Social Responsibility
Everything you need to know
Our Commitment
We’re committed to acting in a manner that positively benefits and contributes to the welfare of Australian society and the environment.
Our Focus
Saving public healthcare funds
The health and wellbeing of our people
Meaningful, respectful, well-compensated opportunities for healthcare talent
A smaller environmental footprint on the earth
Improved patient outcomes
Opportunities for women in STEM, nurse career changers, minority and under-represented groups
Our Vision
A world where on-demand practitioners are empowered to deliver high-quality patient care
Our Mission
We’re on a mission to transform the delivery of on-demand healthcare worldwide by empowering practitioners and enabling healthcare facilities to seamlessly connect the right talent, to the right shift, at the right price so that patients thrive
Our objectives
Service: Delivering world-class frontline services to the public and private health sector nationwide.
Employment opportunities: Creating meaningful work opportunities for medical, healthcare and allied healthcare practitioners across Australia
Career pathways: Ensuring medical, healthcare and allied healthcare practitioners across Australia have the skills they need to secure work they want now, with opportunities for career advancement through education to secure their future.
Health: Ensuring everyone’s health is safeguarded.
Australian-made: Backing, supporting and engaging Australian businesses, the backbone of our nation’s economy, first.
Protecting the environment: Protect and enhance our natural environment and heritage for future generations.
We do this by
- Encouraging healthcare providers to use uPaged – it was created to serve the Australian public healthcare system, and financial modelling has shown that uPaged can save Australian healthcare budgets $1BN over the next decade.
- Providing work experience opportunities and job application-ready career documents and career advice and support to women career changers, women in STEM, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and women whose interests lie in technology.
- Direct cash contributions, gift-in-kind donations, donations, employee fundraising, and volunteering.
- Creating cause-related marketing and campaigns and donations for initiatives linked to our Founders background, such as support for BlazeAid, the volunteer organisation that supports rural families in times of natural disaster.
- Recognising that not every applicant has the job seeker skills needed to achieve their dream career, so we conduct name-blind recruitment and are committed to interview every applicant, irrespective of qualifications and skills.
- Sourcing first from Australian and indigenous businesses and those of the Gadigal of the Eora Nation – the Traditional Custodians of the extraordinary land that uPaged operates upon.
- Using small to medium enterprises to supply and deliver goods and services to uPaged.
- We always consider new ways of doing business to support a transition to low-carbon and circular economies.
- Given that our office creates our greatest single environmental impact, uPaged made a commitment to locate our global HQ in Sydney in a shared co-working space where we aim to continually improve our performance by ensuring that any carbon emissions and other negative environmental impacts are reduced as much as possible. The collaboration of ecological and environmental initiatives within uPaged HQ includes natural ventilation, rainwater harvesting, solar panels, passive energy solutions, recycled timbers and optimum temperature control options.
- We don’t provide promotional merchandise to our staff, customers or suppliers. Merch rarely makes the impact we’d all like to think it does, so instead, we uPaged staff get issued with a team T-shirt to wear to work and to public events that we attend. Australians discard close to 800,000 tonnes of clothing and textiles each year, a rate of 15 tonnes every 10 minutes – and we just don’t want to contribute to that in any way if we can avoid it.
- Ensuring our own people have career pathways that will enable them to pursue meaningful engagements with ongoing career development, goal setting, opportunities for sabbatical and training.
- Encouraging our people to make informed and responsible decisions regarding their own health and wellbeing by providing access to ongoing education and offers for support through our Employee Portal.
- Proving a safe and supportive workplace for our people with weekly personal goal setting.
- Flexible working arrangements facilitate work-life balance for our people.
- We seek to engage and energise our people, supporting them to reach their full potential. We value gathering and acting on our peoples’ insights because we recognise the strong link between high levels of engagement and attracting, developing, and retaining talented people who are critical to adding value to and delivering our business strategy.
We are Adventurers.
