Improving Lives

Improving Lives in 2022
Social value
Over £88 million of delivered social & local economic value, with a SLEVA% of 24.53

2% year on year increase in volunteering hours
Mears Foundation
£95,981 in Community Grants and £65,932 in National Grants
Health & safety
Accident frequency rate: 0.25
Fairness & inclusion
35.1% of women in management roles

9.2% Black, Asian and other ethnic minority groups

Gender pay gap of 19%

Employee turnover of 25%

37th in Social Mobility Index Top 75 list
From a solid baseline, our aim is to create an environment that is ‘fair for all’, which enables customers, colleagues and communities to thrive by improved: social impact, health, safety and wellbeing, Employee Value Proposition and fairness and inclusion.
58%
Branches with Mental Health First Aiders
89%
Apprentices successfully retained for employment
19th place
Best Big Companies to work for 2021/22
Sustainable Development Goals
Promoting fairness & inclusion
Our Goal
By 2025 we will aim to achieve:
35% of women in leadership positions
12% Group representation of black, Asian and other ethnicities
Gender pay gap of 19%
Continually evolve a Board-driven strategy that ensures fairness and inclusion for all colleagues
Year on Year improvement in Voice of the Colleague survey results for fairness and inclusion practice and awareness
Our Plan
Maximising current recruitment processes to ensure they are bias free  and encourage job opportunities for all
Publish first ethnicity gap report, with 98% of colleagues sharing EDI data
Achieve leading Gold standard fairness & inclusion accreditation
Insight-led approach to ensuring our workforce reflects our local communities
To monitor pay fairness within standard terms and conditions Mears contracts for all job profiles
All colleagues across the business to receive fairness & inclusion training
Achieve Disability Confident Leader status
Contractual requirement for suppliers to provide evidence of how they are addressing D&I
To monitor pay fairness within standard terms and conditions Mears contracts for all job profiles
Attracting & retaining talent
Our Goals
Continually evolve a cohesive strategy for attracting and retaining the best talent; enabling our colleagues to thrive
By 2025 we will aim to achieve:
Employer of choice recognition
All grade 6 and above critical roles should have a clear succession plan
Employee turnover of 18%
90% of all apprentices secure work at Mears or another organisation, on completion of their apprenticeship
Our Plan
Develop a competitive Employee Value Proposition, including standard and flexible benefits
Deliver an agreed approach to talent management
Promote internally and externally the Mears Brand and Employee Value Proposition
Implement Voice of Colleague forum,chaired by Employee Director, to enable even bigger employee voice
Maintain approach to ensuring all employees are paid the real Living Wage or above
Support Mears’ flexible working offer  linked to well-being to support  attraction and retention
All colleagues, grade 6 and above, has a clear successor identified
Improving health & safety
Our Goals
Continually evolve our approach to maintain our high standards for creating a safe working environment for everyone.
Accident frequency rate (AFR) of below 0.25
Win the ROSPA Industry Sector Award by 2030, which recognises best H&S performance in sector
Our Plan
Maintain all ISO accreditations
Retain RoSPA Gold Award
Maintain a team of professionally qualified Safety, Health and Environment Managers to support the business
Maintain robust policies and procedures to ensure health and safety compliance
Conduct regular audits and inspections across the business to monitor compliance
Boosting health & wellbeing
Our Goal
Continually evolve a Board-driven wellbeing strategy, the importance of which is regularly communicated to the workforce, that ensures the health and wellbeing of our colleagues
Our Plan
Mental Health First Aider in 100% of contracts and departments
Tailored and enhanced Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
Access for all employee to voluntary health services and programmes
Enhance support for vulnerable colleagues
Enhance flexible benefits package and contractual terms to support access to opportunities
Maintain focus on employee engagement and help tackle the challenges of wellbeing and mental health
Raising social value
Our Goal
Continually evolve our approach to ensure;
By 2025:
Be regarded as social value leaders across the public sector, continually evolving our approach
All contracts will be delivering a yearly social value plan, with year or year growth in colleague participation, impact and £ value
Mears Foundation will have grown grant giving to over £200k per annum
Our Plan
Develop Social Return on Investment reporting to focus more on qualitative outcomes and personal impact
Build on engagement with supply chain
Year on year increase in use of volunteering hours
Lobbying Government for a more transparent and consistent measure of social value
See our Friends of the Foundation supporting our social value.
Read our stories
See how we improve lives in practice
All downloads
Take a look at all our ESG policies, procedures and reports
DIY Videos
A selection of handy videos to help you perform basic repairs at home.