Our goal is to ensure we can provide our people with meaningful careers, flexibility in the workplace and relevant development options. We must also recognise diversity in our community and provide opportunities to reflect that in our workforce.

We have made good progress over the past year to assist our people continue to effectively manage relationships with our nine million customers while navigating economic uncertainty and a series of major change programs across our businesses.

A flexible workforce

With around 16,000 employees located across Australia and New Zealand, our Group recognises people have different career aspirations and personal circumstances. Promoting opportunities for a flexible workplace can help us retain talent, maintain competitiveness as an employer of choice and meet the needs of our people. It also helps us achieve cost benefits and reduce our impact on the environment.

In areas of our business where many people work part-time, job share, work from home or are out of the office frequently, we have implemented flexible work environments. This means that we maintain fewer desks than we have people, reducing real estate costs and minimising our environmental impact.

Suncorp Group has around 900 people currently operating in a flexible work environment which is estimated to save more than $1.8 million each year.

Diversity

Suncorp Group has formed a diversity council that is chaired by our Group CEO Patrick Snowball. We have established our diversity strategy with an initial focus on gender equality which also meets new guidelines issued by the Australian Securities Exchange.

Since the diversity council has formed we have been able to implement some practical ways to promote gender equality in the workplace and monitor our progress accordingly.

We completed a gender pay analysis that pleasingly proved minimal discrepancy between men and women performing similar roles. Our new pay band system made any required adjustments simple and transparent.

We have put in place reporting structures so we can accurately monitor gender ratios at each level of work and have adjusted our executive recruitment process to ensure at least one male and one female candidate are put forward by recruiters. Already we have experienced an increase in women in leadership roles and have been granted an EOWA4 Employer of Choice for Women citation.

Developing our leaders

Last year, we introduced a Group-wide approach to leadership, designed to enable future growth and success across our business. We now have fewer levels of hierarchy, supported by clearer definitions of responsibility.

Our leaders are aligned to one of three profiles: strategic leaders, business leaders and front line leaders. They are offered a series of development opportunities including workshops, business simulations, projects and e-learning. These are designed specifically to build on the capabilities required of each profile.

To understand how our employees feel about the capability of leaders at Suncorp Group we measure responses to leadership questions as part of our employee census. In our benchmark year, 70 percent of respondents were favourable toward leader capability. We are targeting 72 percent for 2012.

At Suncorp, we know we have the ability to promote environmental awareness and provide opportunities for our people and the broader community to reduce their own environmental impacts.

Over the past year we have invested in our ability to accurately report our emissions to meet current and emerging regulatory requirements and satisfy the expectations of our stakeholders. Improving the energy efficiency of the buildings we occupy and reporting our progress is one way we are addressing climate change risk.

Key environmental factors we are focusing on include:

• minimising our carbon emissions
• improving energy and water efficiency within our buildings
• decreasing waste to landfill.

Energy efficiency

We have continued to improve how we monitor and record energy use across Suncorp Group. This has involved the development of robust systems to ensure accurate data capture of the electricity we use across more than 350,000 square metres of office and other space we occupy.

At Suncorp Group, we have undertaken a number of energy efficiency projects and continue to set minimum standards for energy efficiency within our operations. The major projects completed this year have included:

• Installation of sub meters in our main offices, responding to the opportunity for considerable savings to after hours energy costs
• The retrofitting of Suncorp Group's commercial offices, where possible, with energy efficient light bulbs and sensor lighting.

We have begun to see a reduction in our electricity consumption and as we continue to implement energy efficiency projects across the property portfolio we expect to see further reductions.

Fuel review

Decreasing the emissions generated by company vehicles is one way we can reduce our impact on the environment.

Suncorp Group has recently completed a vehicle review and implemented a new policy that encourages lower emitting vehicles. As lease agreements come up for renewal, vehicles that do not meet this criterion will be traded.

We estimate that we can save over nine percent of our current carbon emissions generated by vehicles and between 12 and 17 percent in operating costs over four years.

Reducing our footprint

The consolidation of our office space to reduce our environmental impact and optimise business synergies through co-location of our people is a priority for Suncorp Group.

We utilise the relocation of our people as an opportunity to highlight the most energy efficient and waste conscious ways they can use their new space. This includes information about lighting, printing and waste disposal.

As we progress, we aim to re-use existing fixtures and fittings where possible to minimise waste and reduce costs. Where we are unable to re-use, we aim to recycle. This applies particularly to items such as mobile phones, headsets, print cartridges and computer equipment.