The Next Wave of Sustainability with Digital Innovation
PwC Singapore’s FY18 Sustainability Report
PwC Singapore’s annual sustainability report presents the key aspects of our sustainability strategy, policies and performance driven by our firm’s five core values: act with integrity, make a difference, care, work together, and reimagine the possible.
This report covers the performance of our 2018 financial year (FY18), from July 2017 to June 2018, and it is in accordance with the GRI Standards. All data, statistics and information presented in this report are in relation to the Singapore firm’s operations, unless otherwise stated. We are fully committed to listening and understanding our stakeholders’ points of view, and welcome feedback pertaining to this report as well as to any aspect of our sustainability performance.
“Sustainability is about delivering on our promise and purpose to the wider community, while embracing and adapting to uncertainties. During the year, we have taken a multi-pronged approach through technology and digitalisation to not only create a workplace for the future, but also a workforce of the future made up of individuals who are able to continue giving back to the economy and drive positive change.”
Sustainability embedded in our DNA
Sustainability is embedded in our purpose and values. As we forge ahead in this fast-changing business landscape, sustainability is the key for us to continue to build trust in society and solve important problems while ensuring continued growth. The PwC Values are core to our Sustainability approach not just for meeting near term challenges but also for securing tomorrow’s opportunities. At PwC, we aim to go beyond doing the right thing and catalyse change in four focus areas: responsible business, diversity and inclusion, community engagement, and environmental stewardship.
Our sustainability drivers
Driving the sustainability of our business are five core values rooted in our PwC culture
Our values shape who we are throughout our PwC Network, what we stand for, and how we engage both our internal and external stakeholders. They help us work towards our purpose of building trust in society and solving important problems.
Act with integrity
Leadership and governance
A key part of our overall sustainability strategy is to integrate strong ethical and transparent business practices within our entire enterprise and all the work that we do.
PwC thrives on a culture that is focused on addressing both internal and external expectations and requirements. It helps guide our behaviours and build trust especially in:
- How we do business
- How we collaborate with each other
- How we engage and create impact for our communities
- How we use information
When working with our clients and colleagues, we act with integrity and:
Speak up for what is right, especially when it feels difficult
Expect and deliver the highest quality outcomes
Make decisions and act as if our personal reputations were at stake
Care
Taking care of our people
At PwC, we recognise the importance of training and developing our people. Our Learning & Development (L&D) programmes and curriculum are guided by our PwC Professional framework, allowing us to build PwC Professionals who are well-verse in the following five key attributes:
- Relationships
- Business Acumen
- Global Acumen
- Whole Leadership
- Technical Capabilities
We empower our people to be game changers through:
- Our Flex Programme (Flexspace, FlexDress, FlexTime)
- Junior Board
- Talent Programmes
Talent and development
We recognise the importance of training and developing of our people. We believe in sustaining a lifelong learning, coaching, networking and feedback culture at the workplace.
PwC goes beyond technical competence through the 70-20-10 principle. We believe that 70% of learning occurs at the workplace through everyday tasks, 20% of learning via informal coaching and personal networks and the remaining 10% via structured courses and programmes. Other supporting initiatives include:
- Introduction of “Your Growth Journey” – a holistic framework that facilitates continuous career development
- International mobility programmes - offering our people diverse work experience opportunities.
- Enhancing our people’s digital and future ready competencies via technology
- Developing and attracting new talents to continue changing the game
- Promoting work-life balance and welfare
Make a difference
Community engagement
As part of our Maximising Potential framework which champions creating positive
change – by benefitting non-profit organisations, social enterprises and the community, amplified through multi-stakeholders collaboration – we are engaged in constant dialogues with our communities. This helps us create and deliver value that matters for the beneficiaries and the community.
We have committed mainly to the following initiatives:
- 10 years of Banda Street – a mass participation community outreach programme aimed at supporting the elderly living in the one- and two-room flats in Chinatown which we started in 2008.
- Annual Overseas Community Projects to Myanmar, Vietnam and Nepal
- Skills-based Volunteering to non-profits and social enterprises
- Annual firmwide corporate responsibility competition, encouraging our people to reimagine the possible to address and make a difference in the society..
Environmental strategy and stewardship
In everything we do, we strive to integrate environmental considerations at the business level and ensure our workspace is environmental friendly as well as to minimise our carbon emissions. Our commitment to the environment is rooted in the belief that every single one of us have a critical role to play in ensuring the preservation of the environment for the present and future generations.
PwC’s commitment to environmental stewardship is to minimise negative environmental impact as well as to constantly educate and develop policies to reduce our carbon footprint. Interactive activities are organised during Earth Hour and Eco-week to promote environmental awareness.
Over the last year, we’ve carried out the following main initiatives:
- Firmwide recycling drive
- Eco week activities (Eco terrarium, Acai bowl workshop, Eco market)
- Employee pledge to save water in their households
Work together
Towards greater Diversity and Inclusion
Making real progress in D&I implies not only focusing on creating a diverse workforce, but also on fostering an inclusive culture. At PwC, we are committed to driving an inclusive culture that unites us as one firm and leverages our diversity in an increasingly globalised economy. We strive for an authentic sense of belonging among our people.
Our main initiatives include:
- Celebrating International Women’s Day
- Raising the profile of HeForShe
- Embracing cultural roots through celebrations
- Increasing awareness of bias during onboarding training
- Valuing differences with PwC’s Lunch with a Stranger initiative
You can read more about D&I at PwC Singapore here.
Reimagine the possible
Digital innovation, our priority
Technological breakthroughs and digitisation is one of the key megatrends we have identified and integrated into our strategic planning. At PwC Singapore, digitising our workforce, our ways of working, and our services is one of the top priorities for the firm.
Our commitment to innovation and digitisation alone in Singapore is a multi-million dollar investment per annum. To meet our digitisation targets, we are focusing on four key pillars and four priority game changing technologies for innovation.
Transforming the business world
The world is constantly changing and the way we deliver value to our stakeholders and the wider community must evolve too. PwC has taken steps in staying sustainable by being future-ready. Here are some innovative leaps PwC has taken in FY 18:
- Digitising the Tax Function
- Accelerating Articificial Intelligence (AI) in the marketplace
- Recognising the region’s best sustainable businesses
- Supporting Singapore’s start-up and fintech community
Furthermore, PwC Singapore has relocated to Marina One where our internal innovation capacities are at the heart of our future-ready firm journey. Our digitally-enabled work space at Marina One is a significant investment for the future that enables us to continue embracing new ways of working. We are digitising and transforming the way we work by pushing boundaries and reimagining the possible through new tools and applications for our Partners and staff.
Charlotte Hsu
Eu-Lin Fang
