Engaging our People
Raising awareness with our people and in our communities is at the heart of our Environmental Program.
PwC’s environmental network is the foundation of our environmental stewardship strategy. It is made up of 14 local committees across 22 offices in Canada. This volunteer-based network is driven by enthusiastic staff who strive to be catalysts for change. These environmental committees provide opportunities for employees passionate about environmental stewardship to connect with others and share their ideas about how to bring this work to life. Our committee members are driving change both within PwC and out into our broader community, raising awareness among colleagues and clients and building skills as responsible leaders.
In FY2012 these committees saw a decline in membership, which resulted in a much lower number of hours invested (280 down from 500 in FY2011) by our people. In FY2013, our priority is to investigate the cause of this decline and work with our stakeholders to develop an action plan to address it. We will be focusing on developing new measures to better understand the outcomes of our employee’s effort.
In FY2012, PwC Canada took part in a project with several other member firms located in the western hemisphere. We asked our people what they would do if they were given a few hundred dollars and a video camera to show how they could make a difference in their local community.
Soody Thayaparan, an associate in our Consulting and Deals practice was awarded a $500 donation for the Art of Living Foundation and championed a team of local volunteers to plant trees in Applewood Park in Mississauga, Ontario.
As an avid volunteer with the Art of Living, Soody plants between 1,000 and 1,500 trees in Mississauga every year. The impacts and benefits of his efforts are tangible: a cleaner more welcoming city and more engaged youth who are learning about how to take responsibility for their environmental impacts. Through volunteering, Soody is developing leadership skills which he uses to inspire his fellow volunteers, his colleagues and clients. Soody also received funds from our volunteer grant program as an additional way to help provide Art of Living with additional financial support from the firm.
Examples of activites arranged by the environmental committees include:
- The Vancouver committee’s office-wide 'Green Night,' which provides a fun opportunity for Vancouver partners and staff to try local and/or organic food and beverages sourced from within BC and delivered to the Vancouver office.
- The Ottawa committee’s environmental audit, in which summer students investigated each of the office’s floors to identify ways to reduce the entire office’s environmental impact.
- The Mississauga committee’s e-waste recycling event, in which PwC’s staff and partners bring in old electronics and environmental committee members drop them off at appropriate recycling facilities.
- The Edmonton committee’s invitation to speakers from company representatives responsible for implementing environmental programs and initiatives to share best practices and lessons learned.
- The Calgary committee’s secured space in the office monthly newsletter for the dissemination of environmental tips and other related information.
- The Toronto committee’s 'lunch and learns' on such topics as waste management and environmental rebates.
On March 31, 2012, for the fifth consecutive year, PwC worked with our landlords and turned off the lights in 90% of our office space to show our support for Earth Hour, a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) event designed to raise awareness about climate change.
In FY2012, we took a significant step toward integrating CR into our overall business plan by revolutionizing our Green Week and transforming it into PwC’s first CR Week. While our environmental committees continued to raise awareness about our environmental stewardship initiatives through social events, ‘lunch and learns’ and other activities, we expanded our efforts to include other elements of our CR framework.
In FY2012, we added educational programming related to community engagement; people, diversity and inclusion; and responsible business. We launched webinars about the roles and responsibilities of a not-for-profit board director, capacity building in the community sector, enhanced working practices at PwC, and information sessions on cultural diversity awareness. Feedback from our people was positive and attendance was strong.