We are Trailblazers.
We are Compassionate and Kind.
We are Clever and Generous.
We are Honest And Considerate.
We are Authentic and We are Different.
We are Proud of our Skills and Qualifications.
We Choose The Way We Work.
We are uPaged.
Supplier Code of Conduct
uPaged commits to doing business with ethically, environmentally and socially responsible suppliers.
We operate in an environment of integrity, probity and accountability. We are committed to the highest ethical standards and expect our suppliers to commit to the same.
Our suppliers can do this by adhering to our code of conduct and standards.
Ethical Expectations
Managing conflicts of interest:
Our suppliers must ensure that all conflicts of interest (whether actual, reasonably perceived or that could arise in future) are disclosed as soon as possible.
Demonstrating high standards of conduct:
Our suppliers must ensure that their business’ behaviour is beyond reproach. Our suppliers must not engage in fraudulent or corrupt activities including, for example, bribery or money laundering, or act in any manner which, by association, brings uPaged into disrepute.
Handling information:
A diligent and practical approach must be taken to ensure sensitive information is appropriately managed in line with confidentiality agreements and any policies.
Not engaging in inappropriate supply behaviours:
We encourage innovation and competition in supply but expect that our suppliers do not act in a manner which involves a misuse of our relationship or engage in otherwise improper behaviour such as collusive arrangements.
Acting properly toward uPaged people:
We expect our suppliers to be respectful of the ethical and code of conduct requirements that our people need to meet, and not engage in actions which run counter to these obligations. Suppliers must not try to influence decision-making through the use of inducements (eg: offering gifts and benefits).
Model good business practices:
Our suppliers should conduct their business should be conducted in a way that shows best practice management. This includes promoting a collaborative relationship where buyer and supplier work together to resolve issues promptly and respectfully. This helps to avoid contractual disputes and promotes good working relationships.
Social Expectations
We want to do business with suppliers who generally support the welfare of their employees and the community. Our suppliers can show this by doing the following:
Managing workplace health and safety:
As well as complying with all workplace health and safety laws and regulations, our suppliers should also regularly manage and review workplace hazards and provide any required training to your employees. This includes proactively engaging with employees, industry bodies and any relevant unions.
Acting to stop domestic and family violence:
We are committed to ending domestic and family violence. We ask that our suppliers support this by implementing appropriate initiatives within their businesses, such as having a stated zero tolerance approach to domestic and family violence or having a workplace domestic and family violence policy in place.
Treating employees fairly:
Our suppliers must respect every worker’s workplace rights and entitlements and ensure compliance with all relevant workplace laws, regulations and instruments. This includes properly paying employees, giving them their entitlements, not discriminating unlawfully and committing to workplaces free of harassment. This includes recognising the right of employees to be members of trade unions.
Acting against human rights abuses in the supply chain
Our suppliers should make all reasonable efforts to ensure that businesses within your supply chain are not engaged in, or complicit with, human rights abuses, such as forced labour, servitude and debt bondage.
Ensuring workplace diversity
We are fully committed to workplace diversity and expect our suppliers to be as well. We value businesses with policies and practices to encourage diversity and ensure equal employment opportunities for all people. This includes embracing social benefit opportunities such as training and employment opportunities for disadvantaged and marginalised job seekers.
Providing quality, secure local jobs
We value suppliers who provide quality, secure local jobs. These jobs provide employment where people live, permanency of employment, the certainty of hours, fair wages and conditions, superannuation and worker’s compensation, and genuine respect for the rights of workers to collectively bargain.
Environmental expectations
We want to procure in a way that also protects and advances environmental priorities. Our suppliers can show this by doing the following:
Enhancing environmental sustainability
We want our suppliers to look for opportunities to improve environmental outcomes. Things our suppliers can do include, but are not limited to waste minimisation and recycling, reducing and/or offsetting carbon emissions, using solar or other renewable energy where possible, reducing the use of energy, water or other resources, reducing the use of hazardous and toxic substances, and ensuring their correct disposal and minimising the use of environmentally unsustainable products such as packaging.
