ISS UK has released its Corporate Responsibility report for 2020 detailing the milestones reached by the company despite the challenges presented by the pandemic.
The achievements include: announcing a new target to achieve Net-Zero direct carbon emissions by 2030; realising the lowest Gender Pay Gap to date for our workforce at ISS UK; and mobilising a team to support the creation of the first COVID-19 Nightingale Hospital model in just ten days.
The report also focuses on highlights under the ThinkForward@ISS pillars of: Sustainable service performance; Enhancing customers’ purpose and People empowerment.
Sustainable service performance
Having already achieved its 2022 carbon reduction target early last year, ISS UK undertook a thorough review of its current carbon footprint and evaluated what would be required to achieve a Net-Zero footprint. ISS UK is proud to announce its new commitment to achieve Net-Zero direct emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 2030; and an ambition to lead the FM industry on climate change action, by setting an example for others to follow.
ISS UK will only achieve a Net-Zero footprint by radically reducing carbon emissions from its vehicle fleet and is now committing to an entirely electric (or hydrogen) vehicle company car fleet by the end of 2025. Its commercial van fleet will also switch to electric (or hydrogen) vehicles by 2030. The ISS UK Net-Zero strategy will be announced in further detail in June 2021 to include the commitment to measuring scope 3 emissions.
People empowerment
ISS UK achieved its lowest ever Gender Pay Gap for the period 2019-2020 and is currently at 7% on both a mean and median basis across the business. This was in spite of the UK government pausing the requirement for reporting for the 2019/2020 period due to coronavirus and its impact on businesses. At ISS, the decision was made however to continue to track and publish the trends.
Across ISS, mentors continued to support services leavers, veterans and their spouses with the JointForces@ISS programme. The programme received the Business in the Community (BITC) Responsible Champion Award – Unipart Outstanding Employment Category – in 2020 for its employability programme to help those leaving the Forces to transition from the military to the civilian workplace.
Coronavirus: The ISS UK Response
The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges for ISS UK and the wider Facilities Management industry in 2020. Given the huge impact of the pandemic, the CR Report has a special section this year on how the business responded to the pandemic. ISS was delighted to be shortlisted in three categories in the newly created COVID-19 Response Awards of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM) Impact Awards 2020.
In the ‘On the Covid frontline’ category, ISS UK was nominated for its work supporting NHS England in setting up its first ever Nightingale Hospital at ExCel in London. Over the course of ten days, ISS established a team of over 500 colleagues to deliver FM services.
The ISS internal network of CR Leaders moved to virtual spaces to continue to connect with its people and communities. Teams held Pride celebrations via external platforms; volunteers for the Stroke Association provided telephone support to stroke survivors; our Food Services Team hosted live cooking sessions to provide community connections and some healthy recipes to raise the spirits; and our award-winning JointForces@ISS team took the induction sessions into virtual meetings which allowed even more people due to transition from the forces to access information about career paths in facilities management.
Tim Proctor, HSEQ and CR Director commented: “Our CR Leaders continue to be an inspiration and the driving force for ThinkForward@ISS across the business. Despite the challenges faced by Covid-19, they found creative and resourceful ways to keep on delivering great CR events and campaigns and this report rightly shines a light on some of these fantastic colleagues.”
