Aviva Australia
"The underlying motive for being socially responsible can stretch beyond accountability and transparency – and may be the result of simply wanting to contribute in a constructive manner to one's community and environment."
Allan Griffiths, CEO, Aviva Australia (July 2003)
The Aviva Group, formerly known as Norwich Union in Australia, is an international conglomerate, with 50 corporate entities. Aviva PLC has 59,000 staff that service 30 million customers worldwide, with around $72.6 billion in operations and approximately $581 billion in assets (at 1 April 2004).
Aviva Australia is a group of two specialist financial services companies: Navigator and Norwich Union Life Australia Ltd. Portfolio Partners is the Australian funds management arm of Aviva PLC and a sister company to Aviva Australia. Together these companies administer $17.3 billion (at 1 April 2004). Through these companies, Aviva provides products and services in the areas of wealth creation, wealth management and wealth protection for more than 300,000 customers throughout Australia. Its Australian head office in Melbourne employs 700 staff.
Corporate social responsibility
What corporate social responsibility means to Aviva
Aviva Australia believes that discernible business performance coupled with a focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in practice is fundamental to the success of any business. The group's CSR policy commits its companies to managing direct and indirect impacts on the communities they operate in. The group's initial CSR policy focussed on its environmental impact. This approach has progressively broadened to include community relations, business ethics and human rights.
Aviva Australia released its first CSR report in May 2004, which disclosed information regarding its environmental, social and Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) performance.
Aviva's approach to corporate social responsibility
Operations
Aviva PLC's CSR approach
The Aviva PLC Group is committed to a program of management, continuous improvement and reporting of its direct and indirect environmental impacts. The group's CSR report contains data on environmental practice and impacts, health and safety, human rights, community programs, corporate citizenship, customer service, workforce engagement, supplier partnerships and business standards.
Aviva Australia's CSR approach
In line with its parent company, Aviva Australia uses achievable targets and the annual policy-making cycle to monitor its CSR progress and disseminate new CSR information to all staff. It views it relationship with staff as vital to implementing CSR initiatives. The CSR policy is maintained on the Aviva Australia Intranet to keep staff up to date with all developments.
Four internal committees have been established to contribute to the implementation of policies and programs dedicated to CSR:
- Group Environment Program Committee
- Guiding Star Committee
- Social Club Committee
- Occupational Health & Safety Committee.
Group Environment Program (GEP) Committee
The GEP Committee promotes and encourages staff to contribute to environmentally friendly practice in the workplace. It meets fortnightly to discuss current projects and identify possible new initiatives. It also develops programs to reduce Aviva's environmental impact in the areas of recycling, water and energy conservation.
For example, the 'computers off when not in use' campaign has been running since 2001 and has demonstrated a reduction from 30 per cent to under 10 per cent in the number of computers left on after hours by December 2003. An educational campaign was run in conjunction with 'save water' initiatives in kitchens and bathrooms in 2003, to inform staff about water restrictions and to encourage sensible water use. The committee has also installed energy efficient light bulbs.
Aviva Australia also tries to recycle almost everything that is used in its offices including paper and cardboard by-products, glass, plastic and tin products, food scraps, fluorescent lights and IT equipment. Its main initiative, Project Shock, is a monthly audit that evaluates work areas against Aviva's specific environmental criteria. This also enables quarterly data on waste and energy output to be collected for the Aviva Group's CSR Report.
Guiding Star Committee
Aviva Australia's Guiding Star Committee aims to actively engage in the community by supporting up to eight Australian charities and not-for-profit organisations each year. Guiding Star seeks to partner with organisations that aim to prevent suicide through research or educational programs, support research into mental illness, conserve resources and protect the environment, research terminal illnesses, support children and youth activities, community service and animal welfare.
The Guiding Star Committee also administers the payroll deduction program, Workplace Giving. Staff can directly donate to any of the nominated charities though payroll deduction. Portfolio Partners also participates in this program. For 2003, the combined staff donation was more than $40,000 with a participation rate of 14 per cent of staff.
