A Good Leg Up

Knobbly knees were on show throughout Westpac offices around the country last Friday as the big five bank’s staff showed their annual support for BoardiesDay – a fundraising event of Surf Life Saving Australia.

Westpac actively encourages staff to participate in the community with 85% of the bank’s 27,000 employees taking up the offer of a paid day to work in the community each year.

The bank, while already an ardent supporter of the virtues of sustainability, has taken a more acute marketing stance in recent times by positioning itself as a bank with one eye on the future – ‘our future is your future’, as the slogan goes.

The bank, you may argue, is better aligning itself with the shifting sentiment of Australian consumers towards issues of sustainability and the environment.

Westpac states that as a larger organisation it has a greater commitment to customers, communities and the environment.

This mission statement has a positive dual benefit at this point in time with the tide turning – pardon the pun – on the one hand it distinguishes the bank from its competitors and on the other it does so in a way that more people can relate to.

Surf Life Saving Australia is a neat fit for this, with the bank rolling out its 1960’s Eagle Generation W bus and setting up a temporary beach in Sydney CBD’s Martin Place last week, while staff in other cities donned their board shorts and t-shirts all in the name of charity – not to mention comfort.

Westpac has supported the volunteers of Surf Life Saving Australia for the past 30 years.

An initial count of the notes collected reveled the event raised $3,500 but this is likely to top $10,000 once the many buckets of coins collected are also counted.

2007 is the year of the surf lifesaver and marks 100 years since the first Surf Life Saving Australia volunteer patrol began watching over the country’s the beaches.

Westpac supports to varying degrees a number of grassroots level causes and issues.

These include homelessness, juvenile diabetes, indigenous issues, rescue services, financial literacy and the environment.