Europe

Aviva Italy contributed to “one Aviva, twice the value” in several important ways this year. As well as regular employee communication on objectives and vision, the company developed a new model for assessing performance and carried out a leadership training programme, completed by 75 managers to date.

At Commercial Union Aviva in Poland, we engaged 90 employees in conversations about career hopes and ambitions, with the remainder of the workforce to take part in 2009. Talking Talent and programmes like it are part of our commitment to create great places to work. So we were pleased to note that in the global employee survey there was a 13% rise in the number of Polish employees who said they believed the company is “a very good employer” (69%).

For Aviva Hungary meanwhile there was independent recognition of HR policies when we were awarded Best Employer among Hungarian financial institutions, banks and insurance companies in a survey conducted by Hewett Associates.

In Turkey, Aviva Sigorta’s work on promoting values led to an overall employee satisfaction rating of 90%. Also in Turkey, AvivaSA, the life and pensions business, launched online training to educate employees about corporate responsibility. The training is the first of its kind in Turkey. It promotes a culture of CR and provides information about AvivaSA’s social and environmental projects. All new entrants are required to undertake the programme.

Aviva France strengthened its provisions on professional equality between men and women by introducing new mechanisms to quantify and reduce salary gaps, enable compatibility between working hours and family life and provide access to vocational training that takes account of parenthood.

The Delta Lloyd Group Foundation was set up in 2007 in the Netherlands and began operating in 2008 with an initial budget of €2 million. A key part of the investment is directed towards supporting initiatives aimed at preventing or resolving financial problems.

Since its inauguration in 1999, the Aviva Foundation in France has supported 250 projects and 150 charities, through contributions of approximately €2 million. The Foundation targets projects that provide support for children or the elderly in vulnerable social situations (whether related to health, education, social distress or isolation). It aims to alleviate these life traumas both in France and in developing countries.

Contributing to society was the aim too of Aviva Vida y Pensiones in Spain when it linked pension plan sales to charitable donations. The company donated €1 for every €3,000 earned by brokers, to support education and nutrition projects in Tanzania.

In a repeat of a successful partnership from 2007, Aviva Romania again teamed up with Habitat for Humanity, an international NGO helping disadvantaged communities. At a project in Constanta county in Romania, Aviva employees from across Europe volunteered to lend a hand building a house. Each house costs a modest €25,000 and can be built in five days by 25 people.

Also in Romania, when we launched Aviva Scholarship, our accessible, secure and flexible plan, we also held a prize draw to highlight the need for families to start saving early for their children’s education. A seven-year-old, Andreea-Nicoleta Ungureanu, won the prize. Aviva will contribute 3,000 RON (over £600) a year for 10 years to Andreea’s fund.

In Ireland, Hibernian Aviva recorded a 64% reduction in CO₂ emissions, achieved through energy efficiency and other measures. The company also entered a two-year contract to purchase green energy in 30 sites nationwide – the equivalent of supplying 1,900 homes.

Aviva Hungary made a breakthrough too when it cut CO₂ emissions by 18%. However, for a variety of reasons such notable successes were not replicated everywhere. CO₂ emissions were up in Italy and Russia due to business growth while the general picture across our Europe region is one of incremental improvement.

Aviva Lithuania takes a leading role in the National Network of Socially Responsible Business and won top spot in the country’s first corporate responsibility awards. The judges particularly welcomed Aviva’s support with tree replanting in a national park devastated by fire. The company also worked hard to engage people in Aviva For a Green Lithuania this year. More than 300 employees, financial consultants, relatives and customers collected around eight tonnes of rubbish during a city clean-up operation.

AvivaSA in Turkey signed up to Caring for Climate, a voluntary and complementary programme of the UN Global Compact. And leadership on climate change was also reflected in product developments by Aviva businesses.

Aviva France and Aviva Sigorta in Turkey launched Pay As You Drive™ car insurance and Aviva Sigorta was the first insurance company in Turkey to do so. This product, which benefits lower mileage drivers and also the environment, helped Aviva Sigorta win the Innovative Insurer Award from Active Academy/Activeline.

Also in France, there were four new ‘green’ car insurance offers, and insurance cover was launched for domestic heating systems and equipment using renewable energy or alternative technologies.

Customers of Commercial Union Aviva in Poland had the opportunity to invest this year in the alternative energy sector with the CU Guarantee New Energy product.