Commitment to social impact extends beyond the boardroom
Advancing good in the world is important to Marsh McLennan (“Marsh”), the world’s leading insurance broker and risk advisor. At the highest level ESG (environmental, social and governance) considerations have been formally embedded in the decision-making process since 2008. But Marsh’s commitment to social impact extends beyond the boardroom and into New Zealand communities through their strong voluntary ethos.
Signe Bell, MMC Social Impact Leader, NZ, says that having a team with such diverse backgrounds means that there’s no one size fits all volunteering approach and instead the Marsh team participates in a broad spectrum of voluntary activities.
“My colleagues have full autonomy over what they want to do. Some are drawn to outdoor activities where they can get their hands dirty, others prefer to stay indoors and so have done things like making up science kits for schools or fighting food waste”.
Regardless of how they volunteer their time and spare hands, the Marsh team love the feeling of giving back. They are humbled to assist organisations whose primary objective is to help others. Having learnt more about the impact these organisations have, the Marsh team then have advocated for these causes more widely in their professional and personal networks.
One volunteering experience that had a profound effect on the Marsh volunteers was their time spent with food rescue charity Fair Food. Seeing how Fair Food fights food waste in Auckland motivated the team to begin advocating for pantry and food systems in their own households.
Signe wants to ensure that the momentum for volunteering continues within the company as they work towards an “ideal picture” of 100% participation annually. One avenue for growth could be the use of volunteering more widely by people managers as a team-building activity. Signe says “giving back can really bring people together in ways that other traditional team building activities cannot”.
Volunteering Auckland provide Marsh with a strong foundation for connecting them to a plethora of local organisations who need a helping hand. Signe notes that their longstanding relationship with Volunteering Auckland is due to the quality of their support provided.
“They remove barriers our colleagues may have had in finding volunteering opportunities with their website satisfying all kinds of preferences. They do all the heavy lifting behind the scenes to ensure we are able to continue working and achieve our business objectives, yet show up for our communities and charitable organisations when they need us. We have full confidence in their ability to deliver a genuinely inclusive volunteering programme.”
New Zealanders contribute about 159 million hours’ worth of formal volunteering every year, providing an estimated value of $4 billion. By supporting volunteering during working hours, companies like Marsh are ensuring that volunteering is more accessible to their employees and demonstrating their commitment to their communities. If you or your company would like more information on potential volunteering opportunities, contact Volunteering Auckland.
Written by Caitlin Craigie,VA Volunteer [Media Team], November 2022
