41061 Unite AR22 HI-RES WEB-READY - Flipbook - Page 99
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
OTHER INFORMATION
BOARD LEADERSHIP AND PURPOSE
The Board is responsible for establishing the Company’s
purpose, values and strategy, promoting its culture,
overseeing its conduct and affairs, and for promoting the
long-term sustainable success of the Company, generating
value for shareholders and contributing to wider society.
Our purpose – Home for Success
The Board has defined our purpose: to create a Home
for Success for all our students by building communities
within our properties where students can succeed both
professionally and personally. Our purpose describes
our shared commitment and motivation and contributes
to the delivery of our strategic objectives by informing
the development of our business model and strategy,
operating practices, approach to risk and how we engage
with our stakeholders.
Home for Success is about providing the right home
experience for all the tens of thousands of students that
come to live with us each year from across the world and
to enable them to achieve whatever goals and ambitions
they aspire to. The Board oversees our service proposition
and how we keep our students safe and secure. This led to
the introduction of a new operating model across all our
properties providing a 24/7 staff presence, 365 days a year.
Our purpose of Home for Success and “doing what’s right”
led to the Board’s decision to give 90% of our employees a
£500 one-off payment to help with the rising cost-of-living
pressures. This is in addition to a wider package of support
provided to employees.
We awarded our largest ever annual pay increase in
January 2023 of 10% to the majority of our operational
team members and team leaders. We have proudly been a
Real Living Wage employer for many years – the first in our
sector – and this increase means that 90% of our employees
will be paid in excess of the new 2023 Real Living Wage
rates. For our operations management and support teams
we introduced a sliding scale pay award, starting from 3% for
a small number of our leadership roles, rising to 10.1% for the
lowest paid. Overall, this amounts to an average pay award of
8.6% to all eligible employees across the business, with 95%
of our people receiving a 2023 pay increase of 5% or more.
Home for Success is also about ensuring the right platform
for our University partners by understanding their long-term
aspirations, accommodation requirements and evolving
expectations around student welfare. This means our offer
is built around the priorities of students and universities
alike. Our focus on our Home for Success purpose and
our support to students throughout the pandemic was
recognised when we were named Student Accommodation
Operator of the Year at the leading property sector awards,
RESI. We also won Operator of the Year at Property
Week’s 2022 Student Accommodation Awards. This award
recognised the financial support we provided to students
affected by Covid-19 closures and our efforts to tackle
inequality in the student accommodation sector.
With our people being at the heart of our business, the
Board’s focus on Home for Success is also about ensuring
an environment whereby our employees can grow,
develop, succeed and belong. The Board is driven by our
commitment to develop diverse and inclusive teams, filled
with positive energy and new ideas. We provide a range of
career pathways and make opportunities for progression
available to all, which was demonstrated by the high
number of internal promotions as part of our new operating
model launched in 2022.
The Board has ultimate responsibility to Unite’s shareholders
for all the Group’s activities as well as a broader responsibility
to consider the views of other key stakeholders including our
customers, universities, employees and the communities
we operate in as well as considering environmental and
social issues when making decisions. This responsibility is
intertwined into our purpose of Home for Success.
Our values, people and culture
We remain committed to our purpose, continuing to evolve
through our stakeholder engagement and our people. The
Board’s ambition is to have a “One Team” culture, where our
values can reflect the mindset, behaviours and attitudes we
aspire to role model across the business. These continue to
shape our culture, our ambitions, the things we believe in
and how we act. They connect us and drive our behaviours.
As we progress on our journey, we do so with an enhanced
commitment to doing what’s right. This goes beyond regulatory
compliance and relates to all aspects of the business
including the impact on our people and communities.
Through our Culture Matters employee forum (founded
in 2021), our employees’ voice remains front and centre
ensuring dialogue between the Board and the wider
Company, engaging employees and enabling them to
contribute to the success of our business. Ilaria del Beato,
our Designated Non-Executive Director for Workforce
Engagement, attends the forum meetings and provides
feedback to the Board to inform its decision-making (more
details on Ilaria’s role and activities this year can be found
on page 102). This feedback helps inform how we develop
greater gender and ethnic diversity in our senior leadership
and create a more diverse workforce.
How the Board monitors our culture
Our culture defines what makes Unite a great place to work
and a great Company to do business with and forms the
fundamental basis for our governance. The Board monitors
corporate culture through interaction and dialogue with our
people though our Designated Non-Executive Director for
Workforce Engagement and also through regular employee
engagement surveys and site visits. This Board’s interaction
takes place through the organisation, helping ensure our
values and culture are well understood and giving our
people the opportunity for frank and open feedback and
the sharing of different views.
Our employee surveys help measure engagement through
their participation rates as well as the feedback received
across the broad range of topics surveyed. During 2022,
members of the Board visited Bristol and Manchester and
met with regional and local managers and team leaders.
Our Higher Education trust score monitors how universities
view us and provides insight on our culture from our external
stakeholders. Our initiatives undertaken to support our values,
mentioned on pages 97–99, reflects our values-led culture.
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