A company’s stakeholder engagement strategy identifies the needs of key groups and how the company meets those needs – benefitting all parties. Typically, these stakeholder groups include customers, suppliers and investors, as well as employees and communities.
Avnet's Director of ESG and Corporate Strategic Planning Stacy Mendez, who covers Avnet’s stakeholder engagement process in the company’s annual sustainability report, explains how different groups within the company work with investors, employees, and the communities where it operates.
Q: What is Avnet’s stakeholder engagement strategy?
A: We continually engage with a variety of internal and external stakeholders whose support is critical to the long-term success of our business or who are impacted by our business operations. Our stakeholders’ perspective and feedback help us to inform, prioritize and continuously improve our sustainability strategy. We seek to remain attentive to their feedback and create ongoing, meaningful two-way dialogue about the sustainability issues that matter most. These diverse perspectives are crucial to shaping a strategy that creates shared sustainable value for us and our key stakeholders.
Q: How does Avnet stay connected to its investors?
A: Avnet’s Investor Relations team stays connected to investors via many methods including financial reporting, presentations, filings and webcasts. Avnet also participates in investor calls, meetings, conferences and roadshows.
Q: How does Avnet engage with its employees?
A: We engage with our employees through a myriad of activities, including:
- Annual performance reviews and quarterly check-ins
- Various communication channels – intranet, newsletters, emails and HR tools
- Employee surveys
- Employee resource groups
- Listen and learn sessions
- Onboarding and training
- Town halls and team meetings
Q. What has Avnet done specifically to help employees be successful?
A: Avnet believes that the company can only be successful when its employees are successful, as such we have created an employee well-being program called Thrive: Resources for living well. This program combines all of Avnet’s global and regional programs, tools and initiatives into four core elements: mind & body, career, money and connection.
Q: What does Avnet do to engage the communities where employees live and work?
A: Avnet highlights our community engagement efforts in its annual sustainability report and our Avnet.com website. Through Avnet Cares, our company’s philanthropic and volunteer program, our employees go beyond achieving business and financial goals. They make a positive impact around the world.
Q. Tell us more about your philanthropy efforts.
A: Our vision for Avnet Cares is to inspire employees to make a difference in their community by using outreach to make a positive impact. Employees who work in the Americas are eligible for both a Dollars for Doers financial match from the company or a Connect for a Cause grant. Avnet’s Dollars for Doers program provides a financial contribution to a nonprofit based on the amount of time an employee volunteers: $10 for each hour of service, up to $2,000. The Connect for a Cause program matches dollars raised for a nonprofit via employee-led fundraising events, good drives, or teams participating in charity races.
Another way employees get involved in the community is through nonprofit board service. For example, I serve on the Board of the Friends of Public Radio Arizona. Others serve on local Boys and Girls Clubs boards, Armley Helping Hands in the U.K. and many others.
An additional philanthropy program we have in the Americas region is Community Grants. Through this program Avnet offers small grants to eligible nonprofit organizations in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Our focus areas include STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), Environment and Communities in Crisis. Nonprofits can submit a grant via our online grant application at any time. Grants are reviewed quarterly. For more information visit: https://www.avnet.com/wps/portal/us/about-avnet/corporate-social-responsibility/community-engagement/