ESG: Social

In March 2022 we announced we automatically enrolled our 12,000 Self- Employed Plus (SE+) couriers into a workplace pension scheme – a move welcomed by the GMB union as a “massive step forward”. After an in-depth and diligent process, we were pleased to select Smart Pension as the provider of this scheme in July 2022. At the same time we also introduced the right to maternity/paternity leave for all SE+ couriers. When we first announced our SE+ model in 2019 we committed to continuing to develop our support for our self-employed couriers and we are proud to have made such big steps forward in 2022 and be leading the industry once again. Our couriers receive paid holiday and now a pension and maternity/paternity leave, coupled with earnings which are often well in excess (but never lower than) the National Living Wage.

Evri wants to remove the stigma attached to mental health and ensure it’s treated as equally as physical health. Our commitment is to create a workplace culture where everyone feels appreciated, is treated fairly, and has access to the support and resources they require.

As part of a range of initiatives launched over the last few years, we’re upskilling managers to be aware of signs and symptoms of mental health issues, and to give them the confidence to support employees. We’ve also invested in training more Mental Health Ambassadors who are qualified (certified by Mental Health First Aid England) to listen non-judgementally, provide support and signpost people to relevant services.

In 2022/23 we continued to work with the Slave Free Alliance (SFA) to implement recommendations from its gap analysis, and advance our policies and processes around modern slavery. We rolled out an updated modern slavery policy to all staff, setting out expectations of our stakeholders. This was accompanied by an awareness-raising campaign. We also updated our whistleblowing policy and our mandatory online training module on modern slavery was refreshed with help from the SFA. The SFA supported our procurement team with a ‘health check’ of its policies and processes. We have now mapped our supply chain to assess modern slavery risks and 80% of suppliers have signed up to our code of conduct. We will continue to work with the SFA to ensure our procedures for preventing modern slavery are robust and effective.

We were proud to launch our DE&I Survey and Data Disclosure Campaign – another first for us in 2022/23. We not only ran a number of communication campaigns to encourage our people to tell us more about themselves so that we could build up a clearer picture of our workforce, but we also created a bespoke DE&I survey to help us understand our strengths and weaknesses in this area. This insight has helped shape our DE&I strategy. We’ll be launching a DE&I training module for all colleagues later this year, with a specific in-person programme for our senior leadership team. This, coupled with an inclusive leadership framework, will enable our leaders to understand their responsibility for DE&I and enable them to take greater accountability across their teams and the wider business to build a truly inclusive workplace. In January 2023 we launched our first ever menopause guide for all our people, also for line managers to enable a greater level of support for colleagues in their teams.

Regular surveys are run to understand what our colleagues enjoy about working for us and what needs improving. Action plans are then built off the back of this and supported by our myView employee forum, which consists of employee representatives from around the business.

At Evri, 67% of our employees are represented by an independent trade union (data correct as at June 2023)