Construction &
Infrastructure has
entered 12 formal
partnerships
with schoo
ls whereby the
division
and the school
pledge in eac
h case
to support pu
pils with their
learning and develo
pment so that the
y
make career choices that
are right for them, the industry and th
e
community
in which they
live and wo
rk. The agreemen
t includes
a commitment to the Gats
by benchmarks of good career
guidance.
Gatsby is a char
itable foundation committ
ed to strengthening the
UK’s sci
ence and engineer
ing skills.
All divisions take par
t in local co
mmunity projects
and charities.
The Construction
business has a dedicate
d social manager who chair
s
the skills advisory panel on The
South East Local Enterprise Partnership
(SELEP). SELEP is a new frame
work looking to redeploy th
ose who have
lost their jobs during Covid-19 in s
ectors with skills shortages. It has set
up a Covid-19 recovery skills training framework, w
hich will run for two
years. Construction & Infrastructure’s Barking Riverside extension
project team has partnered with local initiatives s
uch as Thames View
Community Garden and Barking Food Forest,
to find ways of reusing
discarded site materials
that can be
nefit the local community. In July
2020, the team donated disused wood
en rail sleepers and volunteered
to build raised pla
nt beds and family plots for grow
ing fruit and
vegetables. Property Services set up virtual mentoring c
ircles on all
their contracts in 2020 to support lone parents who have found
themselves unemployed a
s a result of Covid-19. The s
essions cover
CV development, job s
earch, interview skills and preparation, and
confidence-building skills and are o
ffered at times that suit participants’
other commitments. The divis
ion has also signed up to the ‘Care Lea
ver
Covenant’, which provides prac
tical support for those leaving care, so
they can progress suc
cessfully to the next phase of their lives
. Property
Services will provide c
are leavers with access to a dedic
ated adviser,
support with employability s
kills, training, and opportunities
for
apprenticeships and emplo
yment.
We are a part
ner with Social Value UK, a natio
nal network that
promotes the measurem
ent of social value, and have recently
become a part
ner of the Social Va
lue Centre of E
xcellence, whic
h
has been se
t up by Simetric
a-Jacobs and the
London School of
Economics to deve
lop best practice in socia
l value measurement.
We run a s
upply chain so
cial value
bank, develope
d in conjunct
ion
with Simetrica, that mo
netise
s activitie
s undertaken on our
construction
projects that add
value to local com
munities. The ba
nk
is aligned
to HM Treasury
’s Green Bo
ok and allows
us to reliabl
y
forecast and c
alculate the eco
nomic, environmen
tal and social va
lue
our projects create. In 2020, we used
the bank on 83 projects a
nd it
calculated t
hat we contributed
68p of social
value for every £1
spent.
Examples of social va
lue delivere
d on these pr
ojects includ
ed:
•
4,624 small- to me
dium-sized businesses e
ngaged;
•
640 apprenticeships
and training o
pportunities for y
oung people;
•
755 job opportunities fo
r unemployed people;
•
706 job opportunities for local people;
•
7,457 hours supporting schools; and
•
9,435 hours community v
olunteering.
We are now w
orking with Simetr
ica-Jacobs to deve
lop a similar too
l
that can be used b
y our regeneration bu
sinesses.
2021 social priorities
In 2021, we will focus
on further improving sa
number of
high potential
incidents on
sites (those
incurred that c
ould
potentiall
y have resulted in seri
ous injury); increase occupa
tional
health surve
illance to try a
nd eradicate incidents
of hand-arm
vibration an
d noise-induced h
earing loss; contin
ue to help
employees
manage their
health and well
being, includ
ing their ment
al
wellbeing; review wh
ether or not we extend our subcontractor pilot
study on condit
ions on site; communica
te the results of our diver
sity
and inclus
ion survey to
our employees
and
actions; co
mplete the BE
S 6002 ethica
l labour sour
cing standard
audit; imp
lement a new v
ersion of the s
upply chain s
ocial value
bank
for our development proj
ects; and roll out a template agreement
for
our school partnerships across the Group.
We aim to build t
wo-way, constr
uctive relations
hips with our
stakeholders and mainta
in regular, open and
transparent dialogue
with them so
that we can cons
ider their views
and interests w
hen
making dec
isions. This hel
ps to ensure that o
ur operational an
d
business decision
outcomes are more robust and sustainable.
