EMEA CR Awareness Event: Drumming Up EMEA’s Corporate Responsibility Initiatives

As an organization, Symantec’s Corporate Responsibility initiatives have captured attention for our commitment and impressive work in our global communities and it is rewarding to be part of an organization that prides itself in its commitment beyond business objectives. While our work on the global stage is a massive achievement, we also do really wonderful work here in the EMEA region – and that is what we want to bring attention to today.

On October 23rd the Old Basing Royal British Legion Corps of Drums, an iconic marching band, drummed through the Symantec buildings for the opening of the EMEA CR Awareness event. It was a celebratory event where we brought together our Corporate Responsibility partners and our employees to engage them on new and existing CR initiatives in the EMEA region and inform them on how to get involved. Symantec employees in EMEA have participated in many initiatives for several years. Just earlier this month on October 3rd, Symantec contributed to Action for Children’s Byte Night where participants slept outside for a night to raise awareness and funds to tackle youth homelessness. Byte Night is Action for Children’s biggest annual fundraiser with over 400 companies participating across the UK. Symantec joined Byte Night Thames Valley and Byte Night London this year and raised £5,409.27 and counting. This is the sixth year that Symantec employees have partaken in this event, and it is just one of many noteworthy causes Symantec supports. The CR Awareness event wants to shed light on causes such as this and the many other avenues employees can engage with within Symantec. There are many outlets to get involved with: charities and employee committee steering groups, and even programs such as Dollars for Doers for individuals to support personal efforts.  It is about bringing it all together and creating community around our four key focus areas of stakeholder engagement, the environment, community, and diversity inclusion.

As Symantec continuously integrates corporate responsibility into our daily business operations, driving awareness and encouraging participation in our CR initiatives is one more step forward. Symantec has taken Corporate Responsibility seriously and CR has many layers for Symantec:

What We Do as a Business:

Corporate Responsibility comes with what we do as a business at Symantec. We create software that enables individuals and businesses to feel secure with their information in an increasingly connected world. As the world’s information security leader, we’re proud to provide technology that protects our customers’ information and networks. However, we also see it as a business imperative to consider the broader landscape and think beyond the day-to-day.  We need to consider our people, the environment, and how we conduct business. What we do as a business is but one aspect of our commitment to CR and our long-term goals.

Benefits to Our Communities:

When we contribute to our community, whether it’s an hour of time to educate local students about online safety or becoming a member in one of our internal steering committees like SWAN or the Green Team, we are creating impact. The actions that we take as volunteers, donors, and committee members provide a huge benefit to the individuals and community we interact with.

Galvanizing Our Team:

Our purpose is to be a force for good in the online world. To drive our mission we want to galvanize our teams beyond the day-to-day. When we do work with charities, that action provides a huge benefit to the participant just as much as to the group he or she is serving. But it is also about creating community within Symantec. Engaging our teams with CR is about creating a culture of purpose.

When individuals from varying departments come together for a common goal, it invigorates the company by creating a sense of community around a diverse workforce. It helps to cross functional barriers and induce interaction between members that might not interact with one another on a daily basis.

EMEA Symantec has a great story to tell. With the EMEA CR Awareness event we’ve reinforced and catalyzed our CR ambitions and look forward to building team morale and achieving further participation from our employees. As an organization, we have a purpose – to be a force for good in our day-to-day business and to provide a safe and secure way to navigate the online digital life – and there’s plenty of opportunity to put our skills to work and give back to our community in EMEA.

Simon Moor is Symantec's Vice President UK & Ireland 

Charities: