Our World

Advanced exists to make a difference. We power the world of work, so we need to set an example for the workplace of tomorrow. Our commitments go beyond statutory guidelines, as we prove what is possible when we truly care. Our commitments to our people, our communities and our world guide us to make better choices every day.

We have a responsibility to the people that we serve, and we are committed to integrity and transparency in how we meet that responsibility. Our record shows how we have achieved this over the years. We have produced in-depth and accurate reports on our impact, showing the difference we have made.

Read our ESG report

Our Planet

As a leading player in the software industry, we have a responsibility to lead the way in making a difference to the problems we face. We want to maximise the good we can for our planet. That requires impactful policies and a culture of commitment to tackling this problem.

The changes we are trying to make start with us. Our offices, processes and actions are at the heart of our plans to make a positive impact. By reducing the energy usage and increasing opportunities for recycling in our offices, we start at home for reducing our climate impact, but that’s just the start.

Hybrid working practices, paperless processes and reduced travel all play a part. We track our carbon impact closely, and we have seen a positive effect from our actions. By working closely with the data, we have been able to implement effective changes to our practices.

We also support our customers and partners to reduce their impact through the application of technology. We provide high-quality cloud and remote-working software that promote better practice for the environment. We lead by example, as we apply these approaches to our own working, reducing travel emissions and paper usage.

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.

Our People

In 2017, we began producing our Gender Pay Gap Reports, in line with statutory requirements. It was then that we saw the benefit of adapting our practices to respond to the problems we saw. We learnt how relying on outdated practices which perpetuate inequality could hold us back as a business.

When a business doesn’t shift to become more inclusive, it will lose out on talent and skills which could otherwise be a major benefit. An investment in people is an investment in our capabilities. This allowed us to begin changing our practices to reflect the need to sponsor a wider range of talent.

In 2019, we began the process of annual Diversity Pay Gap Reports. This allows us to explore how we can adapt and improve in a wider range of areas. We have seen the power of data to better understand the challenges we face and make the most of the opportunities available to us.

Since then, we have changed our hiring and training practices to benefit from the skills and potential of our people. This has allowed us to progress as a business and unlock new opportunities. Our future is tied to our people.

Diversity Pay Gap Report 2022

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

Our Community

We play a key role in supporting a range of causes for the benefit of our communities. As a patron of the Prince’s Trust, we are part of a key group effecting positive change. This extends to our practices every day. We involve ourselves in a range of charitable endeavours and we encourage our employees to do the same.

In association with the Prince’s Trust, we donate £25,000 per year to causes supporting young people aged 16-30. Our partnership supports the provision of a range of services to make a real difference to people’s lives. These initiatives provide the opportunity to gain skills, qualifications and employment for disadvantaged young people.

Advanced also supports employee-led charity work. Through our employee fundraising scheme MatchIt!, we match up to £50 from any fundraising event, dedicating £10,000 a year to the scheme. This allows us to increase the impact of the good work carried out by members of our team.

This is supplemented by our work with Pennies from Heaven, am organisation who help us to organise employee donations. Our employees have the option to donate the pennies from their salary total to the Prince’s Trust. The scheme solicits donations of no more than 99p per employee per month, but has already raised over £2000. This is donated directly to the Prince’s Trust above and beyond our usual donations.

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's 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. Other useful links:

Services Privacy Statement
GDPR: who’s protecting your organisation’s data?
Addressing security concerns in the Cloud
A top tip from our support team - always use protection…
Advanced offers top tips on how to reduce data security risk

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