Our ambition
To continue to develop an engaging and inclusive workforce where our employees feel valued and can fulfil their potential.
To build relationships with the local community, provide support where needed, and leave a lasting legacy.
To place the highest priority on health and safety as we continue to pursue our zero-harm ambition.
Highlights
| Actions | Performance | Status | Comments |
| Accident rate | 0.30 Reportable incidents |
Unfortunately, we had 12 reportable incidents in 2023. This equates to 0.30 per 100,000 hours worked. |
|
| Safety walks | 391 | We have conducted 391 safety walks across our operations, surpassing this year’s goal of 250. |
|
| Training hours | 17,781 | Colleagues have spent 17,781 hours in formal training, surpassing this year’s goal of 12,500. |
Key:
Our values
Our values define who we are and how we interact, with each other, our customers, our suppliers
and our communities. Our values guide our everyday actions, the decisions we make, and shape
our culture, enabling us to fulfil our unique purpose to provide Healthy air, sustainably.
Living our values
Innovate
"We were very proud to be awarded, in collaboration with AO Recycling and Ultra Polymers Group, the prestigious ‘Excellence in Recycling Award’, in the category of ‘Recycled Product of the Year’! To be part of this effective collaboration, transforming the recycling landscape, has been a fantastic experience for us all, and together, we have demonstrated the power of innovation, and sustainability, by creating innovative products made from recycled plastics. This recognition celebrates our collective commitment to reducing the environmental impact, and finding innovative solutions to global challenges. By giving recycled goods a second life, we are contributing to a more sustainable future. The success of this project is testament to the transformative potential of recycling."
Fabian Gillgower
UK Head of Procurement
Integrity
"A sustainability mindset is key to fulfilling our purpose and we cultivate this by actively engaging our employees to submit proposals that will support the business to achieve its carbon reduction targets. Nisha Desai from the warehouse team in Auckland was the winner of the ‘Sustainability Ideas’ competition."
Ian Borley
Managing Director, Australasia
Grow
"I am delighted that the company continues to make significant investment to grow our operations. The most recent investment in four automatic presses will not just increase our production capacity of counterflow heat exchangers but will also improve our production efficiency and quality."
Mitko Kokinoski
Chief Operating Officer, ERI Macedonia
Commitment
"At the age of 65, I was determined to run the London marathon to prove that no matter your age, you can achieve what you set your mind to by putting in the appropriate training. I also wanted to raise money for Young Lives v/s Cancer as this charity has played a significant supporting role in the lives of two of my colleagues."
Alan Parkinson
Operations Director, National Ventilation
Employee engagement
Employee engagement is critical to our success and we believe that when our employees are engaged, they are more creative and more productive. We are committed to creating a workplace where employees feel valued and empowered to achieve their best.
Our global employee engagement forum is hosted twice a year and is attended by representatives from all group companies as well as Non-Executive Board member, Claire Tiney. This is a great opportunity for the group management team to share strategic updates with participants and to actively listen to what’s working well and what can be further improved at the local level. On the request of participants, the most recent forum was focused on new product development and the feedback was extremely positive.
As part of our continued efforts to strengthen employee engagement, we are launching our first ever global employee engagement survey – Volution Voices. This survey will give us valuable insights into how our employees are feeling about their work, organisation culture and the company as a whole. We will use the results of the survey to inform our engagement agenda and to make further improvements to our workplace.
“I was very happy to be invited to participate in the employee engagement forum, especially shortly after the acquisition of VMI by Volution. I experienced it as a great opportunity to meet other employees from different companies and to start the integration process into Volution. Learning about the company’s strategy and financial results was reassuring but what was particularly interesting for me, as the R&D Head of VMI, was to learn about the Group’s approach to new product development and current projects across the group.”
Louis Stephan
R&D Head, VMI France
“The outlook on the technical roadmap assures me that we are very well positioned for the future with a broad portfolio of ventilation solutions. The engagement forum gave me the opportunity to look beyond my own area and to understand where are there similar areas of application, similar target groups, to what extent can we support each other and which marketing measures can we adapt. Having insight into the technical roadmap of the organisation allows marketing teams to be more strategic, adaptable, and innovative in their approach, leading to more effective marketing campaigns.”
Margit Thomas
Marketing Manager, inVENTer Germany
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)
Our employees represent different nationalities, cultures, sexual orientations and social backgrounds. We recognise that fostering a culture that is inclusive and equitable is essential to fully leveraging the power of this diversity. Our strength lies in the diverse perspectives, life experiences and skills that our workforce possesses and this has proven to be a catalyst for innovation and growth.
In 2023, we launched our DEI steering group, with representation from all operating regions and CEO sponsorship, to assist in shaping our DEI framework. The steering group’s role is to drive accountability across the business, championing DEI activities at the local level and reporting progress to the sustainability committee.
