Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Strategy

At Advanced, we recognise the opportunity and responsibility we have as a business to make a positive impact in the world. The transformative power of technology is key to creating a healthier planet, diverse and inclusive communities, access to education and a better standard of living for all.

We endeavour to conduct our business in an ethical manner, achieving sustainable growth whilst honouring our commitment to corporate social responsibility. Our ESG goals are an integral part of Advanced. They are inherent in providing a safe, fair and inspiring working environment for our employees, and in delivering benefits to the wider community. Our innovative solutions and services help our customers as they deliver their own unique and powerful contributions to society.

Advanced exists to make a difference, and we always act with our core values in mind. We deliver excellence in everything we do, act with pace as a unified organisation and are fearless in doing the right thing. We value and demand diversity in the workplace, and expect mutual respect and understanding.

Read our ESG report

Protecting our Planet

We are committed to building a better tomorrow for our staff, customers and wider community through outstanding environmental sustainability performance. Our vision is underpinned by five core principles:

To protect the environment by reducing our carbon footprint
To reduce the environmental impact of our operational activities through effective management of our estate
To create and maintain a positive environmental sustainability culture
To maximise the positive impact of our sustainability actions through effective communication, collaboration and partnership
To fulfil all environmental compliance obligations and seek to exceed regulatory requirements

To achieve this vision, we have a multi-step sustainability strategy, containing details of the overarching objectives, performance targets, key performance indicators and implementation mechanisms. It is continuously reviewed to ensure it is as strong as it can be. Our success also relies on effective engagement with staff, utilising and developing their skills, knowledge and understanding.

Our Offices

We are proactive in our property management, maintaining pressure on landlords and staff to ensure energy efficiency. We closely manage key sustainability elements – water, gas and electricity consumption, waste disposal and green procurement. Energy efficiency is a priority when purchasing appliances and office equipment, and we select suppliers who promote environmental solutions.

Remote working

Home working is facilitated and encouraged. We trust and empower our employees, with mobile technology enabling effective communication through audio and video meetings, as well as webinars and online training. For our customers, we seek to offer our consulting, implementation and training services remotely where appropriate and when necessary placing our consultants on customer sites which are closest to home minimising unnecessary travel.

Recycling

Reducing the amount of paper we generate is a key focus, and we use recycled paper - which we then recycle ourselves. We have also taken steps to recycle other materials such as plastics and cardboard. We comply with WEEE regulations and recycle our electrical items. Our corporate responsibility to the environment is central to how we run our business. We minimise our consumption of natural resources and manage waste through responsible disposal - reusing and recycling materials wherever possible.

Software solutions for our customers

From invoicing departments using our electronic document imaging with optical character recognition (OCR) to medical practices and the many venues of care transferring critical patient data securely via the Cloud, we are enabling our customers with solutions and services that support the transformation to a paperless society. We are focused on our transition to a Cloud service company ensuring our customers have solutions which are future proofed and don’t require costly or energy inefficient hardware.

Inclusivity

Cultivating a diverse workforce and inclusive culture is a priority for Advanced. Diversity of experience, age, race, ethnicity, culture, gender and sexual orientation provides a wide range of talent from entry level through to our leadership teams creating richer perspectives and a powerful frame of reference.

Not only is it right to recognise and celebrate differences, and ensure everyone has the opportunity to thrive, but creating a culture that is genuinely committed to a meritocratic workplace is important to our success. Ensuring all our employees understand and engage with our values, and have the opportunity to realise their full potential, is fundamental to our business.

Diversity Pay Gap Report 2021

This year, we have created a Pay Gap Report that extends beyond the legal requirement for gender to ethnicity, sexuality, education, disability and socio-economic status. This data provides transparency and will aid us significantly on our journey to creating a fair and equitable workplace for all.

Read report

Diversity Leader 2020

Advanced is delighted to have been announced as one of the top 100 Diversity Leaders of 2020 across UK businesses following an independent survey carried out on behalf of the Financial Times. The award assesses diversity across gender, age, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation, and ranks organisations in Europe on the extent to which they offer diverse and inclusive workplaces. The survey focused on two broad areas, looking at the scale in which employers promoted diversity within the workforce, and identifying companies that stood out when it came to encouraging diversity and equal opportunities. We are delighted to have been recognised in this way, but know we can do more and will continue to strive towards this.