We have set out bel
ow some examples of the wa
ys the Group as a
whole has engaged wi
th stakeholders during the year. Pages 66 and
67 in the directors’ and corporate
governanc
e report descr
ibe how
the Board engages with its key stake
holders: our shareholders,
In the fourth quarter of 2020, we undert
ook a survey of all our employees
and a selection of our clients, suppliers, trade associations and investors
to understand the level of import
ance they would ascribe to a range of
responsible business ambitions, in t
he context of our business. In total,
2,937 stakeholders re
sponded to the survey. The findings indicate that
our Total Commitment
s remain relevant and that
the issues that our
different stakeholders considered material are aligned with the Group’s
responsible business priorities. We
have used our stakeholders’ feedback
to revise our key perform
ance indicators and implement stretching
targets for the next decade. We will publish on
our website full details
of the findings and the actions that we w
ill be taking as a result.
To help in
vestors fulfil
their stewardshi
p roles and ensure
that we
retain their confidence
and support, our
executive directors regularly
communi
cate with institu
tional investors a
nd analysts, and al
l
shareholders are invited to at
te
nd the Company’s
annual general
meeting. Our
non-executive d
irectors are availabl
e to meet with
shareholders at any time.
Our people
To help us retain and develop our talented teams of
employees, now and
for the future, we use a variety of di
fferent tool
s to maintain an ongoing
dialogue. This includes structured care
er conversations, induction
programmes, engagement surveys, internal social media platforms
and employee forums.
In 2020, as p
art of our prio
rity to resear
ch and improve diversi
ty and
inclusion within the Group, we circulated a survey to all of our employees
asking for their views. The survey was sent out by our chief executive,
John Morgan, with a covering letter explaining why we were conducting
the survey, as
suring people that it was
confidential, and letting the
m
know how the data wo
uld be managed and that we would
be sharing the
key findings and actions with them.
The email was accompanied by a
short, animated vi
deo entitled ‘A vibrant future’, th
at conveyed to our
employees why we believe that div
ersity and inclusion is good for our
teams and for the Group. Sixty per
cent of employees responded to the
survey. Read more about the dive
rsity and inclusion survey on page 70.
Over the last 12 months, we kept our empl
oyees informed of our
financial performance through ne
wsletters, emails and briefing sessions.
We offer a Savings-Related Share Option Plan (SAYE) to encourage our
employees to engage with business per
formance and progress.
We engaged with ou
r employees throughout the pandemic
about its
impacts on the business and how they could continue
to work safely.
Each division updates its employee
s on business goals, market conditions
and divisional performance. Our employees are invite
d to give their views
and feedback by taking part in
forums and consultations. All new
employees receive a formal induction, which inclu
des a presentation
on our core values and Total C
ommitments. It was particularly important
to maintain regular communicati
on during 2020 and updates and
inductions were conducted virtu
ally, using tools such as live events
on Micro
soft Teams,
Q&A sessi
ons with divi
sional man
aging direc
tors,
recorde
d induction
sessions, vi
deos and sta
rter pack
s. We ensured
that
those of our employees who we
re working from home stayed connected
and were kept informed. Our
Infrastructure business, for example,
communicated daily with its employees on the late
st Covid-19 guidance
and regul
ations, usin
g a variety o
f channels,
such as sho
rt videos.
Annual conferences usually
give senior divisional managers and
functional head
s the chance to
communicate key me
ssages and core
values in an engaging way, while giv
ing our employees the chance to
share idea
s and experien
ces with colle
agues from differ
ent roles and
regions. While we were unable to ho
ld these large gatherings during
2020, we are looking forward to bei
ng able to reinstate them in the
coming year.
Our divisions conduct regular employee surveys, analyse the feedback,
and communicate the results to their employee
s together with the
actions t
o be underta
ken in respon
se. In 202
0, Infrast
ructure and
Partnershi
p Housing carri
ed out survey
s. Infrastructu
re’s respon
se rate
was 86%, and following the results, the divi
sion is increasing its focus on
wellbeing and mental health, and
setting up more frequent listening
groups and employee forums to expand communications with
employee
s. Partnershi
p Housing’s re
sponse rate wa
s 81% and the
division received feedback that it had improved employee satisfaction
and working conditions.