We recognise the critical role that leadership will play in cultivating an inclusive culture and launched ‘unconscious bias’ training to our senior leadership team as a first step. The training is aimed at raising awareness of our unconscious biases and to provide tools to ensure that all voices are heard and valued. This training will be subsequently rolled out to all people managers and the wider workforce. We operate in an industry that traditionally attracts a higher-than-average proportion of male employees but we are committed to increasing the share of women in leadership positions. In FY’23, women represented 43% of our Board membership and 24% of senior management. Our upcoming group wide management development program that is aimed at growing our leadership pipeline comprises more than 35% female participation, which is a significant increase from previous years and signals our intent to provide equitable development opportunities.
Through a series of local events across the Volution sites, we’ve fostered an environment that goes beyond mere tolerance; we actively celebrate our differences. Our employees have had opportunities to interact, share their individual experiences, and learn from one another.
Kick-off event of the Women@Volution employee resource group
1 Legislation requires that we define “senior managers” as the directors of our subsidiary companies. However, the Board believes this information does not provide a meaningful analysis of how the Group operates so the data shown reflects the proportion of senior managers by our own internal grading system. The number also excludes Board Directors.
Employee wellbeing
Supporting employee wellbeing is critical to strengthening workplace resilience. The COVID pandemic has left a significant impact on physical and especially mental health, likely to be felt for many years to come. This has been exacerbated by the current challenging economic environment.
In the UK, the wellbeing campaign ‘Taking care of mental health is a team effort, let’s support each other at work’ was launched earlier in the year. Communication around the Employee Assistance Program was reinforced to break the stigma around mental health and to encourage employees to actively seek assistance. Employees across all sites actively participated in the ‘Wear it Green’ day to raise awareness of mental health. The first group of mental health first aiders were trained and certified by Mental Health First Aid England with an aim to provide early on-site support.
In Belgium, colleagues regularly join a lunch-time workout session encouraging each other to reach their fitness goals whilst colleagues in the Nordics combine exercise and friendly competition in the Padel-Tennis tournament.
“Mental health is vitally important for both society and our business. Being able to break the stigma, to encourage understanding and acceptance of these issues puts individuals in a better position to gain help and be more likely to flourish in their personal and professional lives. The training equipped me with fundamental skills on how to respond in an empathetic, compassionate, and informed way. This training has had a significant impact on me.”
Caine Amayo
UK Finance Controller
Our communities
Our colleagues continue to inspire us with their passion and generosity to support local communities and charities of choice. From bake sales to marathons, from car washes to growing moustaches, our teams came together to cheer each other, have fun along the way and to raise money for worthy causes.
Health and Safety
We continue to place the highest priority on health and safety as we continue to pursue our zero-harm ambition.
Unfortunately we had more reportable accidents in FY23 compared to last year – 12 incidents or a frequency rate of 0.30 per 100,000 hours worked (FY22:10 incidents, 0.25 per 100,000 hours worked). We report reportable incident (UK RIDDOR equivalent) frequency rates per 100,000 hours worked as this represents an approximation of the hours worked during a person’s lifetime, and allows comparability across our business units and with other companies.
Whilst we are in no way complacent, we were relieved that none of the incidents during the year resulted in serious or life changing injuries. We also note that a large proportion of the accidents were at one of our manufacturing sites with the most manual processes, which, as we invest in automation at that location over the coming years should reduce the opportunity for incidents.
In the UK, where the largest part of our manufacturing is located, our UK operations leadership has re-invigorated our safety culture.
Health and Safety KPIs have been included in senior management incentive schemes for relevant individuals for the first time this year, and we expect to see a significant reduction in our reported frequency rates in FY24.
During FY23, our senior managers conducted 391 safety walks surpassing the previous year’s total of 167 and this year’s target of 250. We value these proactive inspections and encourage the culture of vigilance and transparency they develop. We have invested in enhancing our safety education and training, recording 1,597 hours health and safety training and exercises during the year. This equips our employees with the knowledge and skills necessary to operate safely, identify potential hazards, and respond effectively in an emergency.
Last year, our ventilation operations in the UK successfully implemented and achieved ISO 45001 certification. These systems have been further improved during FY23 demonstrating our commitment to robust health and safety management systems. We expect to achieve ISO 45001 certification at our Swindon (UK) operations by the end of FY24.
Our business thrives when our people do, and we recognise that this is only possible in an environment that is engaging, inclusive, and safe.
Sustainable procurement
Responsible procurement is a responsibility we take seriously and we recognise that the decisions we make when selecting suppliers can have consequences on the environment and communities.
Our responsible procurement processes also aim to manage and mitigate supply chain risks.
Over the past two years, we have made progress ensuring that our suppliers comply with our code of conduct, policies on the prevention of bribery and corruption and modern slavery.
We have carried out more desktop assessments and on-site audits for those suppliers deemed to be higher risk.
Since the return to business travel this year, our Group procurement director has visited our Chinese suppliers, further enhancing the relationships we have developed through our China–Britain Business Council sourcing office in Hangzho.
The Board is regularly updated on material supplier matters, and Supplier audit reviews are presented to and discussed by the Audit Committee as part of its work in connection with the Group modern slavery policy and statement.
