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Engagement

Communicate openly and honestly with respect for our employees.

At United Utilities, we really value the thoughts, feelings and opinions of our workforce that’s why we provide opportunities for colleagues to have their say in a number of different ways.

Every year, we run our annual Your Opinion Survey, which is measured through an employee engagement survey provider called Willis Towers Watson. Willis Towers Watson are a leading provider in employee and engagement surveys throughout the UK.

In 2023, our engagement score was 82%, which is +4 higher than the UK Norm benchmark and +1 higher than the Utilities Norm benchmark. This year the survey response rate was a fantastic 87% which is our second highest response rate since 2015.

Strong engagement also lends itself to low employee attrition levels and that is reflected in our 6.3% employee turnover for 2022/23.

Health and Safety continues to be our highest scoring category, reflecting the ongoing focus in that area. We continue to achieve strong scores in Your Line Manager (84%), My Voice is Heard (83%) and Engagement (82%).

The top scoring categories against the UK Norm and Utilities Norm benchmarks are Communications, Engagement, Learning and Development, and Your Line Manager.

Companywide and localised action plans have been created and implemented following this year’s survey, which are owned and driven by our managers and Engagement Champions.

We have over 400 Engagement Champions across the business who are individuals within our business areas who help managers to drive engagement across their teams. They help create action plans following the survey and regularly update their managers and teams on progress. Our Engagement Champions meet quarterly, where they hear business updates from senior leaders and the CEO. They play a critical role in supporting our overall engagement strategy.

We also have a Colleague Voice Panel which has been designed to provide an update to the ESG Committee on the progress made to establish how United Utilities brings the “employee voice” into the boardroom, enabling us to comply with the UK Corporate Governance Code which was revised in 2018, with the new provisions taking effect from 1 April 2019 in our case.