Top 200 : Kensington Swan Ethical Governance Award New Zealand Post – Measuring Ethics

New Zealand Post has demonstrated leadership in ethical governance through its commitment to measuring and managing its corporate responsibility. An innovative Corporate Responsibility Governance Model applies across the group providing ethical leadership for the over 17,000 people working for the NZ Post Group and its related entities.
The executive team has created ‘Statement of Commitment’ which is endorsed by the board. This describes the Group’s business imperative as carrying out its activities responsibly and with integrity and highlights that its people are expected to behave in an honest and ethical manner.
Leadership of four practice areas (community, environment, workplace and marketplace) is given to group executives. focused work programme seeks to improve the Group’s performance across these areas involving greater transparency and stakeholder engagement throughout its activities.
It communicates expectations to team members through induction packs, an intranet corporate responsibility section and in both group and business unit newsletters. It communicates performance across the triple bottom line internally through scorecards that for 2008 reflect KPIs relating to its corporate responsibility.
The group participated in the St James Ethics Centre’s Corporate Responsibility Index in 2007/08 and has committed to participating in this index for three years. This internationally recognised methodology enabled rigorous baselining of New Zealand Post’s corporate responsibility.
NZ Post has introduced the ISO 140064/1 reporting standard for greenhouse gas emissions and while these have been disclosed publicly for over five years, this year the Group’s emissions have been independently audited. The Group’s targets include commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent by 2012 while continuing the sustainable growth of its operations.
In the 2007/08 year NZ Post was the first large New Zealand organisation to commit to the United Nations Global Compact. This is an international benchmark for responsible business closely aligned with the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment whose signatories, such as the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, encourage all businesses to adopt the Global Compact.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS
WINNER
New Zealand Post
Measuring Ethics
New Zealand Post’s leadership in ethical governance is demonstrated by its commitment to rigorously measuring and managing its corporate responsibilities. The company has adopted an innovative governance model that applies across the group, providing ethical leadership for the more than 17,000 people working for NZ Post and its related entities.
A deserving winner of this increasingly tough to judge award.

FINALIST
NZ Aluminium Smelters
Supporting people with disabilities
NZ Aluminium Smelters regularly features in the Top 200 ethical governance category. This year the company is recognised for its support of local people with disabilities. Over 18 years NZAS has built strong and successful partnership with Southland Enterprises’ industrial work training unit for the disabled. The partnership is valued by the smelter’s management and employees and every member of the work unit’s team.
The NZAS Strategic Map identifies six Key Result Areas the business needs to focus on in order to achieve its vision. These include ‘People Commitment’ and ‘Environment and Communities’. Its aims include to build ‘Enduring relationships with communities’ and to be the preferred employer with ‘Diverse workforce’ and to be business in which ‘Contractors are part of the team’. The NZAS management team annually reviews these high-level commitments and their supporting key performance indicators with the NZAS board and is required to report progress monthly and annually.

FINALIST
Vodafone
Product stewardship
One of Vodafone’s six strategic goals is to be responsible business. As part of this, it understands its responsibility for the safe use and disposal of the products it sells in New Zealand. Vodafone has been collecting handsets since 2002 and in 2006 rolled out mobile recycling tubes in every Vodafone-branded store and this year is placing recycling bins with all retail partners. In April this year it launched world-first partnership with Enable Community, an Australian-based charity which works alongside micro-finance organisations in the developing world. Enable Community give mobile phones to micro entrepreneurs to assist them to work their way out of poverty and create wealth and employment in their communities.
A condition of the partnership with Enable Community was that Vodafone implements collection scheme in the recipient countries, in order to collect all of the mobiles when they reach the end of their life. This closes the loop, to ensure that all mobiles reused are ultimately recycled.