Learn more

Advanced is proud to have signed up to the Social Mobility pledge, founded by former UK Cabinet Minister, Rt Hon. Justine Greening, and UK entrepreneur David Harrison. The Social Mobility Pledge represents a powerful and pioneering shift towards being a truly purpose-led organisation committed to social mobility. Organisations taking steps to boost opportunity and social mobility is more important than ever as we face the challenges of a growing opportunity gap in the wake of Covid-19. Read about the three key elements of the Pledge: outreach, access and recruitment.

Learn more

Removing bias in recruitment

Advanced is renowned for its innovative recruitment process, which seeks to eradicate bias – unconscious or otherwise – when hiring. It is easy to make symbolic gestures and say the right thing, but at Advanced we always want to get to the heart of the matter and make systematic change. By using this process, we are creating a team of individuals who are selected purely on merit, aptitude and potential - bringing powerful teamwork, ingenious problem solving and creative solutions to our business. In our recruitment, we use tools that give us additional insight into intellect and attitude, and remove CVs from the interview process, so managers go in without preconceptions.

Gender Pay Gap

This looks at the difference between the average pay of all men and the average pay of all women, studying both the mean average and the median average to analyse this. We have seen a reduction in our mean gender pay gap, from 20.2 per cent in 2018 to 17.9 per cent in 2019, while our median gender pay gap has decreased from 25.7 per cent in 2018 to 15 per cent in 2019. Like many technology companies, we have more men than women in senior and technical roles in our business, which is what drives our gender pay gap. To tackle this we are committed to a long-term goal of filling our non-entry-level roles through internal promotions and doing so using a clean, bias-free and open selection process.

Read report

Women in Tech

Women represent one third of our board and hold many key roles throughout the organisation. We recognise there is always more to be done in promoting this throughout Advanced and are committed to doing so. "There are many misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding IT and Tech that can deter people from entering an exciting and rewarding industry. But let me ask you a simple question: Have you ever thought that something doesn’t work well, or it could be more efficient or simple? If the answer is ‘yes’, then you already have the potential to work in Tech! Our industry is all about finding innovative ways of doing things, looking at challenges afresh and exploring the ‘what ifs’ – and the last time I checked, the only requirement for this was talent, not gender.” - Alex Arundale, Chief People Officer, Advanced

We strive to be a responsible and contributing part of society, seeking to build strong relationships and acting as a good neighbour. Advanced is committed to protecting and promoting the wellbeing of all our people.

The Prince’s Trust

We are a proud patron of The Prince’s Trust, and our Charity Committee leads the way as we work together to support disadvantaged young people. The Trust supports young people aged 11 to 30 from all over the UK, no matter if they have been facing some serious issues such as homelessness or if they have been in trouble with the law. If they’re willing to aim high, The Prince’s Trust wants to help them. The charity has returned £1.4 billion in value to society through this help over the last ten years alone, and last year supported 58,000 young people in turning their lives around. Working with delivery partners across the UK, The Prince’s Trust offers hundreds of free courses, grants and mentoring opportunities to inspire young people to build their confidence and start a career.

Advanced initiatives

We support and promote employees getting involved in individual fundraising activities, giving them a paid day of Volunteering Leave each year to work with their chosen charity. 350 hours of Volunteering Leave has already taken place this year, including work at food banks and litter picking in the local community. Our MatchIt! Scheme is where the company matches up to £50 raised by each member of staff for a charity close to their heart. We also support Pennies from Heaven, which enables UK employees to donate pennies from their net pay to The Prince’s Trust.

Wellbeing

We are committed to the wellbeing of our employees. Our range of benefits and working environment help to support the physical, mental, emotional and social health of our people. We encourage everyone to include healthy behaviours in their working practices, and to be proactive about their wellbeing. Our free and confidential Employee Assistance Programme provides support, advice and counselling to all staff, and is available 24-hours a day. Mental health is a key focus for us. Our Chief People Officer consistently advocates for frank conversation and openness around mental health.

Privacy and cyber security

We take the security of our staff and customers extremely seriously. Read more in our Privacy Policy and Services Privacy Statement

Advanced is owned equally by BC Partners and Vista Equity Partners and is a member of the Vista ESG Committee which represents over 60 global technology businesses making it arguably the largest ESG committee in the world.

Vista ESG Strategy

BC Partners ESG Responsibility