Employees

It takes more than 5,000 of us to keep our network flowing – from engineers to leak detectors; scientists to financial experts, we are one of the largest employers in the North West. In addition, 10,000 people are engaged through our supply chain, meaning that we generate – either directly or indirectly – one in every 150 jobs in the region.

While we all do an important job, nothing we do is worth getting hurt for. Health, safety and wellbeing take precedence because our people deserve to go home safely every day.

We know that the more engaged, skilled and motivated our people are, the better service they provide to our customers. That’s why we’re committed to training, reward and recognition, and positive employee relations. We annually source feedback from colleagues on all aspects of working life to see how we’re doing, with consistently strong employee engagement scores tracking UK High Performance benchmarks.

We run our recruitment programme in a way that supports the region’s jobs and training agenda, and are committed to providing apprenticeships and graduate scheme places, with 46 apprentices and 31 graduates joining in our 2023 intake.

We rely on skilled and engaged people to deliver our services, and must ensure skills are maintained across the generations through training and development. All colleagues have regular conversations with their line manager to discuss their performance. This ensures that everybody gets the support they need, regular feedback on their performance as well as on their progress towards achieving their personal objectives. Colleagues also have the opportunity to ask for 360 feedback if they want to. Once a year, all colleagues have an end of year performance review conversation with their line manager during which performance and potential ratings are discussed alongside career aspirations and personal development plans.

At United Utilities we have an internal training delivery team responsible for the identification, development and implementation of training across UU, to ensure we provide a safe and great place to work. A vast amount of our training and education programmes are delivered through our in-house team of experienced trainers and specialists, including many of our wide-range of award winning apprenticeship programmes. Read more about our approach to employee training here.

Finally, each and every one of our colleagues is unique, and increasing the diversity of our workforce ensures we have access to a broader set of views. We want colleagues to enjoy coming to work, and feel valued, supported and respected when they’re here. Find out more about working for United Utilities.