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Tony Harrington
PwC CEO and Foundation Chairman | Rick Millen
PwC Foundation Partner | Michael Traill
CEO Social Ventures Australia |
Tony, Rick and Michael start the conversation by discussing key changes in the way businesses support the not-for-profit sector...
Michael: Certainly in terms of SVA’s work with PwC, one aspect that has been hugely valuable is the evolution from funding one-off projects to forming a strategic partnership. It has really enabled both of us to stop focusing on symptoms and tackle the actual cause of social problems. I hope that’s a shift we’ll start to see in other businesses working in the sector.
Tony: For businesses, it really is a fundamental shift in approach. You can only make so much of an impact financially, so the approach has to become more targeted and play off of your strengths. The richness of the talent and expertise in this firm certainly can, and is, adding a tremendous amount of value to community services.
Michael: And taking that talent to the community makes a huge amount of sense. While making an immediate impact, it also equips your people with a three-dimensional understanding of community issues. Sparking that interest in our future leaders can only pay dividends down the road.
Rick: And that’s why we really like our engagement with SVA, because all of those benefits really come through. Really, with all of our charity partners, these relationships are effective because we see each other as equals. We have a mutual agreement and statement of intent that clearly outlines what each of us expects to get out of the relationship. It flows both ways. That’s a real change in the thinking of how people approach this type of engagement.
Michael: The whole notion of that is very apparent in our work around social investment. I know from experience you can’t continue to support community organisations that don’t have a solid business foundation.
Tony: I like to think of it as social responsibility with rigour. It isn’t just a chequebook game plan any more; it’s how do you bring rigour to every aspect of how the organisation engages in the space.
Michael: And, with the SVA relationship I have to admit it was a bit of a risk; you brought us support at a very early stage…
Tony: Yes, we’re punters! [laughter]
Rick: Punters with an excellent record! [laughter]
Tony: But frankly Michael, we approached the relationship and risk no differently than the way we run the practice. We brought that same level of scrutiny and found SVA had the appropriate level of rigour and community benefit. Because your projects were aligned with where our thinking was, the three elements came together to produce some great outcomes.
Michael: Going back to SVA’s first contact with the Foundation in 2002, what struck me was how important you saw the Foundation being to the firm. I’m interested in how you see it sitting within the organisation now.
Tony: The Foundation really started off as an aspiration and has become a fundamental element of our strategic platform. When you look at the level of engagement that now exists among our people – 48 per cent involved in volunteering, 26 per cent involved in the giving program – it really demonstrates the enormous positive impact it is having on the firm and the community.
Rick: And, Michael, that engagement is almost to the extent that ownership has passed from us. We started it and invested in keeping it going, but it’s been so embraced by our people that if we wanted to do something different, the decision would largely be in their hands.
Michael: I often see corporate foundations eventually fading or drifting away from their organisations. It seems like PwC has successfully intertwined its community initiatives with the values of the business, but how do you think the firm’s relationship with the Foundation has changed in the past five years?
Rick: Well, in many ways the Foundation has actually started contributing to the practice. For example, it was the Foundation that started thinking about the impact the firm was having on the environment. We’ve always been environmentally conscious, but the Foundation’s initiative got the firm to consider the broader implications of climate change from a conservation and business perspective. It’s now evolved into one of our major drives for the next few years; it seems doing the right thing can also look like good business.
Tony: From very early in development, we took the view the Foundation was going to speak for itself and through its actions. It was built from the bottom around service teams and people. We’ve found the more people are involved in the decision-making processes – surprise, surprise – the more they feel involved in the entire equation. It fuels participation and passion.
Michael: And what does it mean to you personally, Tony?
Tony: Look, from a personal point of view it’s a reflection of the essence of the firm. Our people are full of talent, and giving them the opportunity to use that capability in a broader context is absolutely fabulous. When you are part of the firm you know what we have; you hear it, you feel it, you see it. The Foundation’s work really brings the heart of the firm into the community, giving other people the chance to see and benefit from the energy and commitment that I see every day.
