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Communities
and environment
At The Warehouse, we recognise that choices we make today affect the future
environment. We need to play our part in ensuring that growth today does not
compromise opportunities for future generations. To be a sustainable business,
we need to extend our conscience beyond immediate commercial imperatives.
We believe that this is good for business and for the long-term interests of our
shareholders and other stakeholders.
8,013 84.2% $2.4m
Team Members Retention Rates Charity Fund-raising
2010 7,805 2010 84.8% 2010 $2.3m
2009 7,632 2009 78.8% 2009 $1.8m
19,818 6.9m 155
The Canterbury
earthquakes
The earthquake of 22 February 2011 unleashed
immeasurable suffering onto the people of Christchurch
with the city centre’s buildings crumbling, many homes
destroyed and, tragically, many lives were taken.
The 6.3 magnitude quake struck near Lyttelton, causing
mass destruction. The region, its people, their homes
and many businesses suffered huge losses – many having
not recovered from the impact of the previous quake
of September 2010.
The Warehouse Group extends its heartfelt sympathy to all
the people of Canterbury who suffered loss – the emotional
and financial tolls are quite simply enormous. We extend
our thoughts to everyone here in New Zealand and for those
overseas who lost loved ones. To our teams on the ground,
we thank you and your families for working through this
devastating time. We know many of you suffered significant
personal loss.
We are grateful that all of our Team Members and
customers were evacuated safely from our stores whilst
only one customer received minor injuries from falling stock.
The ongoing aftershocks and the quake on 13 June 2011
continued to test the region and its people.
We stood by our Team Members, customers and the
community then – and we will continue to stand by you.
Our team
The Warehouse Group’s 13 The Warehouse stores, South
Island Distribution Centre and seven Warehouse Stationery
stores were closed immediately following the September
2010 and February 2011 earthquakes in order for structural
engineers to assess the impact and ensure each location
was structurally sound before the decision was made to
recommence trading on a store-by-store basis.
There are over 900 Team Members employed by
The Warehouse Group in the region. We know the
ramifications on our people were huge – many suffered
structural damage to their homes and had no sewerage
and water – let alone the emotional toll. We supported our
Team Members on a case-by-case basis as we all worked
through this traumatic experience. Services were provided
to lessen the impact and reduce the financial and emotional
burden. Where stores were closed temporarily, employment
was provided at other locations.
Community support
Supporting our community is simply a part of The Warehouse‘s
DNA – it’s what we do day-in and day-out throughout
New Zealand. The economic ramifications of the February
quake and the rebuild alone will stretch the resources of
our nation. By pulling together, we know that we make it just
a little bit easier for the residents and businesses of the
region to start out again – and of course it’s important for
us to provide ongoing support to our own people.
Following the September 2010 quake, we donated $500,000
to the NZ Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal to help
the devastated community. We had coin donation boxes and
point-of-sale donations in-store, donations could be made via
our website and our teams nationwide initiated a number of
their own fund-raising efforts. All donations collected were
paid to the NZ Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal
for distribution. We also provided much-needed emergency
supplies to Civil Defence, EQC and other independent groups.
The Warehouse Charitable Trust has been established with
an initial pledge of $500,000 from The Tindall Foundation
to assist Team Members and selected community groups
who require support in the medium to long term as a
result of natural disasters that have directly affected
them. The immediate priority of the Trust will be to support
Team Members and community groups who reside in the
Christchurch area and who require assistance as a result
of the 2010/11 Canterbury earthquakes.
Waste (m 3 ) Plastic Bags Issued Electricity (Store kWh/sqm/pa)
2010 18,427 2010 7.2m 2010 154
2009 22,972 2009 27.0m 2009 148
For further information on our activities and progress, go to
www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/content/homepage/communities-and-environment/reports
to download our Community and Environment Report.
COMMUNITIES AND ENVIRONMENT 20
CANTERBURY 21