Our Public Service Pledge

We are proud to publish our second Public Service Pledge which demonstrates that we continue to invest in our people, communities and the customers we serve.

We operate efficiently and invest profits into sustainable practices and innovation to help enhance the quality of private and public service delivery.

Our pledge identifies key public service areas and initiatives which we promise to commit to, measure and report on annually and meets with the principles of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012.

Transparency, business integrity and loyalty

An ethical culture, with clear guidelines and leadership within a business, is crucial. Our Business Integrity Code is of vital importance, underlining our intolerance to any practice not born from honesty, integrity and fairness.

How we deliver on our key pledges:

We pledge to develop services for our clients that measure outcomes

In the running of public services, the private sector must be fully committed to consistent delivery of promises, outcomes and value for money and demonstrate a real public sector ethos through the delivery of services.

Delivering value to the Department for Work and Pensions

We pledge to deliver on our Better Tomorrow 2025 commitments

As a company that promises to improve the quality of life of people, corporate responsibility lies at the core of everything we do. Better Tomorrow 2025, our sustainability roadmap, is designed to keep us on track in relation to our aspirations as a responsible business and consists of nine commitments. Each commitment has an associated target against which we will track and report on our progress.

See what a better tomorrow means to us

Our Better Tomorrow 2025 commitments

Find out more about our Better Tomorrow 2025 commitments

We pledge to prioritise partnering with small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the delivery of public services and increase our SME spend to £200m by 2025

Our aim is to increase spend with listed suppliers to positively contribute to the Better Tomorrow 2025 target of £200m of our business value benefiting SMEs and improving the quality of life of women in our communities. Sodexo is a member of MSBUK, WEConnect and Social Enterprise UK as well as a strong supporter of Enterprise Nation which support our strategy including introductions to SMEs.

The Sodexo Supply Chain Inclusion programme

Currently over half of our core supply chain are SMEs or social enterprises. We also monitor the company ownership of these suppliers – more than 10% are women owned.

Meet one of our women owned suppliers - Rubbies in the Rubble

Working with Sodexo as a small business
Read our blog by Adam Sopher, Director of Joe & Seph’s popcorn (pictured right), a small business which is a member of our Supply Chain Inclusion Programme.

We pledge to double the number of our employees volunteering

We have a corporate foundation called the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation which distributes approximately £300,000 a year to charities tackling hunger and malnutrition in the UK and Ireland. In 2017 we launched a volunteering drive. This drive engaged 1% of our colleagues in volunteering opportunities in a three month period; our pledge is to double the number of our colleagues volunteering in the coming year to 2% of our workforce.

Sodexo employee Fareshare volunteering programme

We pledge to abide by a code of ethical practice and principles

We pledge to abide by a code of ethical practice and, through our Business Integrity Code, we will not tolerate any practice that is not born of honesty, integrity and fairness, anywhere in the world where we do business.

View our:

Respect for people and equal opportunity

At Sodexo we are committed to the importance of promoting equal opportunities, valuing diversity and creating an inclusive working environment for all our employees.

How we deliver on our key pledges:

We pledge to increase the representation of women in our top 1,200 positions globally and, in the UK and Ireland, our aspiration is to increase representation from 33% to 36% by 2020 and to 40% by 2025

Gender balance is vital to the success of our business and our research shows that gender balanced management groups (with 40-60% women) perform better than those management groups that do not fit this balance range.

“Gender balance is critical for business success. It attracts customers, fosters innovation and drives performance. We know that women account for 70% of consumer spending decisions; so the composition of our teams must reflect the diversity of the population we serve.” Denis Machuel, Chief Executive Officer, Sodexo

Sodexo’s Gender Balance Study 2018

The goal of Sodexo’s Gender Balance Study was to expand previous research on the business case for women in leadership to the business case for parity in representation of men and women in management positions (“gender balance”).

Sodexo’s study took a broader approach by examining women across all levels of management—not just upper-level leadership positions. This wider lens was designed to shed light on the “pipeline” that will ultimately affect gender balance at the top tier of leadership.

Visit our global website to view the study

Committed to the recruitment and retention of people with disabilities

We pledge to become a Disability Confident Leader as part of the Government’s Disability Confident Scheme.

Sodexo has made the global commitment that by 2025 our programmes for people with disabilities will reach 100% of our workforce.

We’re committed to providing a work environment where people can bring their whole selves to work – this includes those with disabilities, who are often a source of untapped talent.

'Open-up' campaign - There's much more to all of us than you might know

To mark the International Day of Disability Sodexo launched the 'Open-up' campaign, as part of our plan to create an inclusive workplace for all our employees.

The campaign featured case studies of stories from some of our real colleagues with invisible disabilities. Read their stories.

We pledge to undertake regular pay audits in the UK and Ireland and to publish the results.

Transparency around pay and our commitment to reduce our gender pay gap is one element of how we strive to achieve better gender balance through our organisation.

Sodexo published gender pay data in October 2017 to become an early adopter of new UK Government legislation.

“At Sodexo we believe achieving gender balance is not only the right thing to do, it also enables people and our business to perform better. This belief is supported by global internal research which found our own gender-balanced management teams outperform those that are not across a number of key performance indicators.

“Sodexo’s mission is to improve quality of life for people. Publishing our gender pay gap is one step on the journey to creating an inclusive culture where everyone can flourish.” Andy Rogers, Sodexo UK & Ireland HR director

Infographic - What's the difference between equal pay and the gender pay gap? (click to enlarge)

Gender pay gap podcast
Andy Rogers, Sodexo UK & Ireland HR director, answers questions about the gender pay gap in a short interview. Listen to this podcast below, on iTunes or on your podcast app.

Read our gender pay report

We pledge to employ 200 ex-services personnel by the end of 2018

This is part of our commitment to the armed forces and we continue to support our staff in becoming reservists.

Sodexo has received gold Employer Recognition in relation to the armed forces covenant and for support to the UK armed forces community - the highest badge of honour from the Ministry of Defence for its commitment and support to the UK armed forces community.

“These companies (Sodexo) have shown the gold standard of commitment to supporting members of the armed forces, veterans, and their families. They have taken meaningful steps to ensure the Defence community is not disadvantaged by the sacrifice they make in helping keep this country safe. The actions of these employers make it crystal clear that regardless of size, location, or sector, employing people with military skills is good for business.”
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon (2017)

We pledge to employ 40 ex-offenders per year

Reducing re-offending is at the heart of what Sodexo seeks to achieve, and forms part of the company’s mission to improve quality of life in the communities in which it operates, encompassing economic, social and environmental development.

In line with the Government’s commitment to reduce reoffending, we are committed to the employment of ex-offenders and pledge to employ 40 ex-offenders or offenders on Release on Temporary License (ROTL) in the UK every year.

Repurposing Corporate Uniforms I Hubbub Campaigns

Ban the Box
Sodexo has chosen to support Ban the Box i.e. removing the tick box from application forms to allow ex-offenders to fairly compete for jobs.

Sodexo UK & Ireland HR director Andy Rogers

“We want to attract the best people and recognise that the tick box may have been keeping us from a very valuable pool of talent. In addition, as a company responsible for both prison and probation contracts, we understand how important employment is to rehabilitation.” Andy Rogers, Sodexo UK & Ireland HR director