Sodexo becomes a Supporter of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter

Sodexo has become a Supporter of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, making it one of the scheme’s largest employers.

The Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter was developed collectively by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the Mayor of Greater Manchester – working alongside local councils, trade unions, employers, and employees. The Charter’s goal is to raise employment standards throughout the city region and contribute to a thriving and productive economy.

As a major UK employer, with more than 10 per cent of its 30,000-strong UK workforce operating in the city region, Sodexo has been working with Charter for over 12 months in order to gain Supporter status.

To achieve Supporter status, Sodexo evidenced that the organisation fully supports the Charter’s seven characteristics of good employment, which set out what good employment practices, effective employee engagement, and good fair employment look like.

• Secure Work
• Flexible Work
• Pay
• Engagement and Voice
• Recruitment
• People Management
• Health and Wellbeing

Such examples include Sodexo’s commitment to the Living Wage Foundation; multiple channels of communication with Sodexo colleagues, ever expanding health and wellbeing programmes for support, award winning apprenticeship programmes; a 24/7 virtual GP service, and on-line learning platform available to all Sodexo colleagues.

In addition to its head office near Media City, where colleagues working in areas such as HR, IT and finance are based, the majority of Sodexo’s Greater Manchester-based colleagues work in frontline roles on sites including Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust hospitals, HMP Forest Bank prison and Oasis Academy MediaCityUK.

Sodexo’s Corporate Services business also has colleagues based at city region sites such as AstraZeneca, while its sports and leisure business, Sodexo Live! is the venue partner for Wigan Athletic FC.

Sodexo has long been committed to creating employment opportunities and enabling colleagues to thrive through local career pathways, apprenticeships, kickstarting careers for students, and filling job vacancies with those from an offending background where appropriate.

In the last year, Unity Radio was one of a number of Salford organisations that benefitted from Sodexo gifting a proportion of its apprenticeship levy, funding an employee taking a Senior Leader degree and employability and skills training for young people that the station supports.

Since 2015, Sodexo has been a Living Wage Foundation Recognised Service Provider and as such, commits to paying head office staff the real Living Wage and, when permitted, submitting a Living Wage alternative in its bids; and actively promoting its adoption to clients.

Earlier this year, Sodexo also invested significantly in a strategic health and wellbeing partnership with Spectrum.Life to provide their Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to all colleagues with a comprehensive suite of health and wellbeing solutions to support mental and physical health.

Sean Haley, Regional Chair, Sodexo UK & Ireland, said: “As a large Greater Manchester employer, we take great pride in joining a charter that champions responsible employment practices and supports sustainable growth. We have a shared ambition of creating good jobs for all, with real opportunities to help people belong and thrive in roles that provide service excellence, and contribute to the local community and economy.”

Ian MacArthur, Director at The Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, added: “It’s an absolute pleasure to welcome a major regional employer like Sodexo to the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter. Good employment must be at the heart of any effort to level up our places, improve conditions for employees and create better working environments. I would like to welcome employers of all sizes and in all sectors to join Sodexo and get involved.”