By Summer Richie
Do the right thing. It’s one of Elbit America’s core values and serves as a compass for how the company and its workforce operate in all circumstances. Now, the company has expanded on this value by establishing an official Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Committee - a trend that’s gained popularity among large companies across the United States and abroad - to formalize and take direction on Elbit America’s ESG practices across the business.
So, what is ESG? Environmental, Social and Governance criteria are a lens in which companies view the way they do business. The Elbit America ESG program’s core tenets – compassion, transparency, integrity, and responsibility - are ideas the company already embraces. The environmental aspect implores the company to consider the impact of business operations on the environment and to make decisions with the future of the planet in mind. Social aspects focus on elements such as employee appreciation, diversity and inclusion and how to interact with communities near Elbit America facilities. Finally, Governance looks at the integral glue of a company – its reporting structure, policies and procedures and decision making. These effective programs boost community interaction and partnerships, while aligning internal practices to ensure work is compliant and company decisions are the most-effective.
Creators of the burgeoning program believe this new effort will promote and uphold the company’s core values, which already incorporates much of what typical ESG programs embody.
“We have a 'do the right thing' mentality,” said Elbit America Senior Director of Ethics and Compliance, Ben Gaffield. “Our ESG efforts to date have only served to further highlight the employee experience we're collectively most excited about: Protecting and saving lives."
Elbit America is a six-time honoree of the Ethisphere Ethics Inside Certification and a four-time winner of the World’s Most Ethical distinction. As such, Elbit America’s leadership recognizes the need to formalize many company actions into an official ESG program, so they can be tracked and improved upon.
Founded this year, the ESG Committee is working with a consultant to gather data and understand the full scope of business efforts within our company. The committee will take details and use them to provide various actions to be taken that can be tagged as ESG. By the end of the year, the company will release its inaugural ESG report. From there, the ESG Committee will continue to prioritize and integrate ESG policies and principals into the fabric of Elbit America’s business.
“The ESG program and the information we are collecting really give us a framework to look at the way we do business and see, in real-time, our values at work,” said Elbit America Organizational Integrity Manager, Bri Gunter. “This year’s assessment exercise and subsequent report will show how we strive to do the right thing and contribute to the communities around us and our people. We really do have some inspiring success stories to share, and should be proud of the work we do."
Creating an ESG baseline will uphold company culture and values, such as making a difference, doing the right thing and embracing One Elbit Family. Business Operations Analyst Allyson DeCloux said a strong company culture plays a large role in productivity and experience as an employee, so an ESG program is a natural progression.
“When a company has a good culture, it gives employees more meaning when they come to work,” DeCloux said. “Employees tend to want themselves to succeed, but also want to see the company and the people around them to succeed.”
Company culture and ESG are intrinsically linked. With the strong culture Elbit America already has in play, ESG developments are sure to create value for the company. Elbit America Vice President of Strategy and Growth Scott Baum said company culture is meaningful in day-to-day operations, but it also informs all aspects of the company – even an ESG program.
Baum said, “Culture is critical. It enables the right thing to happen without direction or asking. In ESG, in engineering, or in any other department, it all goes back to culture.”
Stay up-to-date with the company’s ESG efforts and other ethics information by visiting https://elbitamerica.com/ethics or by emailing ESG@elbitamerica.com.