UK DOCKS Marine Services has become one of the first signatories to a national campaign committing family-owned businesses to the highest standards of treatment for their employees.
The company, which has six strategic locations across the UK and supports marine clients globally, has signed the Family Business Pledge - a landmark commitment championed by Family Business United that recognises and celebrates the values at the heart of family enterprise.
The Pledge sets out seven core principles spanning stewardship, people, community, governance, sustainability, heritage and knowledge-sharing.
By signing the Pledge, UK Docks is publicly affirming what has always guided its approach to business - that long-term thinking, integrity and genuine care for people are not a compromise on commercial success but the very foundation of it.
Jonathan Wilson, managing director of UK Docks, said: “We are happy to be among the first to sign the new Pledge because it dovetails with commitments we’ve long held as a business to treat everyone within it with fairness and decency.
“It is great to see this campaign really take off, and if we all pledge to treat staff the way they should be treated, it will be a welcome step forward for both employers and employees, whilst also driving forward business growth.
The Wilson family at last year’s Family Business United awards ceremony
UK Docks Marine Services was founded in 1992 by Harry Wilson MBE on a single slipway on the River Tyne in South Shields.
Since then, it has grown into a company operating nationally and internationally, handling multi-million-pound contracts for clients including the Royal Navy, the Ministry of Defence, global commercial shipping fleets, and recently securing its first international contract with the Bangladeshi government.
Despite that phenomenal growth, though, the company has never lost sight of its family ethos.
Harry’s three sons, Jonathan, Chris and Gary, now manage the day-to-day running of the business as directors, with Harry overseeing as executive chairman, and UK Docks is the largest family-owned marine service and repair business in the country.
And Harry’s grandchildren are already being trained and apprenticed to take over the family business in the next generation.
But the term ‘family’ doesn’t only include the Wilsons at UK Docks, with Jonathan pointing out that that family approach extends to all staff - something which was recognised at last year’s Family Business United’s awards ceremony last year.
The national awards night in London saw UK Docks crowned North of England Family Business of the Year, while also winning the Community Support and Involvement Award and finishing as runner-up in the overall Supreme Champion competition.
Jonathan said: “The company has won many awards over the years but being recognised for our family values and the way we want to treat everyone who works for us and with us, was a particularly proud moment.
“We’re big supporters of the work that Family Business United does, and we see this move to have a Pledge of the standards that family-owned businesses should aspire to as being inspirational and important.
“Hopefully, many, many businesses will sign up the Pledge in the coming weeks and months.”
The seven principles of the Family Business Pledge are:
1. Stewardship over short-termism: Making decisions with the next generation in mind, prioritising long-term health over short-term profit.
2. People before profit: Fostering a people-first culture built on trust, respect and long-term relationships where employees are valued as individuals.
3. Rooted in our community: Actively investing in the communities where the business operates, recognising that its success is inseparable from the wellbeing of those around it.
4. Governance with integrity: Upholding transparent, ethical governance and welcoming accountability at every level.
5. Sustainability for future generations: Taking environmental responsibilities seriously, knowing that the world left behind matters as much as the business.
6. Preserving the founder’s spirit: Honouring the values, purpose and entrepreneurial drive on which the business was founded through every transition and generation.
7. Sharing knowledge, lifting others: Sharing experience and expertise with other family businesses and mentoring the next wave of family entrepreneurs.
Paul Andrews, founder and CEO of Family Business United, said: “We created the Family Business Pledge as a way to further bring family businesses together as a collective voice, to demonstrate their commitment to doing business the right way.
“ The seven core principles reflect the very essence of what family businesses are all about. “This is our latest campaign to celebrate the significant contribution family firms make to economies the world over via the jobs they provide, wealth they create and income they generate, not forgetting the impact they have on the communities in which they operate.
“The Family Business Pledge brings together the principles by which they do business and we are proud to run this campaign and see so many family businesses get behind it.”
Jonathan said: “When the directors saw the Family Business Pledge, we knew it was something we could get behind right away because it summarises our own values and demonstrates that doing business the right way and doing business successfully are one and the same.
“We’d encourage all family-owned businesses to look at the Pledge and consider signing it.”
Find our more about the Pledge at www.familybusinessunited.com.