Through this report, we are pleased to provide a window into how Aflac strives to meet those expectations every day. Promoting diversity in the workplace and opportunities for women in the U.
Employee stories introduce each chapter of the report: Governance, Workplace, Philanthropy, Environmental Sustainability and Aflac Japan.
This outline and content within are based on key CSR dimensions, as defined by Reputation Institute, considered the gold standard in reputation tracking.
The Aflac Corporate Social Responsibility Report marks the company's second year working toward adherence to the criteria of the Global Reporting Initiative GRI , the world's most widely used sustainability reporting framework.
The report is available online at www. About Aflac When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For more than six decades, Aflac insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. People lined up for hours at the American pavilion to see moon rocks Apollo 11 had shuttled home the previous year.
But it was the surgical-style masks the Japanese wore that really made an impression on Amos, an Alabama-born, heavy-smoking, attorney-by-training. That sounded promising. The company had done well, pioneering not only an innovative form of supplemental health insurance, but an innovative way of selling it.
They marketed to companies who, in turn, offered it to their employees. Most other companies simply sold policies with flotillas of salesmen knocking on doors. If your business thrived on a healthy fear of cancer, there were few better places to be than Japan in the s. It remains the number one cause of death in Japan. No one knows exactly why the rate of the disease—particularly stomach cancers—first exploded higher in the s.
Some think the rise was tied to Westernized diets during the post-war occupation period. Others suggest the delayed effects of the heavy military-industrial buildup of the s, which exposed workers to hazardous materials used in the shipbuilding, iron, steel and chemical industries. The rise of lung cancer was less mysterious. Smoking rates climbed to some of the highest in the industrialized world in postwar Japan, as a generation of fatherless street kids took up the habit.
While cancer rates began rising in the s, so did Japanese lifespans , as poverty-related causes of death such as tuberculosis, which long plagued the country, dropped with the arrival of broad-based prosperity. Fear, Silence and Death Amos knew cancer.
A heavy smoker, Amos himself would die from complications related to cancer in And Amos also knew a market when he saw one. There was also plenty of demand for insurance. In Japan, there have been practical reasons to avoid the topic. For one thing, openly talking about cancer might mean you could lose your job. People often worry that a cancer diagnosis can render family members unsuitable for marriage because of the risk of genetic defects.
That may be a distant echo of the atomic bombs that struck Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both survivors of the bombings— known as Hibakusha —and their offspring have long faced social discrimination in Japan.
Dakora
Social mobility The ability of individuals to move from one stratum of society to another is higher in less stratified societies. Following our lead in the United States—where the duck has a Twitter account and , Facebook fans, and YouTube is filled with parodies of Aflac commercials—Aflac Japan started marketing to the social media and created a website that allows people to rework the song the duck sings in Japanese commercials.
Nirn
If it went badly, I was just going to pull it. For instance, the company can increase its premium rates. Following our lead in the United States—where the duck has a Twitter account and , Facebook fans, and YouTube is filled with parodies of Aflac commercials—Aflac Japan started marketing to the social media and created a website that allows people to rework the song the duck sings in Japanese commercials. The Fukushima nuclear disaster also reactivated deep-seated worry about radiation exposure in Japan. Media contact — Darcy Brito, Finally, Aflac has a higher cost structure compared to that of competitors, but it has positively responded to this challenge to maintain its competitive advantage.
Vuzragore
Insurance frauds are mounting and they are likely to affect Aflac negatively. He did, however, halfheartedly agree to dub a U. This will further strengthen Aflac financially and improve its rewarding ability Time Inc. We had a dilemma: Should we go with a commercial so bold—or with the gentle Ray Romano commercial that performed much better than our traditional ads? Threats that Aflac faces are likely to affect its rewarding ability since they will have a negative effect on its performance.
Dajin
However, the company has been working to improve the inefficiencies and create a better environment for its employees. Aflac individual and group insurance products help provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. I considered it a bird in the hand. In , Aflac's contact centers were recognized by J. Once I had his buy-in, Aflac Japan helped make the appropriate cultural adjustments.
Taujinn
People often worry that a cancer diagnosis can render family members unsuitable for marriage because of the risk of genetic defects. They will affect its performance and its rewarding ability. So I stopped telling people. That sounded promising.
Kajimuro
The Protestant ethic for example, stresses individual hard work, frugality, and achievement as a means of glorifying God. If it went badly, I was just going to pull it. However, it has coupled these with non-traditional rewards that include insurance for its employees, coaching and mentoring, counselling services, as well as financial planning services. But dealing with people from different countries can be difficult.
Shakarisar
Nonverbal Communication Between 80 and 90 percent of all information is transmitted among members of a culture via nonverbal communication such as facial expressions and hand gestures. In the United States, the term is usually used to describe the nuclear family father, mother, and offspring , while in other societies the term refers to an extended family. Culture is distinguished from different characteristics and elements which are listed in chapter no. Once I had his buy-in, Aflac Japan helped make the appropriate cultural adjustments. This is a service that is usually sold as a product.
Kazralabar
This social commitment that the company offers as a service to its employees led to the development of an on-site child facility that is regarded as the largest in the United States Reed,
Faegrel
As it got established in Japan, Aflac inked deals with thousands of Japanese corporations establishing in-house subsidiaries of the company.
Kigashakar
I watched it myself, over and over, still not sure if this would work. The report also reflects Aflac's commitment to building and maintaining a solid corporate reputation, utilizing valuable information garnered through studies conducted by Reputation Institute and Aflac's annual CSR Survey of consumers and investors. And after Aflac started up in Japan in —the same year the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange—it was the first company to introduce cancer insurance in the country.