Ten fundamental principles contained in the Global Compact define minimum ecological and social standards. These tenets comprise the primary demands of the international community represented in the United Nations relating to sustainable business management in the interests of all stakeholders.

Austrian Post as a partner to its stake holders

for customers: Good inter-personal relationships are the underlying reason for the success of Austrian Post’s customers Therefore Austrian Post provides nationwide postal services at a fair price-performance ratio.
for shareholders: Austrian Post has paid high dividends in recent years to its shareholders, including to its majority shareholder ÖIAG (and thus the Republic of Austria).
for employees: The Austrian Post Group has responsibility for about 23,000 employees in Austria and another 4,000 employees internationally. The company attaches great importance to maintaining its position as a popular employee, whose focus is on actively promoting the professional development of its staff.
for business partners: Austrian Post has always served as a fair, reliable and predictable business partner for its suppliers and business partners
for the environment: Austrian Post demonstrates its commitment to environmental protection on the basis of the ongoing modernisation of its infrastructure, numerous waste prevention initiatives and programmes to reduce the consumption of natural resources.
for communities: Nationwide outreach and an open dialogue are the hallmarks of the relationship between Austrian Post and Austrian communities. Nationwide postal services are also ensured in rural areas through postal partner offices and rural delivery staff.
in the regulatory environment: Most of Austrian Post’s operations are carried out within the framework of a regulated business environment with clearly-defined quality and service standards. The prerequisite for a successful liberalisation are fair conditions applying to all postal service providers.
for society: Austrian Post is one of the country’s largest employers, and its nationwide branch network provides access to top quality postal services for all Austrians.

CSR priorities

In the light of Austrian Post’s far-reaching responsibility to its stakeholders, the company has defined four pillars of its sustainability policies:

Economy: Only a company that grows and expands can seriously assume its responsibilities on a long-term basis and make an appropriate contribution to fulfilling social needs. Accordingly, the top priority for Austrian Post’s management is to ensure profitability on a sustainable basis. In this spirit, ongoing optimisation measures are designed to maintain the competitiveness of Austrian Post. Similarly, an international expansion strategy is being implemented in order to ensure the achievement of the targeted long-term corporate success.
Society: As Austria’s universal postal services provider, Austrian Post is committed to fulfilling its corporate social responsibility. The company makes an important contribution towards maintaining and safeguarding the communications infrastructure of the country based on its provision of reliable, top quality nationwide postal services on behalf of the Austrian population. The company responds to the challenges posed by increasing competition through ongoing change and profitability improvement.
Employees: Austrian Post is a major employer, with a work-force of about 27,000 employees. Motivated and highly productive employees are the cornerstone of the tried and tested logistics concept, which ensures daily postal deliveries to customers. An indispensable prerequisite is ensuring a healthy, safe and secure working environment. The number of employees must be continually adjusted to current requirements within the context of optimisation measures and process improvements. These personnel cuts are carried out by paying strict attention to social aspects and by taking advantage of the process of natural attrition.
Environment: The efficient and prudent use of natural resources is also an important priority for Austrian Post, as demonstrated by its efforts to reduce resource consumption, or its active participation in projects such as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Programme of PostEurop, focusing on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainability Report, September 2007