Unily is committed to providing a high-quality service whilst aspiring for environmental, social, and economic sustainability. By using a framework of objectives we plan to continually improve our potential impact associated with the provision of our services and business activities.
We strive to protect the environment, prevent pollution and minimize our resource use through adhering to best-practice across all aspects of our business and continually improving our management systems. Unily operates in compliance with all relevant legislation and obligations.
Our sustainability aspirations:
We have identified 5 key themes which are particularly important to us and our stakeholders, and have set the following aspirations:
- Culture and employees – To be a workplace where employees want to work, to be productive, be happy and feel valued.
- Energy and carbon – Achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2030.
- Operational efficiency – Take a structured, efficient approach to business activities that fosters performance improvement in both our client services and our people.
- Waste and recycling – Achieve zero waste to landfill.
- Charity and community – Improve others’ lives, prospects and report on our performance
These themes will guide but not limit our approach to sustainability. We will also strive to implement other initiatives that will provide value to our organization and our stakeholders whenever suitable.
To achieve our aspirations we will:
- Develop specific annual objectives to support our aspirations.
- Strategically plan our approach to sustainability, aligning it with our organizational strategy and objectives so that it is integral to our business approach.
- Implement policies and procedures which clearly communicate how we expect our business to deliver our sustainability objectives.
- Review our progress and report our performance at least annually.
- Learn from our reviews and implement changes to improve our performance.
Our positive impact:
We have ambitious plans and we are making progress. Here are some of the initiatives already completed or underway at Unily:
Our people
- Completed a strategic review of our current initiatives which showed the priorities and values of our leadership and our employees are well aligned, demonstrating strong communication and cohesive business culture.
- Moved to an in-house-first approach to recruitment, prioritizing internal promotion and referrals with the view to maximize career development opportunities and attract the best talent.
- Take a performance-led approach to flexible working, trusting our staff to perform whether they are working from the office or not, and providing them with the equipment needed to work remotely.
- Actively support work life balance and offer up to 30 days annual leave with the option to roll over unused days with negotiable time in-lieu, to further support individual work-life preferences.
- Run a share options scheme so staff can be directly rewarded for the success they make happen.
- All staff receive training on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and anti-harassment to promote a diverse, safe and productive work environment for everyone.
- Rolled out employee engagement surveys through our intranet, gaining over 75% engagement. Internal communications drive strong culture and identity aspiring to be open, inclusive and supportive.
- Our head office was chosen with employee wellbeing in mind. Surrounded by green spaces and biodiversity, it is fitted out with mainly upcycled furniture and modern equipment to create a collaborative, light and dynamic workspace.
- We’re animal lovers and our dog’s in office policy means owners don’t need to worry about leaving their pooch at home, while dogs have proven to have a positive impact on wellbeing, so long as they are well behaved!
- Staff can access our Employee Assistance Programme if they need additional support with personal problems, health and wellbeing from an independent specialist.
- All staff are offered our private health insurance which rewards them for health and fitness activities.
- We have created and published guides on flexible working and physical and mental wellbeing to further support our staff.
- We love sports and there is plenty to get involved with including running, cycling and 5-a-side football.
Our environment
- We have completed an initial assessment of our carbon and waste impact to help us plan our first steps towards carbon neutrality and eventually net zero.
- We track our business travel and its environmental impacts and actively encourage video calls and flexible working to minimize business-related travel.
- We offer a cycle to work scheme to reduce emissions from commuting and in the US we promote carpooling.
- The majority of our furniture and equipment is upcycled, reducing our impact on manufacturing new equipment and preventing unnecessary waste.
- We have installed an all-electric heating and cooling system at our UK head office utilizing an air source heat pump and avoiding any onsite fuel use.
- Installed instant boiling water taps at head office to minimize the impact of individual kettles.
- Waste is segregated to increase recycling rates, including separate coffee pod collection.
- Low flow taps have been fitted in all offices to minimize our water use.
- All company-owned cars are fully electric and electric car leasing is offered to all UK staff with EV charging stations being installed at the UK HQ.
Our society
- At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Unily purchased 15 3D printers and with the efforts of Unily employees, created ~3000 visors that were gifted to the NHS at a time of national short supply
- During ‘lockdown’ we donated £2,500 per quarter, the amount of money we would normally spend on food, to the Trussell Trust foodbank charity.
- In 2020 we donated 13,000 toys to families as part of the Families Action Toy Appeal in the UK.
- Provided Pro Bono services to charity partners in 2020 & 2021
- Over the past 10 years, we have supported The Abato Foundation in Uganda, funding for education, housing and university.
- Introduced volunteer days for staff to participate in activities during work hours without using their annual leave.
- We support local sports teams including sponsoring two local football teams, an underwater hockey team and a squash team.
- We are proud to be a UK-based company and we do not utilize tax havens, we believe in contributing to the economy of our country and paying our fair share of tax to support the society in which we started and where we continue to base our operations.
Our sustainability journey is ever-changing and helping us improve our business. Look out for updates on our website and social media accounts to find out more about our progress.
If you have any questions about our approach to sustainability, please contact info@unily.com.
Unily is committed to providing a high-quality service whilst facilitating a safe and healthy working environment for employees. In addition to this, Unily are committed to continually minimizing our potential environmental impact associated with the provision of this service. Unily operates in compliance with all relevant environmental legislation, striving to reduce the environmental impact of resource use through adhering to environmental best-practice across all aspects of the business. Our Environmental Policy is summarised below:
- Integrate best practice environmental management into our processes and encourage the least damaging behavior within our employees. Build environmental impacts into all aspects of decision-making and strategy.
- Minimize electricity consumption of all employees and processes, irrespective of location.
- Minimize water consumption of all employees and processes, irrespective of location.
- Implement an effective waste-management strategy that is well communicated internally. Generate as little waste as possible, whilst reusing or recycling as much of this waste as possible.
- Minimize travel where possible.
- Purchase products or services whilst being conscious of their environmental impact. Commit to the continual development of environmental consciousness and awareness of all employees, encouraging them to work in an environmentally responsible manner.
- Communicate this environmental policy, as well as all environmental commitments and aims to clients, consumers, stakeholders, and the general public, encouraging them to support it.
To meet our commitments we will:
- Provide the Board with oversight and regular reviews of environmental policies and performance, and allocate resources for their effective direction and implementation.
- Monitor key objectives and targets for managing our environmental performance at least annually.
- Engage with stakeholders, including communicating internally and externally our environmental policy and performance on a regular basis.
- Communicate the importance of environmental issues to our people.
- Work together with our people, service partners and suppliers to promote improved environmental performance.
- Promote appropriate consideration of sustainability and environmental issues in the services we provide to our clients.
- Review our environmental policy regularly. This environmental policy represents our general position on environmental issues, and the policies and practices we will apply in conducting our business.
