Westpac CSR Essays

Westpac CSR Essays Westpac CSR Essay Westpac CSR Essay The origin of the CARS reporting can be included as Shaping the future landscape and managing the current landscape. It contains several meanings. For the external stakeholders, the company seeks to not only focus on increasing the shareholder value, but anticipate the most pressing emerging societal issues to benefit the customers and the wider community as well. For the internal stakeholder, the company wants to continually improve the staff morale by creating a company where people want to work. In order to achieve this, the company has issued its Social Impact Report since 2002. The report shows clear assure of performance against more than 70 indicators covering social, environmental and economic dimensions. 2. Situation of Western 1. 1 Key issues The issues that are currently most material to Western group are illustrated as follow. The first issue is customer service that focuses on how to build deeper relationships with customers. The second issue is regulation that considers how to ensure productively engage in regulatory discussions to create a better financial system. The third issue is multi-brand that focuses on how to ensure keep the brands distinctive and respect customer choice. The fourth issue is future growth that given global uncertainties and lower rates of domestic credit growth. The fifth issue is IT systems that concerns about IT stability and security across the industry and what Western are doing about it. The sixth issue is employee development that concerns how to ensure employees are given opportunities to develop and how to equip them with the skills to address the challenges of the future. The seventh issue is responsible lending and investment that concerns how to make sure Western group take account of the challenges of their changing world by considering environmental, social and governance issues in their investments and lending. The eighth issue is climate change that includes the challenge of reducing emissions whilst growing business and transitioning financing activities to low emission activities and industries. The last one is diversity and flexibility that considers how to build on early progress to ensure that Western group continues to be a place where the best people want to work. As the commitment to corporate responsibility of Western group is by fully integrating corporate responsibility into the way do ore component of Wastepapers culture and corporate strategy including managing environmental impact. 1. 2 Key stakeholder The major stakeholder of Western group includes suppliers, shareholder, employees, partners, customers, environment, and community. Wastepapers CEO has overall responsibility for the Groups environmental policies and performance with Board oversight via the Board Sustainability Committee, which includes monitoring strategic and operational response to climate change. Wastepapers Environmental Coordinator co-ordinates the environmental policy development and ensures that the implementation of its objectives and reporting responsibilities are consistent group wide. Wastepapers Environmental Advisory Group is central to the management of operational issues including taking account environmental impact into lending process for customers across the group as well as development and implementation of energy management and emissions reduction programs. 1. 2. Suppliers The sustainable supply chain practices of Western group were top-rated for the banking sector by 2011 DOD Jones Sustainability indexes. Western group have continued to roll out their sustainable supply chain management (SCM) framework o suppliers with continuous improvement of the SCM framework, which allow Western to target suppliers more efficiently comply with SCM requirements. Paper is a core resource of Western and is created from limited global resources by production processes that c an have negative social and environmental impacts. The objective of Western is to minimize the quantity of paper purchased and maximize the sustainable qualities of the paper used consistent with business requirements. The Western Group requires its suppliers with sustainable forestry management practices and clean production processes. Also Western is committed to working with its suppliers to improve the social, ethical and environmental business practices of its supply chain and reduce packaging. If suppliers do not meet the criteria outlined in paper purchasing policy, Western will work with them to remedy gaps in performance or end relationships with those suppliers who fail to demonstrate sufficient improvement over time. Western also engage suppliers, business partners, industry colleagues, customers and other stakeholders, and seek to collaborate with them to implement the paper purchasing policy. 1. 2. 2 Customers The most significant impact Western group can have is to assist its customers transition to a low carbon economy by managing the emissions from their products and services. Sustainability objectives of customer set by Western in 2011 was that to be ranked as the top 12 for net promoter score (NAPS) in Australia amongst the major banks and SST. George banking group, achieved NAPS scores of +1 for retail and -12 for business in Western New Zealand and to be top 3 regional player in carbon related markets by 2013. 1. 2. 3 Employees Employees of Western were encouraged to participate in initiatives through sustainability employee program, Our Tomorrow, with membership of more than 2500 employees. Additionally, 85% of Western employees have participated in volunteering or fund raising activities like charity walks, charity bike rides, donations and so on. As the program of getting off the treadmill, the proportion of women in management at Western has risen from 14% to 45% between 1994 and December percentage of women in senior management roles to 40% by the end of 2014 and implement initiatives to address outcomes of diversity audit. 