Policies and governance
Governance for ensuring the sustainability of our business is held at the highest level of our organisation – the Board. The role of IAG’s Board Committee on Nomination, Remuneration and Sustainability – which is chaired by the Chairman of the Board - is to ensure that management considers corporate responsibility and sustainability issues, that the Group’s reputation is protected, and that healthy shareholder returns are provided. The diagram below details our governance structure from the Board level down.
As can be seen from the diagram above, each Executive has responsibilities to ensure that safety, environmental and community issues are considered, resourced and managed throughout their operations and for the benefit of our employees and customers.
Our numerous governance frameworks are represented in a series of Group-wide policies and commitments. These are available on our website, and include IAG’s Commitment to Sustainability and the Environment, the Charter for Health, Safety & Security, the Code of Conduct, and the Continuous Disclosure & Insider Trading Policy.
The policies are supported by initiatives such as our workplace health and safety program, which has led to a 27% improvement in our Australian employees’ lost time injury frequency rate over the past two years. This year we were also recognised by the Ethical Investor Awards for introducing the ActionLine, which allows employees to report severe incidents of inappropriate activity and/or where an issue has been reported but no action taken.
We fundamentally believe that a company’s governance is only as strong as the culture that underpins it. Our values of honesty, transparency, teamwork, meritocracy and social responsibility shape our behaviour and decisions. Consistent and ethical behaviour – framed by our values – is what determines the quality of our relationships with our stakeholders and, ultimately, long-term business success.
Our managers are expected to lead by example, and develop appropriate business unit and individual targets and goals. They – and anyone else in the organisation – are also able to reward exemplary behaviour through our RewardHelp program. The program recognises excellence in customer service, leadership, sustainability and innovation, and each year an awards ceremony celebrates the best of the best. In 2005/06, over 26,000 nominationsfor outstanding behaviour were received through this employee program.
We are aware that leadership of this kind is more complex and demanding, so our focus has been on helping our employees manage and monitor their performance across environmental, social and economic dimensions. In 2005/06, we introduced reporting of our environmental impacts at a cost centre level. This allows all managers to account for and improve environmental performance, and track the financial benefits of doing so.
Further incentives include remuneration bonuses tied to achieving specific sustainability targets, which differ by division. In the future, our leaders will have components of their remuneration determined by how well they manage in accordance with our values.
As we continue to grow our business, we need to ensure we communicate consistent expectations about ethical behaviour to all our employees. To this end, we will release our Code of Ethical Business Conduct in 2006/07. The Code will detail the fundamental principles applicable across all parts of the business, regardless of the country of operation. Underpinning the Code will be a compliance framework that assists us in meeting our obligations.
Our commitment to driving sustainable outcomes extends beyond our own operations to our suppliers. Our supplier guidelines and reporting procedures assess our key suppliers on criteria including quality, commitment, pricing, implementation, sustainability and technology
