
A better future for
people, places and planet
At ISS, we’re committed to creating meaningful social value for our people, customers and the communities we operate in. Together, we can help to build a more inclusive and sustainable world.

SOCIAL VALUE OBJECTIVES
ISS UK & Ireland accelerates sustainable social change through our social value objectives – the actions we take to improve equality of opportunity, strengthen communities, and champion sustainable workplaces.
Improving equality of opportunity
Inclusive recruitment
Build proactive partnerships to create more employment opportunities for people who face barriers to employment.
​
Skills and training
Deliver meaningful career development, targeting 5% of our eligible workforce undertaking apprenticeships.​
​
Real Living Wage
Continue to engage our customers in extending the Real Living Wage to all employees.
​
Modern Slavery
Maintain a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery.
​
Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
Improve gender and ethnicity balance across our workforce, targeting 40% women in leadership roles by 2025.
​​
Wellbeing
Provide all employees with comprehensive health and wellbeing support.

As a global business and employer, we play a huge role in improving the lives of our people, our clients, and in helping to solve some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental issues.
Scott Davies
CEO, ISS UK & Ireland
DELIVERING SOCIAL VALUE
ISS has recently published its 2023 Social Value Report, highlighting achievements made throughout the year and providing a quantified baseline calculation of the social value we have created for people, places and planet. Read our report to learn more about how ISS is delivering social value.

Our inclusive recruitment approach — in action
ISS believes a diverse and inclusive workforce benefits everyone, and that’s why a core objective of our Social Value Purpose is to create more opportunities for people who are under-represented in the workforce to build meaningful careers.
See our approach in action, in partnership with Lewisham and Southwark College.

APPRENTICESHIP LEVY
In 2023, ISS gifted £390,734 of our apprenticeship levy to support 18 SMEs to upskill 67 apprentices. These SMEs primarily operated across the education and care sectors, and through access to funding have taken on new members of staff and upskilled existing employees.

young people with additional needs completed supported internships with DFN Project Search

people gained employment through our inclusive recruitment partnerships with Maximus and ELBA

ISS employees undertaking apprenticeships across levels 2-7
​OUR PEOPLE COMMITMENTS
.png)
Real living wage
ISS is a proud founding Real Living Wage Foundation Recognised Service Provider, committed to paying all directly employed members of staff, not tied to client contracts, the real Living Wage and working with our customers to increase the overall number of employees being paid the real Living Wage.
.png)
Mental health
We are dedicated to fostering a supportive working environment that prioritises health and happiness. The Mental Health at Work Commitment helps guide our approach to proactively supporting employee mental health and wellbeing.

Armed Forces Covenant
ISS is signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant and a Gold Award holder of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, signifying our commitment to support veterans and their families transition to civilian life.

Social mobility
ISS has signed the new Social Mobility Covenant, reinforcing our dedication to promoting inclusive recruitment and breaking down employment barriers for individuals facing societal disadvantages.
.png)
Disability Confident Committed
The Disability Confident movement guides our approach to recruiting, retaining, and developing disabled people. ISS is actively working towards moving from ‘Committed’ to ‘Employer’ status.

Age-friendly pledge
ISS has signed the Age-friendly employer pledge, committing to maintaining age-positive recruitment, flexible working and embracing multigenerational diversity in our workforce.
OUR VALUE CHAIN
Working with more SMEs and VCSEs to strengthen communities
Diversifying our supply chain builds closer connections to the local economies we work in, and supports small and purpose-driven businesses to innovate, grow, and create new jobs.
​
Through collaboration with our customers and our sustainable procurement approach, ISS is increasing the proportion of SMEs, VCSEs and minority-owned business in our supply chain.
£248.8m
Spent with small to medium enterprises (SMEs)
£2.6m
Spent with voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs)
£14.8m
Spent with businesses that are minority-owned
ISS is proud to be a longstanding supporter of Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) and works closely with the organisation to help diversify our supply chain and work with more purpose-driven social enterprises.


We’re playing our part in supporting SMEs, VCSEs and minority owned businesses to improve social and environmental wellbeing.
ISS support Minority Supplier Development UK (MSDUK) and Heart of the City's supplier development programmes through skilled volunteering.


SUPPORTING LOCAL COMMUNITIES
We’re creating opportunities for our people to be part of something bigger by supporting the communities they work in.



Providing volunteering opportunities
Reducing food waste and supporting communities
Embracing re-use to support non-profits
We encourage our people to give back to the communities they work in by offering up to one day of volunteering leave per year to use their skills to support local charities, schools, and small businesses.
Globally, ISS delivers over 1 million meals daily. To drive sustainable change in the UK catering sector, we work with Olio to help ensure that food left unsold or unserved makes its way onto tables. Through Olio, ISS donated 1,205kg of food in 2023.
In 2023, we diverted 8.8 tonnes of items for re-use through the Globechain platform, which provides a waste solution that embraces reuse, creates social value, and reduces carbon. Globechain estimated that items donated from across ISS sites saved non-profit organisations over £54k in 2023.