1. 2. 4 Environment Western started concern about the environment impact since 1992. For example, In 992 Western was a founding signatory to the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative. In 2006 Western formed the Australian Business Roundtable on Climate Change, which commissioned significant research on the economic impact of climate change, with five other corporations and the Australian Conservation Foundation. In 2007 Western formed a further group of nine companies, which commissioned further research into the barriers to the rapid development and deployment of low and zero emission technology. Western continue to participate in the carbon Disclosure Project and it is the only bank to achieve a 100 point that AAA dating in the 2007 climate Disclosure Leadership Index. Also, Western volunteers rolled up their sleeves to help turn destruction into something positive like helping create a walking trail in the overgrown wilderness of rain forest bush adjacent to the school after the fires hit the east coast in 2001. The major problem of environment for Western is Climate Change. The approach of Western to climate change is to minimize direct environmental footprint; manage climate risks and build capacity across the business; develop products and services that drive positive environmental outcomes; engage employees around climate change issues and impacts; and communicate and advocate within the wider community. 1. 2. 5 Community Western group has community partnership program based on the premise that they can have a bigger impact on society by working closely with several key community groups over the long term and helping their partners find innovative ways to address the social issues. Western group piloted local working groups focused on environmental and community projects at four of their large key sites, in addition to existing local community engagement across their brands. Western group provides not-for-profit organization community groups with access to specialized business and finance tools and training that help them grow their capacity to deliver community services and support, such as business and financial management workshops, Western community solutions package and pro-bono support. Western has also committed to helping sustain indigenous communities that Western has worked together with indigenous Enterprise Partnerships since 2001. Additionally, Western has been a national sponsor of the JUDD Walk to Cure Diabetes since 1998. Each year employees will help raise money. Furthermore, the Western foundation helps to provide disadvantaged young people with training and a new chance in life. In 2011, Western set sustainability objectives of community that is to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 30% on 2008 levels by 2013, embed organizational mentoring into operational process by 2013, provide management on your money program to 45000 new Islanders by 2013 and launch a major initiative to help address social disadvantages. 3. Analysis of CARS Reporting Issues Using GRID Approaches According to analysis above, there are nine material issues which will influence CARS porting of Western. The following paragraphs will try to analyses these issues with GRID approach. . 3 Economic Perspective due to the 6% increase in housing loan and the offset by the 1% decline in business loan. The decline in business loan indicated the unsatisfactory economic environment. The increase in housing loan indicated that Western had a very good relationship with customers. This could be verified by the increase of customer number which is from 11. 8 (millions) in 2010 to 12. 2 (millions) in 2011 . However, Western still failed to achieve some objectives in relation to customer service. For nonuser NAPS which seeks to measure advocacy of customers, SST. George and Western were ranked 1 and 4 respectively in 2011 amongst the major banks rather than 1 and 2. Furthermore, Western in New Zealand has not achieved NAPS scores of +1 for retail and -12 for business either. Therefore, customer service still needs to be improved. Table 3. 1: Net profits of Western 2011 $m 2010 $m 2009 $m Interest income 38,098 34,1 51 30446 Net profit attributable to owners of Western 6,991 6,346 3446 It can be seen from Table 3. 2 below, salaries and other staff expenses increased by $ 65 million compared to 2010. One factor that contributed the increase was the average salary increase of 4% from January 2011, which indicated that Western aimed to increase employees benefits. Equipment and occupancy expenses were $1,115 million, an increase of $33 million compared to 2010. The increase was largely associated with refurbishment and expansion of brand and ATM networks. Table 3. 2: Operating expenses of Western Salaries and other staff expenses 4,055 3,990 3,806 Equipment and occupancy expenses 1,115 1 ,082 926 2,344 2,439 Total operating expenses 7,406 7,416 7,171 1. Social Perspective As Western is a multi-brand company, different brands will have different ways to improve customer service and develop deeper customer relationship. For example, Western Retail Business Banking launched Local Business Sentiment Survey to give the companys business customers insights into local issues and the strategies to deal with them. However, Western New Zealand used new innovations to improve customer servic e. Western has made a very good process on their objectives this year to achieve gender equality. Western now has 37. 5% women on the leadership role compared with that of 35. 