ISS UK gains BITC Responsible Champion Award for its JointForces@ISS employability programme

ISS UK is delighted to receive the Business In the Community (BITC) Responsible Champion Award – Unipart Outstanding Employment Category – in 2020 for our JointForces@ISS employability programme to help Forces personnel to transition from the military to the civilian workplace. 

The tangible impact of the programme demonstrates a reduction in unemployment and poverty, with 75% of people who were part of JointForces@ISS offered employment - either permanent roles or temporary contracts at ISS UK. In return, the diverse talent that JointForces@ISS brings into ISS creates teams that continue to drive success.

Established in November 2017, the JointForces@ISS programme has supported over 300 individuals, assisting them with career advice, internships and other areas where needed, to develop their skills and careers. 

Purvin Patel, CEO, ISS UK & Ireland commented, “Our great people continue to be the engine that drives our success as a business. By embracing the ISS values, our people have led, built and developed a programme that delivers the human touch in supporting service leavers into employment. I am proud of each and every story I hear of our beneficiaries and of the example we are setting for others to follow. It is programmes like JointForces@ISS that define the culture across the UK and enable us to continue delivering exceptional customer service.”

Tim Proctor, Director of HSEQ and CR ISS UK & Ireland commented, “Within our CR Strategy we have three pillars, one of which is centred on people empowerment to incorporate “identifying, retaining and developing the best talent”. This pillar supports our drive to recruit from a broad talent pool and the JointForces@ISS programme is a fantastic example of this in action. We recognise that our UK Armed Forces, which recruits from all walks of life, do an unbelievable job for the Country whilst possessing the skills, knowledge and behaviours that enhance our own customer service objectives. We really want to help service leavers find great second career opportunities; we also, selfishly, want to utilise their talents to connect people and places to deliver excellence service and expertise to all our stakeholders.”

More information about the ISS JointForces@ISS programme can be found here.