Michael: Rick, where do you see the Foundation headed at this stage? When you’ve already accomplished so many of your goals, what is the next step
Rick: As Tony often says, the Foundation has become something ingrained in the fabric of the entire organisation. Our people own it. That’s a great place to be, but there is now an entirely new set of opportunities. The position we’re in and level of staff engagement facilitates us going forward in a way that can have a real systemic impact. We can take on projects and initiatives in this space that we never had scope or momentum for initially.
| Tony: I like to think of it as social responsibility with rigour. It isn’t just a chequebook game plan any more; it’s how do you bring rigour to every aspect of how the organisation engages in the pace. |
Michael: Now, I still feel like there are gaps for many corporates between their rhetoric and actual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, and from my perspective you are one of the few who has actually given your initiatives the investment they need. What are your points of view on that debate, and do you face any of those challenges?
Rick: I agree that in the community there is generally more focus on the process than the substance of corporate social responsibility. There’s often a lot done to facilitate people being able to report on what they’re doing without much thinking about what’s being achieved. PwC has come from the opposite direction, and frankly we probably need to do more around the process end of things. We’re doing it all for the right reasons, but we certainly haven’t pulled it together in a fashion that enables us to demonstrate to our people and the market exactly how wide our impact has been. I hope going forward we’ll do more of that demonstrating and documenting so it can be used as a leverage point. Everyone usually works independently in the corporate world, but there are many opportunities for us to work with other businesses more cohesively in the sector.
Tony: That’s true, and I think the business community is coming to the realisation that you can’t just have a wish and sprinkle some dust on it. It’s a resource allocation issue and requires long and short-term investment.
Michael: I think people are also waking up to the fact that aside from benefiting the community, these investments in the community are good for business in the long run.
Tony: We have found that aside from the community impact there is a very strong and valid business case for the work we’re doing. There is a talent war in Australia, and the fact we are offering these opportunities to our people and making it a priority has helped in attracting and retaining quality staff. You can do a variety of things to create a strong business environment and develop leadership, but why can’t you do all of that in a broader community context? It’s a win-win situation all round.
Rick: It’s also important to appreciate that the people coming out of university think differently than we did at their age. There has almost been a generational shift in talent with people in their 20's and 30’s now saying ‘Yes I want a challenging career, yes I want a good package – but up there in my top priorities is the desire to have a meaningful role in the community’.
Tony: While community involvement is obviously only a piece in the puzzle, it’s proving to be a very significant one. Our offer acceptance rates in a very competitive market are in the mid-eighty percentile range; our competition lingers in the sixties. That is practical evidence of the diverse range of opportunities we’re offering our people.
Michael: As you look ahead to the next five to ten years in the context of the Foundation, where do you see things heading?
Rick: You can see a very consistent move in what we’ve been doing over the past five years. We have progressed from giving some money and volunteering on a piece meal basis. The focus is now on our charity partners and establishing relationships that span financial support, time donations and capacity building at highly discounted rates.
Tony: I think the next step for us is maximising the impact those relationships can have on the sector. In the next year, we’re looking at a few projects that will improve the sector as a whole. Our size and position in the community gives us a very privileged opportunity to step up to these broader challenges.
Michael: Definitely, and I know in your work with SVA we’ve already started focusing on those broader challenges. Such as with employment creation and social inclusion, it really involved starting with the headline and saying ‘that high unemployment number is just unacceptable’. Then as you take action you leverage it, like we have done with the Enterprise Hub roll-out, in terms of public debate and policy engagement so that major employers start talking about it and realising these people are highly motivated and employable. Then in five to ten years we can look back and say we’ve not only created a handful of opportunities, but that the country’s employment landscape has changed. As you’re making these types of strategy shifts with your local Foundation partners, how do you think the Australian practice is affecting the firm’s global template for community engagement?
Rick: Well, on the greatest scale, our personnel have had a chance to establish Global Communities, which has been a very powerful tool in gathering and coordinating what we are doing round the world. We now have our Foundations in all countries talking to each other, and the amount you can learn from bringing all those ideas together is ground breaking. It’s also lending legitimacy to the whole thing and perpetuating progress. Our people should be very proud that their level of engagement in Australia is helping to fuel a very significant global impact. Our people should be very proud that their level of engagement in Australia is helping to fuel a very significant global impact.