4% in 2010 and has been working hard to move awards its 40% goal. Western and business bank also provides women with education, information and networking opportunities. Western has improved the reliability of IT system significantly during 2011. The number of technology related outages has reduced by a further 40%, which made critical customer related systems now available for customers. For example, Western New Zealand adopted Smart Deposit machines and Cash Exchange machines, which successfully helped the company to reduce branch queues by 40%, in order to provide better customer service. Western needs to make its service more efficient and improve its products continually. By process improvements, Western has achieved the reduction of customer complaints by 42%. This is due to the efficiency of service which will reduce the waiting time of customer. Western also tries to develop more innovative products to make customers more satisfied. For example, the Altitude Platinum Card was awarded Smart Investors best full featured credit card and Canned was awarded five stars to the Altitude Classic/Gold/ Platinum and Earth Platinum cards in 2011. Western also cares much about employees education level. For example, Bank of Melbourne invested over 7,000 hours of training and development in all of the people. Western has a very high employee engagement. Annual Employee Survey indicated that our employees remain highly engaged, with the employee engagement in 2011 result up one percentage point to 81%. Encouragingly, the People Leader Index of Western has again improved and is now at 83%, placing us above the Global High Performing Norm of 82%. Table 3. 3 Community Investment 2011 2010 2009 Community investment Financial reporting basis ($m) 135 136 Community investment GRID reporting basis ($m) 155 116 One performance indicator of social responsibility is the community investment. It can be seen from table 3. , community investment increased significantly in 2011 compared with that in 2010 from GRID perspective. By comparison, from financial perspective, the community investment decreased slightly. However, if the company compares the data in 2010 and 2011 with the years before, it can be seen that the community investment increases significantly. 1. 5 Environmental Perspective The climate change is a global issue faced by all organizations. The amount of CA emission released by organizations is a very important factor which could be used to measure the companys corporate social responsibility. The process of replacing outdated equipments with more energy efficient ones helps Western to reduce the release of CA emissions, with the estimate of 1 5000 tones reduction during the year. According to CARS report of Western, total scope 1 and 2 emissions has reduced from 189,425 tones in 2010 18th,124 tones minion and total scope 3 emissions reduced from 70457 tones to 57163 tones which is a satisfactory result. The reduction of paper use from 6655 tones to 6262 tones contributed a lot to the reduction of emission. 4. Recommendation for Solutions and Explanation According to the behaviors that Western undertook to solve the CARS problems eased on GRID approaches, it seems to be the right way to achieve the ambition of CARS reporting like respect, sustainability and responsibility. 1. 6 Economic Perspective The actions Western took may decrease the profit in dollars in short term, but in long run, since Western tried to establish a strong relationship with customers as well as increase employees values, a lot merits may occur to underpin the profit generation process and achieve a sustainability of profit of Western. . 7 Social Perspective Based on analyzing the issues of suppliers, Western decided to do business with the appliers that comply with SCM in order to reduce the paper usage so that CA emission would decrease. It is a necessary way to discharge the responsibility of Western to protect the sustainability of environment, and helpful to sustain a long- term profitable development of the org anization. However, a problem occurs. Concerns only about one aspect of suppliers cannot help achieve overall sustainability of organization. For example, reducing the paper use for serving the The way to tackle it is caring about the relations among different stakeholders and trying to balancing them when there is conflict among each other. In terms of the aspect of customers, Western launched surveys, improved the reliability of IT systems, and provided services that are more efficient as well as changing product portfolio along with the changing tastes of customers, all these actions contributed to the sustainability of Western. Firstly, surveys identified customers preferences and Western was able to follow them in order to achieve a sustainable development. Secondly, advanced IT systems reduced complaint rates and enhanced efficiency helps retain customers, build reputation, saving resources and attract potential customers. Finally, launching different products according to different needs may enlarge the range of customers and increase the economic scale of organization. However, there is still a gap between the objective of rank 1 or 2 and the real situation, thus there should be a deeper analysis about whether Western did focus on certain customers rather than other else, which damaged the long-term development of organization. Western also concerned about employees sustainable development. It paid attention to equity of gender, education level and safety of working environment, which helped achieve the aim of CARS reporting of respecting he employees rights like equality, self-development and safety. In addition, since Western had done a lot in this area, employees may work even harder and stay longer in return, which contribute to the sustainability of organization. Additionally, Western invested a lot in communities so that money goes into different areas where needed and social sustainability can be improved. 1. 8 Environmental Perspective Finally, in relation to the environment aspect, Western endeavourer to reduce the emission of CA, which would assist in attaining the environmental sustainability.