where between us we have succeeded in recycling 99% of all waste.
Playing Our Part in BiTC’s Core Programmes
“We’ve been proud of our long term association with BiTC which spans nearly a quarter of a century. Unipart people have been pleased to play their part in some of Business in the Community’s past and current programmes. For instance, Unipart worked closely with Job Centre Plus staff to design, pilot and launch ‘Unipart Inspires’, our approach to BiTC’s Generation Talent initiative.
“Unipart Inspires is a training programme which brings together work experience and training in job-hunting skills such as interview practice, CV writing and using social media to search for jobs. We were delighted that, of the 18 delegates on our pilot programme, 17 went on to secure full time work, 5 of those with us.
“Unipart also led the development of a ‘Business Class’ programme within Oxford. Business Class is a structured programme that links individual companies with a partner school. The Oxford cluster grew to some seven companies providing mentoring and other activities within secondary schools. It is estimated that some 3,000 pupils will have benefited from the programme.
Unipart Workwell
“Over the years, we’ve had a strong track record of successful employee engagement and development programmes starting with the opening of The Unipart U, Britain’s first corporate university, in 1993. We’ve now taken this a step further and developed our approach to employee wellbeing in a comprehensive strategy and programme called ‘Unipart Workwell’, which was launched towards the end of the year.
“Unipart Workwell continues to make employee health and fitness a major priority for our Group and provides a free advice service, called Unipart Cares, for all employees. It encompasses emotional wellbeing, financial health, personal health and our unrelenting focus on ensuring safety in the workplace.
“We were proud to be recognised at all of our major UK sites with the highly prestigious British Safety Council Sword of Honour Award in 2014. For a second year in a row, Unipart won six swords of honour which is recognised as an outstanding achievement by the British Safety Council.
“The Oxford Distribution Centre again achieved a double award, earning both the Sword of Honour and the Globe of Honour Award; one of only four organisations worldwide to do so. This performance in the area of health, safety and environment puts Unipart amongst the world’s safest companies to work for,” said John Neill.