Ofwat (The Water Services Regulation Authority) is a non-ministerial government department. We regulate the water sector in England and Wales.
Driven by our SAILOR values, we are committed to developing an inclusive culture where our people can bring their whole selves to work, where everyone is treated equally and empowered to thrive. Together we can achieve our vision of improving life through water.
Our people are the heart and soul of Ofwat, and our People Strategy is ambitious and well-embedded. In our annual people survey 2021, we outperformed the Civil Service (CS) People Survey benchmarks in 9 out of 10 areas. Our PERMA Index score stands at 74% which measures how people are flourishing at work and is based around the five dimensions: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment.
We have an engagement score of 72% and a score of 86% for inclusion and fair treatment, which is 4% above the CS average. Being accountable and empowered is part of our way of working with 92% of people interested in their work and 86% of them agreeing they have a choice in deciding how they do their work.
To achieve this, our people strategy is based around five themes summarised here:
Our recent external Investing in People re-accreditation saw us move from standard to silver. Our aim is to become more diverse and inclusive: reflective of the communities we serve. Our vision is to transform Ofwat from a great place to work to a Great Place to Be. We are proud of the journey we have undertaken so far and are looking to build on our progress to make Ofwat an even better place to work, where everyone can succeed.
Our People strategy 2020-23
Framework for success
Our Framework for Success supplements our Values, setting out the attributes that lead to success at Ofwat. We use this framework in our interviews, and for Ofwat people it’s a tool to help them to assess their strengths and areas for development to support their career development. These attributes set out our expectations at different grades for how we develop ourselves, develop others, and develop Ofwat.