People First

We recognise the impact we have on our colleagues, communities and beyond, and are committed to ensuring that we engage appropriately with all key stakeholders.

Employee engagement

We engage with employees through a variety of methods to ensure all have the opportunity to be heard.

Internal Communications Framework

We appointed an Internal Communications Manager in 2024 who has already made great strides in improving employee communications based on a broad range of colleague feedback. Several initiatives have been implemented based on the findings, forming the basis of our new Internal Communications Framework.

Board engagement

We continue to run colleague focus groups, led by our designated Non-executive Director Alison Littley but carried out by all the Non-executive Directors.

Pulse survey

In 2024, we engaged an external partner to introduce a new survey capturing a broader understanding of employee sentiment across a greater variety of topics including engagement, process, culture and strategy.

The three largest areas of focus emerging from the survey are wellbeing, reward and recognition, and job satisfaction. We are committed to making improvements in these areas, some of which we have been able to action already, and some of which will be incorporated into our future plans.

The change in survey makes any comparisons with previous results less meaningful. However, the 2024 survey has established a baseline and we are sure that this work will result in greater personal and professional development opportunities for our employees.

Community partnerships

In 2024, our charitable efforts continued to focus on Maggie’s, which provides emotional support and care for cancer patients and their families, with 24 centres across the UK. Over 2023 and 2024 we raised a total of £46,000 for Maggie’s, with a variety of activities. We are incredibly proud of the collective effort and generosity demonstrated by our colleagues. We remain committed to supporting Maggie’s in 2025.

Our Employee Value Proposition captures the various topics which together aim to ensure our employees feel valued and supported as members of the Eurocell team.

Fair working practices

We are committed to providing a fair working environment for all our colleagues, including a fair salary, terms and conditions of employment, and statutory benefits.

Employee turnover

We are pleased to report that our labour turnover decreased from 27% in 2023 to 25% in 2024, although this remains above our 2020 baseline of 21%. We expect to see continued progress in 2025.

Our full-time colleague voluntary turnover rate was 20% in 2024.

Reward and recognition

Our policy is to comply, at the very least, with minimum wage legislation for all colleagues. Each year we ensure that all employees are paid at or above the National Living Wage (‘NLW’) and can confirm that we remained in line with this ambition again in 2024.

During 2024 we focused on simplifying and standardising our reward packages. Our reward strategy ensures that all employees are eligible for a range of benefits and incentives that include a defined-contribution pension scheme (introducing salary sacrifice in April 2025), life insurance, Save As You Earn (‘Sharesave’) schemes, a health care cash plan and access to savings and offers through our third-party platform. In addition to the formal packages, we have a variety of events and vehicles to engender a culture of feeling valued.

In 2024, we introduced the Proud Awards. Employees are encouraged to nominate fellow colleagues that have showcased any of our values that make their colleagues or managers proud.

Wellbeing framework

We are committed to supporting all colleagues in their wellbeing, inclusive of mental, physical and financial issues. We provide tools to support colleague wellbeing, including an Employee Assistance Programme, access to health and wellbeing support, and our occupational health programme with targeted health surveillance and a health care cash plan. Our People First survey results identified wellbeing as one of our largest focus areas, so we plan to review and enhance our wellbeing framework in 2025, to ensure we appropriately support the wellbeing of all colleagues in line with their expectations.

Equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging

The overriding policy in any new appointments we make continues to be one of selecting candidates with an appropriate mix of skills, capabilities and market knowledge, to ensure the continued success of the business. However, we recognise fully the benefits of encouraging diversity and inclusivity across the business and believe that progress in these areas will contribute strongly to our continued success.

We have recently reviewed and updated our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and our Anti-Bullying, Harassment and Victimisation Policy, as we aim to continually improve our processes.

We are committed to providing a working environment that embraces opportunities for everyone, as set out in our Policy, available online.

We are also committed to fostering an environment that respects the equity and diversity of all colleagues and ensures their feeling of inclusion and belonging.

We have joined the Construction Inclusion Coalition, created to improve equity, diversity and inclusion across the construction sector. We have committed to the Coalition’s Built on Better Pledge and are fully engaged in the efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion in the construction sector.

Whilst we operate in an industry in which, historically, women have been underrepresented, we are very committed to increasing the participation of women throughout the Group. Our historic target has been to deliver year-on-year increases in the proportion of female employees in the Group. In 2024, female employees increased to 17% (2023: 16%).

In addition, we continue to promote flexible solutions tailored to, and supportive of, individual needs. Our internal processes support all colleagues who may require help and support, including employees who are disabled or become disabled during their employment, to fulfil their day-to-day work activities through our occupational health provision. We provide tailored support for specific groups and individuals throughout our business, including the provision of free English and maths tuition for non-English speakers.

Gender diversity statistics

This year we developed and published our Board Diversity Policy, available on our website.

The relatively small size of the Board and the pre-existing Directors’ service contracts have inevitably limited the pace of change. We currently meet two of the three FCA targets on diversity, with one Director from an ethnic minority background and one senior Board position held by a female. Our progress towards meeting the target of 40% of the Board being women (38% as at the 2024 AGM) was adversely impacted by Kate Allum’s departure in July.

Following changes in 2024, female membership of the Executive Committee has now increased to 60%.

2024 diversity statistics

Our main focus areas under Growing Talent in 2024 were; leadership development, talent management, succession planning and apprenticeships.

We completed a review of our induction process and identified improvements which are now in place. We also introduced two new leadership development programmes for branch managers and operations leaders.

We continue to offer apprenticeship positions through the apprenticeship levy, and as of year-end employed 27 apprentices.

We are working to define and streamline the programme across the Group and launch a new apprenticeship programme in 2025.

2024 training statistics