Sodexo publishes its third Public Service Pledge

Sodexo, the world’s largest services provider, has published the third edition of its Public Service Pledge, a strategic and ethical set of commitments to its customers, employees and the communities in which it operates.

The Public Service Pledge, which was first launched in 2015, is a set of commitments designed to help Sodexo in the UK and Ireland contribute to achieving a fairer and better society. There are three areas of focus: delivering services that provide value for money; a commitment to demonstrating a public service ethos by delivering social value where we do business and being a good employer.

The new targets include increasing spending with small businesses, increasing waste recycling, cutting the amount of sugar in its menus, employing ex-service personnel and ex-offenders, and increasing the number of women in Sodexo’s senior management.

In addition to the refreshed Pledge commitments, an Impact Report reviewing the progress made on Sodexo’s Pledge commitments to date has also been published. The company achieved several of its targets, including:

• employing over 200 ex-armed forces personnel.
• training over 800 apprentices.
• achieving Disability Confident Leader Status.

Sodexo regional chair for UK & Ireland, Sean Haley, commented:

At Sodexo, we are proud of what we do and how we do it. Our Public Service Pledge demonstrates our ongoing commitment to adding social value across our operations and translates it into every day actions.

"As a company committed to transparency and accountability, we are also publishing a report that provides evidence of our impact, showing the progress we have made on previous commitments. This includes both our achievements and the areas where we have found it more challenging.

"At Sodexo, we have a long track record of promoting social value with our government and corporate clients, our customers and our staff. Our new Pledge shows we are determined to continue to put our public service ethos at the heart of our work."

Over half of Sodexo’s 36,000 employees in the UK and Ireland work on Government contracts, in justice, defence, healthcare and education. In the last year Sodexo has won several high profile public sector contracts, including Scottish Fire and Rescue, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and two, five-year soft services contracts with HMRC.

Last month, Sodexo appointed Angela Halliday as Director of Social Impact with responsibility for driving Sodexo’s social value strategy for the UK & Ireland. She will work with Sodexo’s CEOs responsible for delivering services to the public sector, the organisation’s Executive Board and its Public Sector Board to embed a social value approach across the UK & Ireland region. The role will involve ensuring organisational governance and reporting on the social value Sodexo is delivering within its contracts.