Social purpose and actions

We want to inspire positive action with focused local programmes to help our people, our planet and the communities where we work. On our sites, we work to provide a safe, inclusive, diverse and motivating environment for everyone.

We are committed to the fair treatment of our employees to provide meaningful work and pay fair compensation - meeting our obligations for both national and local compliance requirements and international frameworks such as the United Nations Global Compact and International Labour Organisation. We want to enable a culture where our colleagues can perform at their best.

We ensure Unions and Work Councils are engaged on business performance and employee matters. Unions remain a key stakeholder group, with forums established to ensure we follow local obligation and practices when discussing matters relating to employees. The local regions and leadership teams manage positive relations amidst challenging economic and labour market trends. During 2023, the Group continued to review and monitor trends and take appropriate action as a result.

Action for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI)

We promote EDI throughout our supply chain and seek to eliminate unlawful discrimination. We have increased overall female participation at the Board and Senior Management level by 4% (vs. 2020) and the total number of female employees now stands at 27%, an increase of 2%. This remains higher than the overall construction industry workforce of 15.8% female1. Our SBUs will focus on further improvement in 2024 and develop local plans.

1 April to June 2023, Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Paid volunteer programme

We encourage our people to be engaged community citizens through our paid volunteer programme. We offer one paid day each year to employees to participate in non-profit community and environmental projects. It’s a great opportunity to share knowledge, skills and experiences. Our people carried out 5,145 of volunteering hours in 2023, including supporting school traffic safety, raising awareness for charities, stewarding local events, repurposing materials and protecting biodiversity. We are very proud of all of their efforts.

Increasing ESGS awareness

Our ESGS Awareness Training programme continues to generate excellent engagement, with robust discussion and producing ideas to reduce energy, water and waste. To date, 42% employees have taken part. In the APAC region, over 70% of Ausco Modular employees have attended sessions, with a new ‘Interested and Influencers’ group established to share ESGS updates and opportunities.

Delivering for social good

This year, we participated in three UN International Days, raising awareness and discussion around these important societal issues:

  • On March 21st, Elimination of Racial Discrimination with workshops, videos and presentations.
  • On June 5th, World Environment Day with an art competition, voluntary interactive talks and local events at all SBUs
  • On December 10th, Human Rights Day, workshops and presentations were given by UNGC representatives.

Progress on our Social KPIs

We have achieved all seven of our Social 2023 KPIs.

KPI Progress Status
Zero fatalities Achieved Achieved
Increase overall female participation at board and senior management level Achieved Achieved
Increase overall proportion of female employees Achieved Achieved
Map gender wage gap for all SBUs where legislated Achieved Achieved
Paid voluntary time of 5,000 hours pa Achieved Achieved
Reduce Lost Time Incident Frequency Rate per 100,000 by 15% vs 2022 Achieved Achieved
Participate and undertake three UN Days: March 21st – International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; June 5th – World Environment Day; December 10th – Human Rights Day Achieved Achieved
Key
AchievedAchieved OngoingOngoing Not achievedNot achieved
Darren Littleboy

We believe strongly in equality and recognise there is important work to do in the global building sector to increase opportunities for women. In the UK, for example, women make up 71.8% of the overall workforce, but construction sits at only 15.8%1. We have increased female participation at management level and the overall proportion of female employees within Modulaire and will continue these efforts.

Darren Littleboy

Chief Human Resources Officer

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Measuring Social Value

Different people are affected by different aspects of our business every day. We want to understand the worth and importance they place on these aspects and impacts. It enables us to deliver for social good, providing solutions that create social value for our people and our stakeholders.

Our approach is to:

  • Embed social value in our processes and ESGS policies, as an added lens to our Loops within Loops business model
  • Work with our stakeholders to improve understanding of social value
  • Capture data and intelligence, including qualitative, quantitative, comparative and environmental changes
  • Collect information to express the amount of value created or preserved using collected or proxy data
  • Communicate the social value generated through our activities

We have put in place a method to measure the social value created or preserved from our actions and activities. It is a new focus for our business and we will advance it over time. We have set a baseline and a platform to measure our efforts and highlight areas for improvement.

Maruschka Baumert-Mougel

We’re increasing representation by providing greater clarity and context around our roles, removing barriers and supporting skills development.

Maruschka Baumert-Mougel

HR Director Algeco Germany

Delivering for social good

Our modular solutions are designed with a social purpose – we create smart spaces where people work, learn and live. They are frequently used for schools, healthcare facilities, housing and other vital social infrastructure. To do this effectively, we seek to understand the difference we are making to people’s lives and the changes we are making to the planet. We call this social value.

Modulaire Group paid volunteer programme in action.
Our employees planting native trees, hedgerows and bluebell bulbs, to provide food and shelter for hundreds of different types of insects, birds, and mammals in the UK.