In response
to a survey of m
embers of our
retirement savin
gs plan on
responsible investment, undertaken
at the end of 2019, the trustees of
the Morgan Sindall Group Re
tirement Savings Plan introduced Le
gal &
General’s ‘Future World’ fund i
nto both the default and self-select fund
options f
or members. The Fu
ture World fund
targets compan
ies with
positive environmental policies. The tru
stees also arranged for each
member to be sent a personalised video
to communicate their benefit
statements; this resulted in c3% of membe
rs increasing their monthly
savings within the Plan.
Our suppliers and subcontractors
Our strong relationships with our
supply chain help us to be an employer
of choice and
facilitate conv
ersations on
subjects such
as innovation and
future grow
th. We monitor ou
r subcontrac
tors’ perfor
mance against set
criteria and provide them with constructive feedback. We hold a
networking event for suppliers every t
wo years (the event scheduled for
2020 was postponed to 2021) and provide learning and support through
the Supply Chain Sustainabili
ty School (see page 21).
We are working with our supply
chain to help them measure and reduce
carbon emissions (see page 14) and plastic use (see page 15). During
2020, enga
ging with ou
r suppliers
and subcon
tractors
was critical
to
ensure they could continue to supply us wit
h goods and services for
our pro
jects and to help them mana
ge their own cash flows (s
ee more on
page 21). We kept our s
upply chain informed with regard to site closures
and reopenings and, once work had re
sumed, our divisions inducted
subcontractors with the new operating procedures an
d kept them up
to date with gove
rnment advice and regulations.
Regular dialogue with
our clients and potential clients helps us to
understand their priorities and expect
ations and to ensure that we
have the necessary skills and capabilitie
s to deliver their projects.
Our aim is to secure work
where possible through partnerships,
framework arrangements or repeat business. Our divisions develop long-
term relationships with their client
s and partners, through understanding
their prioritie
s and delivering on their p
roject goals. The Perfect Delive
ry
programme run b
y our constructi
on businesses is d
esigned to ensure
that we carry out our projects to th
e highest standards. Clients’ priorities
are discussed with them at the start of the p
rojects and, on completion,
we ask for feedback on their experience in face
-to-face interviews using
detailed questionnaires that in
clude both scores and comments. The
results are shared with the proje
ct teams and analysed by the divisional
managing directors, in order
to drive further improve
ments.
In 2020, when C
ovid-19 hit, ou
r divisions w
orked quickly and cl
osely with
their clients and partners to impl
ement new site safety measures. They
held meetings with clients from early on in the p
andemic to prevent or
resolve any issues, and secured agreements eithe
r to continue working
or when to return to site, as appropriate
. Agreement was also reached
on any necessary extensions of time and resolution of costs for
delays
caused by the initial disruption.
Partnership Housing issued guidan
ce to prospective house-buyers on
how they would be engaged with during the
sales process, in line with
government advice, so a
s to ensure their safety and
that of the division’s
employees. For example, house vi
ewings were arranged by appointment
only. Nu
mbers of
reservati
ons and sa
les increa
sed, even
when comp
ared
to pre-Covid levels, and the division ach
ieved a 5-star customer
satisfaction rating in many of its regions.
Our divisions reported
that they were encouraged by the level of positive
support received from their clients. A number of public sector clie
nts
acted on the government’
s Public Procurement Notice and worked with
our businesses to implement measures,
such as accelerated payments
and early release of re
tentions to support ou
r supply chain partners.
Local communities
By engaging with the communities in whi
ch we work, we endeavour to
understand their needs and concerns so that our projects can deliver
outcomes with societal benefits. Our divi
sions have dedicated teams
responsible for liaising with local resi
dents and communities before
and during our projects. Where appr
opriate, they engage members of
the local community in consul
tation on the project’s development; for
example, Urban Regenerati
on arranges planning consultations on all its
projects and phases. Project teams in all divisions get involved in local
events, such as school talks or careers fairs
, or supporting
In 2020, school engagement p
rogrammes were conducted virtually and
employees volunteered to raise money for charities associated with the
NHS. Pr
operty Se
rvices deli
vered fo
od parcel
s to resid
ents at the
start of
the pandemic, and continued with its ‘W
ork to Learn’ programmes as well
as its ‘Ran
t & Rave’ service a
nd energy-saving advice fo
r residents.
MORGAN SINDALL GROUP PLC
ANNUAL REPORT 2020
STRATEGIC REPORT
23
RESPONSIBILITY CONTINUED
22
STRATEGIC REPORT
MORGAN SINDALL GROUP PLC
ANNUAL REPORT 2020
RESPONSIBILITY CONTINUED