united-utilities-annual-report-2015

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UNITED UTILITIES GROUP PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2015Stock Code: UU.unitedutilities.comOur responsible approachto doing businessOur aim is to protectpublic health andprovide excellentservices to ourcustomersWe believe that responsiblebusiness should be embeddedin everything we do and thisshould be evident across all ofour activitiesWe continue toinvest in our localcommunities bothfinancially andthrough employeevolunteeringWe are committed to delivering our services in a responsible way and ourapproach to responsible business practice is outlined in our Business Principlesdocument available on our website at corporate.unitedutilities.com/unitedutilities-business-principles.Some of the key components of our approach areset out in more detail below:Customers: Our aim is to protect publichealth and provide excellent servicesto our customers. This means removingthe need for customers to contact usunnecessarily, to taking ownership ofqueries and satisfactorily resolvingthem as quickly as possible, whilekeeping our customers informed alongthe way. We aim to provide bills thatrepresent good value for money.Environment: Whether it’s treatingand delivering drinking water forour customers, or returning treatedwastewater to rivers and the sea, we’reacutely aware of our responsibility tothe environment. We continue to investto protect and, where appropriate,enhance the natural environmentof the North West. We continue toconsider the impacts of climate changeon the services we deliver and adaptaccordingly. Our greenhouse gasdisclosures can be found on pages 104and 105.Communities: The communities in whichwe operate are of great importanceto our business – it is where ourcustomers and employees live andwork. We continue to invest in ourlocal communities both financially andthrough employee volunteering. Werecognise the effect that our operationscan have on the community and investin programmes that support affectedareas or help tackle current socialissues.Employees: Health and safety isparamount and we strongly focus on ourperformance in this area. High employeeengagement is a key contributorto our performance and we placeThe table below shows the male:female ratio of people at United Utilities.2015 Male FemaleGroup board 6 (75%) 2 (25%)Senior managers– Executive team* 4 (57%) 3 (43%)– Other senior managers 39 (80%) 10 (20%)Wider employees 3,428 (63%) 1,986 (37%)* Figures exclude CEO and CFO, who are included in group board figures.We also have 15 (79 per cent) male and 4 (21 per cent) female employees who areappointed as statutory directors of subsidiary group companies but who do notfulfil the Companies Act 2006 definition of ‘senior managers’.20
UNITED UTILITIES GROUP PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2015Stock Code: UU.unitedutilities.comsignificant emphasis on maintaining andstrengthening levels of engagement.Our policies on maternity, paternity,adoption, personal and special leave gobeyond the minimum required by law.For disabled applicants and existingemployees, we are committed tofulfilling our obligations in accordancewith the relevant legislation. Applicantswith disabilities are given equalconsideration in the application process.Disabled colleagues have equipmentand working practices modified forthem as far as possible and whereverit is safe and practical to do so. Wevalue diversity, providing equalityof opportunity and recruiting andpromoting on merit.Delivering good value: We arecommitted to honouring ourresponsibility to our shareholders,credit investors and those who provideus with goods and services. How wecreate value for our stakeholders is setout on pages 14 to 19. We work withsuppliers whose business principles,conduct, and standards align with ourown. Our key suppliers have committedto our Sustainable Supply Chain Charter,supporting us in the delivery of widersocial, economic and environmentalbenefits.Running our business with integrityWe have procedures and policies inplace to ensure we act in accordancewith the Universal Declaration of HumanRights.Given the long life of our infrastructure,we take a long-term view of ouroperations and key to the group’sstrategic objectives is the goal tooperate in a more sustainable manner.Sustainability is fundamental to themanner in which we undertake ourbusiness and the group has, for manyyears, included corporate responsibility(CR) factors as a strategic considerationin its decision making. Our boardlevelCR committee (see pages 82and 83) develops and oversees ourCR strategy and this continuing focushelped the group retain our Dow JonesSustainability Index ‘World Class’ rating.Read more about our Responsible BusinessPerformance on pages 37and 38Our business principles document can befound at corporate.unitedutilities.com/united-utilities-business-principlesBusiness InsightWhat our customersthink of usEvery month, an independent agency contacts around 600 households who wehave recently had contact with. They are asked to rate their experience and tosay how satisfied they are with our service and what would make it better.This gives us great insight into how tomake improvements in our customerservice, whether it’s how we deal withwater supply problems, bill paymentsor other enquiries. According tothose surveyed across 2014/15,the majority of customers rated ourservice in the highest category of‘very satisfied’. This is supported bythe improvements we have seen incustomer satisfaction over recentyears, as evidenced by Ofwat’s SIMassessment – see ‘Key achievements2010–15’ on pages 30 and 31.However, a minority of customerssuggested we could have done betterand we are listening carefully to theirfeedback as we strive for continuousimprovement. Another valuablesource of information is providedthrough our programme of proactivelytexting around 1,000 customers aday who have recently contacted usby mobile phone, inviting them to rateour service and provide any feedback.Our WOW Awards scheme givescustomers a forum to say ‘thank you’to any individual employee who hasprovided excellent customer service.The forum allows the customers tosuggest ways in which we can improveour overall customer experience.Some of the comments have beentruly inspiring and demonstrate thededication and commitment of ourstaff.To assess customers’ perceptionsof United Utilities and how theycompare to nine other major serviceproviders in our region, every quarterwe commission an independentagency to contact over 1,000household and business customers.Throughout the quarterly surveyswe have consistently ranked 3rd outof 10 overall for customer service,behind only John Lewis and Marks& Spencer but ahead of sevenother major organisations coveringsectors including utilities, telecoms,media and banking services. Across2014/15, we ranked particularlyhighly on the attributes of being‘Socially responsible’ (2nd out of 10)as well as being ‘Trustworthy’ (3rd outof 10) and having a ‘Good reputation’(3rd out of 10). Our lowest rankingwas on ‘Innovation’ (5th out of 10)although this is an area of renewedfocus for us and customer perceptionson this attribute have been graduallyimproving over the last few years.Personality traits customersassociate with United Utilities• Efficient• Reliable• HelpfulSHAREHOLDER INFORMATION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS GOVERNANCE STRATEGIC REPORT21
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