Workplace Gender Equality Strategy
Diversity and inclusion: it’s in our DNA.
At uPaged, we are deeply committed to fostering a gender-equal and inclusive organisational culture. We understand that achieving gender equality is essential for us to truly embody our values and drive our mission forward. Our culture is built on the principles of transparency, integrity, collaboration, curiosity, quality, and creativity.
We are dedicated to creating a workplace that mirrors the diversity of the healthcare workers, organisations, and communities we serve. Our commitment extends to embracing and celebrating the unique qualities of every individual, regardless of gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, citizenship, neurodiversity, disability, age, veteran status, or any other distinct characteristics, skills, and experiences.
We believe that when everyone is respected and valued, it fosters a profound sense of belonging, pride, and passion. This, in turn, drives our collective efforts to transform the world of work for healthcare talent.
At uPaged, the synergy of diversity and inclusion fuels creativity and drives innovation. If you need any adjustments to our recruitment process or working arrangements to help you excel, please let us know.
Everyone is welcome at uPaged. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace where each person feels empowered to bring their authentic self to work.
Modern Slavery
We recognise the importance of combating modern slavery in all its forms. We are committed to ensuring that our operations and supply chains are free from forced labour, human trafficking, or exploitation.
Our commitment to preventing modern slavery includes the following:
Policies and Procedures: We have developed policies and procedures that prohibit any form of modern slavery in our operations and supply chains. These are reviewed quarterly to ensure that they remain relevant and effective.
Supplier Due Diligence: We conduct due diligence on all our suppliers to ensure that they comply with our anti-slavery policies. This includes assessing their policies and practices, as well as their commitment to combating modern slavery.
Employee Training: We provide training to our employees on identifying and preventing modern slavery. This is designed to increase awareness of the issue and provide the necessary tools to identify and report any incidents of modern slavery.
Reporting Mechanisms: We have established reporting mechanisms that enable our employees and suppliers to report any incidents or concerns related to modern slavery. These mechanisms are confidential and allow for anonymous reporting.
We are committed to continuously improving our efforts to combat modern slavery, and we regularly review our policies and practices to ensure that they are effective in preventing modern slavery in our operations and supply chains.
Diversity And Inclusion
Environmental Policy
Purpose
uPaged is committed to minimising our environmental impact and promoting sustainable practices in all aspects of our operations. Our policy aligns with the principles of ISO 14001, ensuring that we continually improve our environmental performance, comply with relevant legislation, and engage our stakeholders in our sustainability efforts.
Scope
This policy applies to all uPaged operations, including our headquarters in Sydney, Australia, and any activities associated with our business.
Environmental Impacts
We acknowledge that our most significant environmental impacts are associated with:
- Office Accommodation
- Paper Waste
- Energy/Electricity Consumption
- Commitments
Compliance and Continuous Improvement
- We are committed to complying with all relevant environmental laws, regulations, and other requirements.
- We will continually improve our Environmental Management System (EMS) to enhance our environmental performance and reduce our carbon footprint.
- We will set, monitor, and review environmental objectives and targets to drive our continuous improvement efforts.
Sustainable Office Accommodation
- uPaged has strategically located its global HQ in a shared co-working space in Sydney that emphasises sustainable practices, including natural ventilation, rainwater harvesting, solar panels, and energy-efficient systems.
- We will collaborate with our landlord to further reduce carbon emissions and environmental impacts associated with our office accommodation.
- Regular assessments will be conducted to ensure our office environment remains in line with the highest environmental standards.
Energy Efficiency
- We are committed to reducing our energy consumption by using energy-efficient lighting, equipment, and practices.
- Automatic metres are installed to accurately monitor and manage electricity and gas usage.
