Westpac's secret to sustainable business

How did Westpac become New Zealand's Sustainable Business of the Year 2011?

Westpac sustainability manager Suzie Marsden addressed this question at a presentation to the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce, Rotorua Sustainable Business Charter and local Westpac representatives at the Distinction Hotel on Monday evening.

"Our take on sustainability is that it is future-proofing our business and our society. It's fundamental that business takes a lead on this. It's part of our moral imperative to take action - and it's good for business."

Marsden said the health of the economy, the community and the environment were all inter-related and efforts to make improvements in one sector would pay off in others.

The bank is nearing the end of its initial four-year plan, which set out 10 key targets, including social and environmental goals based on feedback from staff, suppliers and customers. These included environmental targets such as reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent, picking up 1 million pieces of litter from New Zealand's coastline and waterways and reducing landfill waste.

Westpac has already surpassed its emissions goal and is on target with the rubbish collection.

Reducing landfill got off to a rockier start, however, which Marsden attributed to putting too much focus on the infrastructure and not enough into educating staff about it.

"We had great recycling bins, but behaviour didn't change."

But Westpac started its four-year journey with a six-month staff education programme.

"One of the biggest mistakes us marketing people make is that we rush to tell everybody in the market what we are doing and we forget to tell our own staff."

The social goals revolve around Westpac's involvement with the rescue helicopters, the Sir Peter Blake Trust and the Halberg Trust, as well as the bank's Managing your Money programme. The goal was to deliver the programme to 45,000 people to improve financial literacy. In less than four years, more than 49,000 people have done the programme.

What has proved difficult is collecting the baseline data from which to set the targets and finding measurable ways to monitor success in less tangible areas, such as uptake of volunteer leave days.

"Starting metrics are important - collecting data is challenging, but it is also worthwhile. It helps you to share successes and galvanises the business."

Marsden said sustainability was a big concept but the important thing was to make a start somewhere.

"And once you get some action going, join the conversation out there. It's amazing what other businesses around the world are doing that you could learn from."