Sustainability at NQA

Purpose

The Cambridge Dictionary describes ‘sustainability’ as ‘the quality of being able to continue over a period of time’. Whether this is in relation to environmental, social or governance challenges, NQA recognises the importance of channelling sustainability throughout our organisation and industry. We feel passionately about tackling global sustainability issues and plan to address such topics within our Sustainability Promise. This document will detail our commitment and ambitions towards becoming a more sustainable organisation.

We consider the 17 UNSDG’s (United Nations Sustainability Development Goals) as the foundation of global sustainability issues and take inspiration from this when planning and implementing action. Whilst each goal plays a crucial part within our wider community, we believe our most fundamental and relevant goals which we can best act on are:

• Goal 3: Good Health and Well Being

• Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

• Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

• Goal 13: Climate Action

Commitment and Ambitions

NQA is committed to driving, developing, and demonstrating sustainable solutions in both our organisational level actions and our service offering to clients. We have mapped our four UNSDG priorities into Environmental, Social and Governance categories and intend to practice what we preach by setting ourselves focused ambitions in each area. We recognise that we are at the beginning of our sustainability journey and that there is a lot more that can be done whilst pushing ourselves in our overarching commitment to never stop improving.

Social

Our staff are our most important asset. They are the life and soul of our organisation and over 90% of them are customer facing. As such we take our health and wellbeing responsibilities very seriously.

NQA have several actions in place to support our ambition of providing a safe and caring environment for employees where health and wellbeing is a priority. This is demonstrated through our ongoing efforts of supporting a healthy work life balance, including the exploration and development of standards such as ISO 45003 which looks at mental health in the workplace. We actively encourage and value feedback from all members of staff and collate this during regular employee engagement surveys.

We understand the importance of ensuring resource is in place and available to support our intentions and our colleagues. Examples of these include:

• Private health care

• Mental Health at Work Champions

• External mental health consultants

• Paid eye clinic appointments

• Life assurance

• Remote / blended home working (flexible working)

This is also supported by a variety of policies and support made available through our HR function including but not limited to:

• Enhanced sickness support

• Enhanced maternity / paternity leave

• Enhanced holidays

• Enhanced parental leave

• Dignity at work policies

• CSR policies

NQA’s ambition is to continuously support our staff and ensure that they have a collaborative, supportive and nurturing workplace environment. By doing so we are confident that in turn NQA will offer exceptional customer service to our clients, ultimately having a positive impact on our growth and therefore the economic growth of our country.

NQA are a living wage employer and are proud to pay our staff a fair reward for the work contributed. We offer an enhanced pension scheme that encourages staff to contribute more towards their pension
throughout their career to support them later in life. We also voluntarily recognise the trade union and appreciate that the union provides a supportive and constructive role to its members.

As well as regular team building events, we also offer all staff regular CPD and training opportunities to ensure that they continue to grow and expand their knowledge and their careers if desired. We also support an employee voted charity each year, ensuring that our fundraising efforts are matched by the organisation and support much needed work in an area close to our teams’ hearts.

NQA is a proud member of Armed Forces Covenant and hold the Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award, which means we pledge our ongoing support to both those who have served and their families. We also have a range of ELCAS Approved Training Courses which support service personnel in their journey towards becoming civilians.

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