A great place to work where everyone can fulfil their potential
Our people are central to our success. So, we are investing in enhancing our people experience through focused investments to advance diversity and inclusion initiatives, develop talent and protect safety and wellbeing. We're committed to ensuring that SSP is the best part of our colleagues' career journey.
We are also strengthening our efforts to respect human rights across our business and supply chains. And, recognising our important role in the communities where we operate, we support charities to help alleviate food poverty and other local causes.
Our commitments
Commitment 7
Promoting diversity, equity and inclusion
We are committed to promoting an inclusive and engaging culture where everyone can fulfil their potential.
Commitment 8
Protecting safety and wellbeing
We are committed to protecting the safety of our colleagues, customers and clients, and promoting colleague wellbeing.
Commitment 9
Respecting human rights
We are committed to respecting the human rights of people across our business operations and supply chains.
Targets
Improve the colleague engagement score in our global Colleague Engagement Survey each year.
Maintain Board diversity, with at least 40% women and at least one person from a minority ethnic background each year.
40% of senior leadership roles to be held by women each year.
Target
Ensure appropriate activities to support colleagues’ mental, physical and financial wellbeing are in place in each markets each year.
Targets
100% of senior managers (post-induction) to have completed human rights and modern slavery training each year.
100% of contracted suppliers with higher human rights risks to have undergone our human rights due diligence each year.
Commitment 10
Supporting our communities
We are committed to supporting our diverse, local communities through charitable partnerships to alleviate food poverty and other causes.
Target
Support our communities to help alleviate food poverty and address other local causes each year through charitable initiatives and partnerships.
Launched our 'Recipe for Success'
In 2025, we undertook a comprehensive review of our company culture and colleague experience, leading to the launch of our refreshed global values and behaviours, known as our Recipe for Success.
These values – Team, Passion, Curiosity and Ownership – are the essential flavours that define who we are, while our behaviours are the core ingredients that guide how we each show up, lead and grow.
Our values are central to delivering our purpose, vision and strategy. They guide our culture, the way we behave, and the decisions we make, to ensure we act in the best interests of our stakeholders, the environment, and our business.
Achieved engagement score of 3.95/5.0
Creating a culture of open engagement – where we can listen to our colleagues, learn from their experiences and act on these insights – is fundamental to delivering a positive people experience.
In 2025, we enhanced our engagement programme by launching Good to Great – a global framework designed to capture deeper insights from colleagues through a wider range of activities.
Each year, we also partner with Gallup to run our ‘Your Voice Matters’ Global Colleague Survey, using the Q12 index to explore topics like job satisfaction, colleague and manager relationships, and sense of purpose at work. In 2025, over 77% – c.32,000 colleagues – chose to participate in the survey. Our overall Q12 engagement score was 3.95 out of 5.00, a
Joined forces with Slave-Free Alliance
Respect for human rights is fundamental to our business and the communities we serve. We are committed to respecting, protecting and promoting human rights in all areas of our business, including our operations, supply chains and business partnerships.
We became members of Slave-Free Alliance, a global social enterprise dedicated to eradicating modern slavery and forced labour in organisations and supply chains worldwide. As members, we are strengthening our approach to identifying, managing and addressing human rights risks and impacts across our operations and supply chains, with their expert support.
Case studies
As a global employer, we believe we have a responsibility to create pathways for employment and upward mobility in the hospitality industry. We do this through a mix of training, apprenticeship and scholarship programmes. We also partner with local organisations to provide opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
For example, in the USA, we have a social mobility programme which includes 80+ community partners. Collaborations such as Catalyst Kitchens (culinary training for individuals facing barriers) are helping candidates transition into lasting roles across our airport operations.
In India, our joint venture, Travel Food Services, provides job opportunities for people who are speech and hearing impaired. Their Chefs for Good initiative also provides vocational training in culinary skills for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
In the UK, we partner with Ignite Youth to engage and support disadvantaged and marginalised young people, as well as Ambitious about Autism to support people with autism and Only a Pavement Away to assist people experiencing homelessness. In 2024, we hired 11 colleagues through Only a Pavement Away.