The Staff Volunteering Program allows all full-time staff to take one full day paid volunteering leave per year. One of the volunteering options is with Conservation Volunteers, which allows small groups of staff to assist with local environmental rehabilitation projects.
Social Club Committee
The Aviva Social Club is a non profit organisation that aims to boost morale and encourage participation in activities not aligned with normal work duties. A calendar of social events is organised throughout the year. Aviva Australia offers staff health awareness and relaxation techniques, fitness classes, social and sport events.
Occupational Health & Safety Committee
The Committee's role is to establish an OH&S policy and supporting objectives and strategies to ensure a safe and healthy working environment. In line with this, Aviva Australia's Melbourne office received an upgrade of the air conditioning system, transferring from a water-based cooling tower system to cooling fan technology. The main result is a more efficient, environmentally friendly cooling system that reduces the possibility of the staff health and safety concerns associated with cooling tower systems. Other initiatives include voluntary flu vaccinations and blood donations, health education programs and discounted health checks.
Staff support networks and career counselling are supported by the OH&S committee and administered through Human Resources.
Supply chain management
Aviva Australia is currently building environmental and social criteria into its supply chain management system. It is currently revising its purchasing policy, bringing it inline with the company's global CSR model. In 2003, it began discussions with suppliers about how they managing their CSR performance. Suppliers contacted included Canon (paper suppliers), Craftsmen Press (contracted printers) and Spotless Catering Service (in-house canteen).
Products
Aviva's life and risk products are aimed at wealth protection and superannuation products aimed at providing peace of mind to clients. Portfolio Partners is aligned with Morley in the United Kingdom and therefore follows some of its practices and procedures about socially responsible investments (SRIs).
Partnerships
Aviva Australia is a signatory to the federal government's Greenhouse Challenge program. Aviva's Melbourne office also works with Sustainability Victoria (previously Sustainable Energy Authority Victoria) to increase its sustainable energy use.
Aviva Australia is in partnership with the Monash Environment Institute. An information exchange systems exists, with Aviva participating in Monash Environment Institute's Green Office seminars.
Aviva Australia participates in the Business and The Environment (BATE) sessions, held monthly in the Melbourne business district. BATE is a forum for like-minded organisations to share idea on environmentally and socially responsible practices.
Aviva Australia has teamed up with the RACV to promote responsible travel. A carpooling registry enables Aviva and RACV staff to travel to and from work together, thereby reducing car carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Aviva PLC is a United Nations Global Compact and UNEP FI signatory. It also partners with BTCV, World Wildlife Fund for Nature and Amnesty International Business Group. Together with Earthwatch Institute, it researches climate change, which it sees as the most critical threat to biodiversity.
The benefits of corporate social responsibility
The range of strategies being employed to reduce Aviva Australia's internal operational environmental impact has achieved some significant reductions and financial savings in 2003 compared to the previous year.
For example:
- Paper use is down from 87.2 to 39.13 metric tonnes with 46 metric tonnes being recycled
- CO2 emissions from taxi travel has been reduced by 5 metric tonnes
- CO2 emissions from air travel has been reduced by 254 metric tonnes
- CO2 emissions from gas usage has been reduced by 13.6 metric tonnes
- Water consumption is down 37,240 metres cubed.
As a result of the CSR policy, Aviva examined its CO2 emissions per square metre and found that restructuring its Sydney office allowed it to lease one floor of extra office space.
A targeted communication and education program on CSR and the constructive reductions being achieved internally within Aviva Australia are having a positive effect on staff's environmental and social awareness.
Staff morale has reportedly increased because there is a sense of being valuable to a company that has a positive effect on the environment and society. Staff nominated Aviva PLC as an Employer of Choice in a recent employee survey.
For further information visit the Aviva Australia's website.