- We will continue to implement energy-saving initiatives, such as motion sensors for lighting and ensuring all equipment operates efficiently.
- Any new electrical equipment purchased will exceed market average efficiency ratings, with a preference for products with a good energy rating.
Waste Management and Paper Reduction
- uPaged operates with a 99.9% paperless policy, and we will continually seek to minimise paper use and encourage digital alternatives.
- We will manage waste responsibly by sorting and recycling where possible and participating in initiatives like the NSW Government’s container refund scheme.
- Our goal is to minimise waste production, avoid contamination of other waste streams, and reduce our overall environmental footprint.
Sustainable Procurement and Resource Use
- We prioritise partnerships with environmentally conscious suppliers and providers.
- Uniforms are issued to nurses only after 5 shifts to avoid unnecessary textile waste, and uniforms that are issued are based on a needs basis in collaboration with the personnel.
- Promotional merchandise is limited to essential items, such as team T-shirts, to reduce textile waste and avoid contributing to Australia’s growing problem of discarded clothing.
Stakeholder Engagement and Awareness
- We will engage our employees, suppliers, and partners in our environmental efforts by raising awareness, providing training, and encouraging participation in sustainability initiatives.
- Our employees are encouraged to adopt energy-saving habits, such as switching off equipment when not in use and reporting issues like leaky taps promptly.
Monitoring and Reporting
- We will regularly monitor and review our environmental performance, including energy consumption, waste management, and other key metrics.
- Environmental performance reports will be produced to assess our progress and inform future improvements.
Our Environmental Pledge and KPIs
Our environmental approach ensures that:
- Our workplace uses lights with low-energy lamps and fittings and uses motion sensors where practicable
- We keep any office machinery running efficiently and ensure all controls are functioning correctly
- Automatic metres to read electricity and gas accurately are in use
- We are conscious consumers and partner with environmentally conscious suppliers and providers as a priority
On a granular level, this translates to measures such as:
- Our people are conscious consumers of energy, and follow the recommended guidelines from suppliers of electrical equipment to ensure we optimise energy usage
- Purchasing second hand equipment wherever possible
- Reporting leaky taps, which we know can save up to 140 litres a week
- While we’re 99.9% paperless, we always think before we print
- We don’t provide uniforms to nurses on sign-up. Nurses are instructed to wear standard navy scrubs until they have worked 5 shifts. We then issue them a scrub top and they can purchase scrub pants if required
- We don’t provide promotional merchandise to our people, customers or suppliers. Australians discard close to 800,000 tonnes of clothing and textiles each year, a rate of 15 tonnes every 10 minutes – and we just don’t want to contribute to that in any way if we can avoid it
- New electrical equipment will be at least 0.5 stars above the market average star rating or comply with high-efficiency energy rating and standards.
- We are conscious of our waste and sort and recycle where possible to minimise our waste and avoid contaminating other waste streams. We use waste separator bins for recycling and food waste, and we participate in the NSW Government’s container refund scheme to reduce litter and increase recycling
- We continuously seek to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions within the parameters and requirements of delivering high-quality service.
Responsibility
The responsibility for implementing this policy lies with all uPaged employees, with leadership and oversight provided by the Management Review Committee who meet on a monthly basis and review if our impact on the environment has increased if there is an opportunity to reduce our impact on the environment, as well as to review any changes in environmental legislation.
We allocate the necessary resources to ensure the effective implementation and maintenance of our EMS.
Review
This policy will be reviewed annually to ensure its relevance and effectiveness in achieving our environmental objectives, and audited annually to ensure it is effective in serving our sustainability goals.
The policy is to be reviewed for our compliance with:
- Our company values and sustainability goals
- Relevant legislation, including but not limited to those managed by Environment Protection Australia:
- Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
- Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981
- Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989
- Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989
- Product Emissions Standards Act 2017
- Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020
- Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018.
- The supplier Codes of Conduct for our clients
Last reviewed 28 July 2024
