united-utilities-annual-report-2015

UNITED UTILITIES GROUP PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2015Stock Code: UU.unitedutilities.comWhat have we done in 2014/15?Improving gender diversity across the talent poolOur graduate scheme continues to be successful inattracting female applicants. This year the number offemale graduates offered roles with United Utilitiesincreased to 42 per cent. The overall number of femalegraduates on the scheme has also increased from 35 percent to 39 per cent.In 2014, there was a 34 per cent increase in femaleapplications to our apprentice scheme and an overallincrease in the number of female apprentices joining thecompany. The 2014 intake was 25 per cent female and ouroverall apprentice population is now 14 per cent female.This is above the national industry average of seven percent. Research from the Sector Skills Council for Science,Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies shows theaverage number of women in apprenticeships is betweenfive and seven per cent.In our executive team of nine (including the CEO andCFO), three are women, namely Sue Amies-King (businessretail director), Sally Cabrini (business services director)and Gaynor Kenyon (corporate affairs director). We areactively working with these individuals on their personaldevelopment plans, which include building their externalportfolio.Women hold 23 per cent of senior leadership positions.For this group, we actively support their individualpersonal development plans, which include encouragingthem to broaden their external network. We have runa number of successful events for our female talentpopulation, including an Army leadership day. GaryDixon, our domestic retail director and a member of ourexecutive team, is the executive sponsor of our diversityactivities.This year we have launched our women’s network and anumber of our senior managers have hosted events andexplained how they have developed their own careersand overcome barriers. In addition, we have invited guestspeakers from external organisations to share theircareer experiences. This has inspired the group to set up aself-managed women’s network group.We have an active partnership with the Energy andEfficiency Industrial Partnership (EEIP) which has enabledus to leverage initiatives which align and support ourdiversity plans.A great example of this is Charlotte Cottam, one of ourfemale apprentices who we have nominated to support anEEIP skills social media campaign to promote employmentopportunities in the utility sector to girls.This campaign was launched at the opening of our Boltontraining and technology centre by the then EmploymentMinister, Esther McVey. Charlotte was interviewed bymedia sources who then promoted her story in NationalApprentice Week. All of our apprentices are supported by asenior manager as part of their career development with us.“What appealed to me about UnitedUtilities is that it’s such an importantcompany. We’re always going to needwater – it’s a vital commodity. I lovebeing employed in a sector that I knowhas a long-term future.”Charlotte Cottam, apprentice engineer, workingwith the team looking after our sewer networkon MerseysideWe have widened our diversity focus and we havejoined Race for Opportunity (RfO), part of Business inthe Community and the leading organisation for ethnicdiversity and inclusion.In 2014, we participated in the RfO benchmarking surveywhich assesses the effectiveness of our policies andprocesses across recruitment, development, leadership,pay, and customer and supplier management. We achieveda bronze award. Our aspiration to improve our score in2015 is underpinned by an action plan.The employee-run lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendernetwork has recently been relaunched, and a number ofemployee events are being planned for 2015.STRATEGIC REPORTGOVERNANCESHAREHOLDER INFORMATION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS71