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Wellbeing – our employees and students

We’re giving employees and students the support they need to grow and succeed. To do their best work, discover their passions and be their best selves.

Wellbeing – our employees and students

Everyone is unique. Everyone is important. And everyone belongs in a community where they’re safe, respected and included. At Unite, we strive to make that happen whether you stay with us or work with us.

We’re giving employees and students the support they need to grow and  succeed. To do their best work, discover their passions and be their best selves.

NEW

Our 24/7 Student Wellbeing Helpline

We’ve partnered with Health Assured to offer our residents access to a confidential student wellbeing helpline 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It follows our 2023 Applicant Index, revealing support students need.

Students are able to ask for an interpreter on the call, available in over 240 languages and the service can be used to support a friend or ask for advice to help a friend.

What we know about this years cohort of residents

37%

of applicants said financial issues affect their mental health

50%

of all applicants said they were anxious they wouldn't fit in

30%

of applicants have been absent from school because of mental health

Unite Students - Students Talking

Support to stay – our new framework to support students

Support to Stay is a consistent approach designed to work in collaboration with a university’s support model. It supports timely, appropriate interventions when a student’s health or wellbeing causes concern as illustrated in the framework which is focused on a gradual escalation of concern and risk in the three levels.

resident ambassador

Resident ambassadors – for an authentic ResLife experience

In 2021, we relaunched our Resident Ambassador programme for students to earn the Real Living Wage, develop leadership skills and shape the community within their building – with experience they can put on their CV when they leave university.

Culture Matters - Unite Students employee forum

In 2021 we launched our employee Culture Matters forum

The Culture Matters forum provides two-way communication between the leadership team and the wider business. It’s where employees and the business share opinions and ideas, support decision-making and take action to contribute to the success of the business.

A commitment to doing what’s right is part of who we are

Positive Impact

We work hard to reduce our environmental impact, support the wellbeing of our student customers, and promote access to higher education through the Unite Foundation. Our Sustainability Strategy builds on this by incorporating challenging and ambitious targets.

This is our 8th year running Positive Impact alongside the NUS, our bespoke version of the United Nations award-winning programme ‘Green Impact’ to support sustainable behaviour change. Unite Students is the only purpose-built student accommodation provider to sign up to the programme and we have established this to maximise engagement across all areas of our sustainability remit, building on the original environment focus of the scheme.

Still from our Birmingham Canal Clean video
Unite Students - Vegetable Patch

What’s next for our Resident Ambassador programme?
By students, for students - our Resident Ambassador programme helps students to build a community in our buildings while being paid for their time and effort. Heather Hunter, Resident Experience Programmes Officer, shares how we enhanced the scheme for this academic year, some of the events our Ambassadors have run across the UK this year, and how we’re tweaking the programme for 2024/25 to make it even better.
Our new sustainability report: How Unite Students is making a positive impact
At Unite Students, we talk a lot about sustainability. But what do our actions mean in a wider context, what are we aiming for, and what have we achieved so far? We’ve laid it all out in our first annual sustainability report – available to download now.
Meet our Regional Student Support Managers
Our three Regional Student Support Managers advise our frontline teams on complex support cases, work with university partners to provide a joined-up support process for students and help to develop our staff training. For University Mental Health Day, we spoke to Ami-Rose, Luke and Jenny to find out how they got into student support, what they want to achieve in 2024, and what issues they think need more focus in student support.
How accommodation teams can support national work on student mental health
Jenny Shaw (HE External Engagement Director at Unite Students) gives an overview of the work of the Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce, five actions for student accommodation teams and how you can submit your own good practice to inform the Taskforce’s work.