Memorandum from the Co-operative Insurance
Society
INTRODUCTION
1. The Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS)
is the insurance arm of Co-operative Financial Services (CFS),
a group that provides a range of banking, insurance, savings and
pensions products to more than seven million people across the
UK with an annual income of £2.5 billion and assets of more
than £27 billion. It is part of the Co-operative Group, which
is one of the largest consumer-owned business in the world.
2. CIS employs more than ten thousand people
in more than 160 sites across the UK. Over four thousand of these
are based at the chief office complex in Manchester.
CIS'S COMMITMENT
TO SUSTAINABILITY
3. Historically, CIS has always conducted
its business following the co-operative values and principles
of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.
CIS made this approach a business priority in 1999 with the introduction
of a programme which outlined CIS's approach to dealing with to
all its stakeholders in a set of four key commitments. The commitment
to sustainability says that CIS aims "to grow our business
for the benefit of our customers, with due regard for the interests
of employees and the wider community."
4. Though the insurance industry has relatively
low direct impacts, it does have an important role in influencing
customer behaviour and addressing the social, ethical and environmental
performance of its investments. It also experiences the consequences
of the social, ethical and environmental problems of unsustainable
behaviour. It can clearly be seen that drugs misuse is reflected
in theft from property, climate change has implications for house
flooding, and the pollution from traffic congestion can have implications
for life assurance claims. On a wider scale, the business risk
from unsustainable behaviour can be reflected in investment returns
and, in the financial services industry, a lack of trust in company
behaviour is a deterrent to customers.
BUILDING A
CORPORATE CULTURE
OF SUSTAINABILITY
5. CIS has established a number of structures
and policies to ensure that the commitment to sustainability is
embedded in day-to-day business practice.
6. A network of individuals, known as values
facilitators, was established to act as individual advocates in
teams and departments for the social accountability programme
and to convey information back to their own departments and offices.
These facilitators have ongoing training in a range of issues
related to the programme.
7. New starters attend a session on sustainability
issues as part of their induction programme. This is the ideal
forum to inform new staff about these issues and ensures that
they receive a message consistent with the culture developed and
maintained by the facilitators.
8. All managers have a duty to consider
sustainability issues as part of their job description. In addition,
specific social ethical and/or environmental targets are assigned
as part of their performance management and are considered as
part of the performance-related pay system. The executive management
team show their commitment to pursuing sustainability as part
of CIS's overall business strategy.
9. Participation in external bodies is used
to inform and educate the executive management team. For example,
CIS Chief Executive, Mervyn Pedelty, sits on the board of Business
in the Community, CIS's Chief Operating Officer, Finian O'Boyle,
sits on the board of Sustainability North West and senior managers
are encouraged to take leading roles in sustainability initiatives
within their specialist fields, for example the Head of Property
and Facilities, Gary Thomas, sits on a steering committee as part
of the Department of Trade and Industry funded "Partners
in Innovation" project looking at "Managing Buildings
Sustainably."
TACKLING THE
BARRIERS TO
INCREASING SUSTAINABLE
PRACTICE
10. Many of the existing efforts and initiatives
to promote and embed sustainable behaviour are not effective.
Knowledge of existing Government campaigns amongst the workforce
is poor and levels of sustainability education are so low that
the messages of these campaigns do not register with many people.
11. The poor level of education and knowledge
about sustainability is evident across CIS's workforce. Introducing
any new sustainability initiative requires that this significant
education gap is addressed before the initiative itself can be
taught and explained. People are less willing to change their
behaviour if they don't understand why they should be working
in a new way. In our experience staff cannot connect their actions
with the consequences of what they are doing then they will not
be motivated to change.
