Annual report for the fiscal year from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012

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Environment
Using resources responsibly
A high level of efficiency is the hard
currency of a well-run company. This
holds true for our clients, as well as for
Ernst & Young. We consider it extremely
important to use resources responsibly
in all areas. We bear this in mind when
sending our employees to work on client
projects and with regard to everyday
resources that we use and consume in our
offices in Switzerland, such as power,
water and materials, IT hardware and
paper. Every business trip increases
global CO 2 emissions. We are aware of
this and are therefore acting on it.
We regularly assess our actions and scrutinize our decisions
to identify which aspects of our premises, our resources
and our business travel actually create added value for
clients and where we can save on unnecessary expenditure.
Making adjustments to optimize the company and
fit form to function benefits everyone – the environment,
clients as well as our own organization.
Pioneer with platform
At Ernst & Young, we rent rather than own our office space
in order to concentrate on what really matters. Our influence
on the environmental efficiency of our work spaces
therefore rests mainly on choosing modern and environmentally
friendly real estate. A visible indication of this is
when we moved our Zurich office into the building “platform”
next to Prime Tower in Zurich-West in June 2011:
a milestone on the path to increased environmental
sustainability.
The seven-storey office building is built on a triangular
plot, has floor space of 6,600 square meters and offers
capacity for over 1,000 employees – half of Ernst & Young
Switzerland’s total workforce. The new building has
allowed us to leave the three separate offices that we previously
occupied in the Zurich area. We are now united
under one roof at a central and easy-to-access location.
Modern working environment
The office of the future distinguishes itself mainly by being
versatile and open. In this respect, we offer an extremely
innovative working environment, as the internal layout of
platform, which features a transparent structure, pods of
desks for individual teams, conference rooms, mobile workstations
(desk sharing with few exceptions) and quiet
rooms for private conversations, is ideally suited to working
as part of a team and exchanging knowledge and ideas.
Management is part of this integrated working environment.
In this context, the new Ernst & Young “Workplace of the
Future” initiative (WotF) is proving to be a trendsetter. With
WotF, we hope to meet the requirements of our young
employees in particular as regards flexible working methods
and hours, for instance by giving people the opportunity
to work from home. We also aim to accommodate such needs
by providing an appropriate environment and technological
facilities. The initiative has an added bonus in that we are
also able to reduce the costs and environmental impact of
commuter traffic. WotF is an integrated project that addresses
the working environment, our ability to compete and environmental
protection all at once.
The location of platform in the middle of Zurich-West is
ideal, as the district is quickly developing into a business
center with a lively mix of well-known companies, start-ups,
restaurants and cultural highlights.
Rare plants have run of the roof
The building was designed by the Gigon/Guyer architecture
firm, which will also remodel the neighboring Hardbrücke
train station in a process scheduled for completion in 2015.
The construction of the Ernst & Young headquarters in
Switzerland has already taken many important environmental
concerns into consideration. A concrete plant
was established onsite, meaning that there was no need
to transport in some of the materials required for construction
by lorry; the gravel required to make concrete was
partly brought in by rail. The flat roof is home to an extensive
array of greenery, including plants that are on the “blue
list” of the “Grüne Stadt Zürich” (Green City of Zurich)
initiative. The blue list features plants and animals that have
Annual report 2012