“PLEDGE” has been developed to address both our clients’ interests, our business’ interests and those of our wider society. PLEDGE covers six key areas within our business as follows:

People:  Our staff are at the heart of our operations, and without a happy, supported and committed workforce, our business will not excel.  Our training and development programme is paramount and our dedicated Legal & Quality Manager Sarah Cole is charged with implementing this across the business.  As to Health and Safety, we have appointed external employment and Health and Safety advisers, who have developed with us a full range of policies and procedures (available on request) to cover all practices within our operations.  Implementation of these policies is then internally audited, and externally audited by our advisers and by QSS as part of our ongoing accreditation to ISO 9001 and BS 8522.  We are SAFE accredited, and members of BSC as a registered training centre for Health and Safety.
Being a smaller business engenders closer consultation and engagement with our staff.  We also have formal consultations on a quarterly basis, and have established an employee intranet site.

Logistical innovation in London:  In a uniform sector such as relocation, it is difficult to stand out from the competition.  To this end, we are always striving to develop innovative solutions, and actively participate in London initiatives.  Examples of these range from our participation in FORS, attendance at seminars run by London Health Commission, London Chamber of Commerce, Diversity Works for London and  GLA’s Mayoral Engagement Programme.  On innovation, we are proactive in developing new initiatives within our operations.

Environment:  Universal is acutely aware that we must always be mindful of both the impact of our business on the environment, and the sustainability concerns which arise from our day to day operations.  We are ISO 14001 registered, and have developed a dedicated Environmental Policy (available on request) with external advisers.  We are a member of the Prince’s Mayday Network, the UK’s largest group of businesses committed to taking action on climate change, and externally benchmark our environmental performance. 

Diversity:  We have developed a diversity policy and implement this across our business, promoting it in our own workforce and supply chain.  We have benchmarked our progress in this area with Diversity Works for London’s Gold Standard toolkit, and attended their showcasing conference in March 2010.  We are a  diverse supplier, being an SME with 50% of Director and senior managers positions held by women.

Giving back:  Universal participates in many initiatives with charity, particularly in furniture redistribution, where we source schools, charities and churches that can benefit from unwanted furniture, and deliver it into their organisations free of charge.
We also promote participation in charities which positively impact on our workforce.  For example, we support Brake the road safety charity, where we are a member of their Road Safety Forum, affording us valuable materials and workshops in fleet best practice.

Economy:  To afford our clients and personnel confidence in our performance, Universal is always mindful of offering cost effective solutions while sustaining our business and maintaining standards.  As to quality, we are members of BAR and the Commercial Movers Group, and are accredited with ISO 9001 and BS 8522.  We are always focused on creating value added services for our clients, and approaching the selling process with integrity and honesty.  We carry through this motivation in our own procurement to ensure we buy from suppliers fairly and with due diligence.