12. It is not enough to explain to staff
about "effects on an ecosystem" or "implications
for climate change" if they have not had the education to
understand these basic scientific concepts. To change behaviour
in these circumstances, CIS has to fill in the missing gaps in
basic scientific education—gaps which would not be present
if our workforce had the levels of scientific education that are
evident in Japan, Scandinavia and Germany, where science is prioritised
in the curriculum. The problem seems to be that the acquisition
of a wide range of facts rather than the development of theory
and learning skills seems to dominate the curriculum.
13. There is a multiplicity of sustainability
initiatives which often overlap or duplicate activity. This leads
to confusion for business and individuals seeking guidance on
sustainability issues. There is too much poor quality information
with little central direction or control. For example, in looking
for advice and guidance in running a staff awareness programme,
CIS identified more than 60 service providers all of which were
subsidised through government or European funding. However few
of these were sufficiently well-resourced to provide an effective
service. Sustainability can be achieved more simply, effectively
and efficiently by directing government funding towards more substantial
support of fewer schemes, targeting those that have delivered
tangible performance improvements.
14. The multiplicity of initiatives coupled
with the lack of scientific education to make it extremely difficult
for businesses and individual to make informed consumer choices.
Without a solid foundation of knowledge, these initiatives can
seem little more than "background noise" and their efforts
can be wasted. To bridge this gap in the short term it is essential
that the Government provides clear guidance and tangible examples
of good sustainable practice, for example through encouraging
consumers to buy renewable electricity, fair trade coffee and
be able to help customers identify companies with good sustainable
behaviour.
15. CIS is keen to direct our customers
towards more sustainable services. For example, CIS works with
its network of approved motor repairers to ensure that they repair
rather than replace plastic items wherever possible and have better
environmental management of areas such as paint shops and waste
disposal. Customers still have the choice of where their car is
repaired after an accident but are encouraged to take this more
sustainable option.
16. Apathy is also a major problem in driving
change. Staff often do not see how they relate sustainable behaviour
to their day to day work. Providing the right incentives for staff
is the key to tackling apathy. Staff perceive that sustainable
behaviour is harder, more time consuming and more expensive than
their current activity. For example, CIS now operates a recycling
system using waste segregation—where items such a paper,
vending cups and plastics are disposed of through a series of
separate bins in an office. This scheme only achieved significant
success by making it easier to recycle than dispose of waste through
the removal of traditional desk waste bins.
17. Leading by example is a powerful way
of tackling apathy and reluctance to introduce more sustainable
behaviour. The companies that we invest in are often reluctant
to introduce measures to identify and reduce climate change impact,
such as through the use of renewable energy, saying that such
measure are unfeasible or to expensive for a large business to
implement. CIS is only able to effectively inform, educate and
change the behaviour of the companies it invests in, if it can
give credible evidence and show understanding of the implications
of the changes it is asking for.
18. By monitoring our own climate change
impact, and using renewable electricity for our own business,
we are able to demonstrate the feasibility and provide advice
on implementation of such actions for other organisations. In
our experience a lack of examples of government agencies and departments
implementing sustainable practices in their own activities deters
other businesses from perceiving that sustainability is credible
or achievable within business or communities.
19. Examples learned at work can help promote
greater sustainable behaviour in the wider community. For example,
CIS built on its work in improving energy management by arranging
energy efficiency awareness day for staff, where they were able
to obtain home energy efficiency reports and pick up free energy
saving light bulbs.
20. CIS has found that existing business
practices and departmental boundaries can be a barrier to sustainability.
For example, the heat from the high number of computer screens
in CIS's information technology department exceeded the capacity
of the existing air conditioning system. The IT department requested
an upgrade of the air conditioning system, which would have been
the responsibility of the buildings department, but was reluctant
to replace with cooler LCD computer screens, which would be a
more sustainable and cheaper solution, as that expenditure would
fall within the IT budget.
THE ROLE
OF BUSINESSES
IN EDUCATING
EACH OTHER
21. One of the strongest motivators in encouraging
sustainable development within an SME is where it has to demonstrate
sustainable practice to secure business. This encourages the SME
to learn about wider sustainability issues and for a two-way learning
from the organisation it is supplying about process and shared
objectives.
