Abacus Property Group – Sustainablity Report 2018

32—33
Employee
engagement
and motivation
Why is this important?
Building a collaborative and engaging
environment that enables people to
excel and contribute is critical to the
delivery of our business strategy and
objectives. At Abacus, we empower
our employees to take initiative and
attract people who are motivated
by accountability and making a
difference. Our flat organisational
structure and open-door culture
supports this and allows us to
respond to change, adapt quickly and
rise to opportunities as they present.
Abacus recognises the benefits of
creating an inclusive environment
and encouraging employee and
board diversity. Inclusion and
Diversity at Abacus is about our
commitment to ensuring collective
perspectives are valued and
achieved with the objective of
enhancing informed judgement and
high-quality decision making.
Our approach to
managing
We have a continuous improvement
and feedback mindset in relation
to further promoting employee
engagement and motivation. A
subject matter expert on people
and culture was recently engaged to
identify and prioritise value building
opportunities and initiatives across
the Abacus employee life cycle. As
part of this, an employee engagement
survey was undertaken and initiatives
to further engage and motivate our
employees were shaped by our
feedback gained from this survey,
further discussed in 'Our Approach –
Engaging with our Stakeholders’.
Community Investment
at Abacus
At Abacus, investing in the
communities in which we operate
is a core component of our culture
and a key way in which we engage
our employees. Our current
philanthropic program includes
staff team volunteer days, dollar for
dollar matching on staff donation
drives, corporate sponsorships
with charitable organisations and
providing vacant space/casual
leasing at retail shopping centres
or office buildings to charitable
organisations at minimal or no
cost. In addition to our Group-level
philanthropic program, we also
support division-specific initiatives
aimed at building and fostering
strong local community relationships.
Key highlights include:
In-kind volunteering:
– In total 41 staff participated in
philanthropic activities and our
overall participation increased from
37% to 58% in the reporting period.
– 4 volunteer days were organised
including Good360, Royal Institute
for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC)
and Royal Society for Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).
– A team of 12 Abacus volunteers
provided hands on assistance and
support to the Good360 Australia
Christmas Campaign with packing
Christmas bags for boys, girls and
families in need.
– Building on last year’s activities
with the RIDBC, our team of
18 volunteers assisted teachers,
students and volunteers with the
Open Day and Harmony Day
celebrations at the RIDBC.
Donations and dollar-matching:
– Abacus matched dollar for dollar
on employee donations for
employee volunteering events
which were embraced by the wider
Abacus community and donated
to charitable organisations. A total
of $26,702 was raised through
donations by employees and
Abacus for events including the
Oxfam 100km Trail walker, MS
Sydney to Gong Ride, Wipeout
Dementia and Australia’s Biggest
Morning Tea and donations to
charitable organisations such
as RIDBC.
Specific initiatives:
– Our storage centres and retail
assets have a budget to engage
with their local community
including the sponsorship of local
sports teams, providing facility
space for charity events and
donating in kind to charities that
require assistance.
Abacus’ self-storage properties with
its manager, Storage King, actively
support the McGrath foundation
across its portfolio.