Our Fly.Learn.Grow development programme in APAC enables colleagues to complete short-term cross market secondments, building cross cultural confidence, regional connections, and knowledge sharing. In 2024 and 2025, over 25 colleagues participated, and the programme earned Bronze - Best Learning Culture Journey at the Employee Experience Awards Hong Kong 2025.
“Fly.Learn.Grow is a fully-funded initiative that stemmed from our listening groups following the 2022 Global Colleague Survey, where we heard colleagues’ interest in spending time together and learning from other markets. What’s great is that it has proven to be mutually beneficial to both the host market and our colleagues. It helps colleagues explore and understand new markets and build cross-cultural confidence, while fostering stronger connections, facilitating better collaboration and sharing.” Patty Wong, Head of People, SSP Asia Pacific
We are active members of WiHTL (Welcome to all in Hospitality Travel and Leisure), a collaborative, multi-stakeholder group devoted to increasing diversity and inclusion across our sector.
Since 2022, over 65 UK&I colleagues have taken part in WiHTL’s learning and development programmes, such as those focused on supporting ethnic leaders and those preparing for non-executive director roles.
Our UK&I CEO Kari Daniels sits on the WiHTL Advisory Board and was named Most Inclusive Divisional/Regional CEO (HTLR) at the InclusionIn Awards 2025. Three SSP leaders were featured in the Women to Watch Index 2025.
“As a passionate believer that inclusive businesses are better businesses, I was delighted to join the WiHTL Advisory Board in 2023, helping the organisation achieve its mission. DE&I is an area I’ve long championed, and as CEO of SSP UK & Ireland, I’m committed to fostering a culture which celebrates the rich diversity of our colleagues and the customers we serve.” Kari Daniels, CEO SSP UK&I
We support our local communities through charitable giving that helps alleviate food poverty.
The SSP Foundation, an independent UK-registered charity, fundraised c.£200,000 through its annual charity gala and auction in 2025. These funds will be allocated to FareShare, the UK’s largest charity fighting hunger, in 2026.
In 2024, the SSP Foundation fundraised over £260,000 through a charity gala and auction to support FareShare and Trussell, the UK’s largest network of food banks. The donation funded an additional lorry for FareShare to facilitate the distribution of millions of meals each year. This built on the Foundation’s grant for a new lorry in 2022. In addition, the donation helped fund Trussell’s Help through Hardship helpline, which connects people to advisors who can try to maximise people’s income by helping them access all the benefits they’re eligible for.
In addition, as part of its annual Christmas giveaway, the SSP Foundation donated £41,000 to UK food poverty charities nominated by our colleagues in 2025.
Our long-standing partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support began in 2018 following a company-wide colleague vote, helping Macmillan continue providing physical, emotional and financial support for people living with cancer across the UK.
By 2025, colleagues and customers have helped raise c.£1.27 million through fundraising activities across our units in the UK and Ireland, including in store collections and colleague-led fundraising events.
Our JV, TFS, has a charitable foundation focused on addressing some of the most pressing issues for the country, including poverty and malnutrition, under the vision of 'food and nutritional for all.'
TFS collaborates with NGOs, tribal communities and government
authorities to address malnutrition through education and
sustainable solutions.
Its flagship initiative addresses the critical first 1,000 days of a child’s life, while educating adolescent girls and supporting pregnant and breastfeeding women. In 2025, TFS donated over £500,000 to multiple organisations to promote health and child development in rural, underserved populations as part of this initiative.
TFS chefs lead hands-on workshops promoting affordable, nutritious cooking with millets, pulses, and seasonal vegetables, alongside composting practices. In 2025, 150+ participants attended seven sessions; 85% reported better habits and achieved a ~30% reduction in food waste. This programme earned the Airport Sustainability & Environmental Initiative of the Year – Asia Pacific at the Moodie Davitt Airport FAB Awards 2025.