22. By including sustainability criteria
in our procurement decisions, CIS has found it has been a substantial
force for improving sustainability in its contractors, of which
SMEs play an important part. But the level of knowledge of suppliers
is such that CIS cannot include social and environmental product
requirements in specifications without also educating the suppliers
concerned in what these requirements mean and why they are important.
For example, in a project to eliminate certain chemicals from
products that we purchase we have discovered that it is necessary
to educate our suppliers in techniques to identify product composition.
23. CIS has also found that some contractors
have a lack of understanding of basic law and government policy.
It is difficult to educate on sustainability issues until these
basic knowledge gaps are dealt with. But once an SME is aware
of the benefits of sustainability, the smaller size and simpler
business model mean that sustainability improvements are quicker
to introduce, easier to implement and simpler to evaluate.
THE CHALLENGES
OF MASS
EDUCATION IN
THE WORKPLACE
24. To achieve environmental certification
under ISO14001, CIS had to ensure a level of understanding of
key issues across its entire workforce, encompassing needs from
a diversity of education, ability, experience and working environment.
To convey this information, we prepared an automatic presentation
which could be run on individual's computers with the minimum
level of technical expertise.
25. The diversity of the audience meant
that we couldn't assume any previous knowledge, yet had to make
sure the presentation was quick and interesting enough not to
discourage those who did already had a level of knowledge. It
was also important to make the presentation simple and quick enough
to be viewed within the working pressures of a normal office day.
The network of staff facilitators was used to ensure that all
staff saw the presentation and to reinforce the messages it contained.
WORKING WITH
OTHERS TO
IMPROVE SUSTAINABILITY
KNOWLEDGE
26. Though it is crucial to build a culture
of sustainability if these issues are to be incorporated in our
business operations, sustainable behaviour only comes about by
changing day to day actions. Individual actions also allow the
members of a diverse workforce to see how sustainability can be
improved in practice. CIS's best results have come through providing
the opportunity and mandate for individuals who already have sustainability
values to be able to change the way they do things and put these
values into practice, inspiring those around them to so the same.
27. In 2002, approximately 25 offices participated
in Global Action Plan's Action at Work programme. The Action at
Work programme was first piloted by CIS in 2001, using three claims
offices. Global Action Plan is an environmental charity established
to promote sustainable living at home, at school and in the workplace.
They developed the Action at Work programme for large organisations
to provide a way to reduce environmental impacts whilst achieving
cost savings. The programme is based upon a network of Environment
Champions representing each office. The Champions have been trained
to carry out environmental awareness campaigns at their offices.
Their aims are to reduce energy consumption, minimise waste and
raise the environmental awareness of their colleagues. Emphasis
is placed on the fact that the lessons learnt and cost savings
achieved can be translated to the home as well as the office.
28. The Champions receive support and guidance
from one of three mentors, each a volunteer from the offices involved
in the pilot exercise. Support is also provided through a dedicated
contact from Human Resources, as well as a programme manager from
Global Action Plan. In the experience of CIS, this level of support
is essential to the success of the project.
29. The programme is designed to run over
a twelve month period, and is due to be completed in March of
this year. Upon completion, if the offices have demonstrated that
the aims of the programme have been met, each will receive a United
Nations Award for Environmental Achievement. In the experience
of CIS, the time frame and potential certificate at the end of
the programme are seen as a manageable goal for the Environment
Champions. The measures introduced by the offices during the programme
are designed to be permanent fixtures, and emphasis is placed
on this throughout the term of the project. In addition, taking
part in this initiative has allowed CIS to gain knowledge, skills
and experience that would allow it to run its own similar schemes
across the rest of its business.
30. Although we appreciate the benefits
of this scheme, it has been a significant expense for us. It is
likely that this expense would be a strong disincentive for smaller
companies or those that are less committed to sustainable development.
March 2003
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