Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

As part of Aegis Media, we leverage our networks, resources and reputation to help the community in many different ways.

We are members of the London Benchmarking Group, a group of international businesses seeking to manage, measure and report on their involvement in the community.

Each year we make a concerted effort to give back to the community. We have ongoing relationships with some charity and not-for-profit organisations.

Sustainability

Globally, our parent company Aegis Group plc recognises that sustainability is an increasingly important factor for our clients and is an essential consideration for our business, employees and investors. In 2010 Aegis Group launched Future Proof, our framework to address the concerns of our stakeholders around corporate responsibility and sustainability.

Future Proof incorporates our minimum standards around governance and reporting, sets a strategic direction with challenging targets and provides a suite of standard tools and initiatives for all our businesses. This framework reflects the nature of Aegis, with operational responsibility invested in local management but guidance and support available from the centre.

One of the major initiatives of Aegis globally is our Green Bean network, environmental champions across our businesses who are responsible for monitoring and reporting our environmental performance, as well as identifying where savings can be made and how sustainable lifestyles can be encouraged.

Progress and Performance

For the environment, we have decided to address our two largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and business travel, first.

In 2010 we were rated 64th out of the 250 organisations on our carbon management strategy by the FTSE Carbon Disclosure Project Carbon Strategy Index. We punch well above our size in this respect.

We have continued to expand the activities, tools and guidance for Green Beans over the past year.

For the first time in 2010, our offices participated in Earth Hour with local activities around the theme of 'Give 1 Hour to the Earth' reaching thousands of employees worldwide. We also achieved the environmental management accreditation standard ISO14001 in the United Kingdom. We continue to expand the remit of our Green Bean network and environmental accreditation beyond greenhouse gas emissions from energy and business travel.

Giving back to the community

We have used our strong media and publishing relationships to negotiate valuable pro bono advertising value for more than 46 charities and organisations that make a real difference in the lives of Australians and New Zealanders by giving money, time and negotiating pro bono advertising time with our media partners. We have negotiated millions of dollars in pro bono media exposure for our charity partners. 

Childhood Literacy

One way in which we give back to the community is with the children's charity Learning Links. Aegis Media has taken an active role in the Reading for Life program. Like all great ideas, it's based on a simple thought – if a child can read they have the best chance to complete school, gain further education and play a positive role in society.

Learning to read solves many problems, yet difficulty with gaining this skill is an under reported problem that affects many young (and not so young) people. Through the Reading for Life program Aegis Media staff become "reading buddies" for children who are having trouble learning to read. We go to local primary schools and simply help the children with their reading. It's a wonderfully rewarding activity and it also allows us to do something in a tangible way that makes a real difference to the child's future and in turn to the future of this country.