Corporate Social Responsibility

Social responsibility is an ongoing process which requires the attention and support of many organisations and individuals, to make a difference to people and places where the need is greatest.

Ever since the inception of our new democracy in 1994, South Africans have collectively become more aware of the need to embrace change and correct the imbalances within our society created from decades of social injustice. While the government is tasked with what it has to do in this area, we at Avis believe that we can't expect the authorities to reach or provide to all the areas where help is needed.  We realise that our country has hundreds of communities in dire need of upliftment and additional support. 

As an organisation, Avis has heard the call for help by many of our citizens and our Avis Cares Community Outreach program has taken on a host of projects to assist with support for communities in need of assistance. What makes the program so special is the immense support it receives from its Brand Ambassadors. Volunteers have signed up to give unselfishly of their own time, energy and resources toward the program.

The Avis ethos of conserving our heritage, wildlife and environment, was installed in the 1970’s, when our then MD, Glenn van Heerden committed Avis to the support and sponsorship of organisations dedicated to the conservation of wildlife. 

Over the past 4 decades, Avis has been a strong supporter of the WWF, Wilderness Leadership School, the Peace Parks Foundation, SA Wildlife College and contributed to many other related projects.

Since 2006, Avis management expanded its conservation approach to include other environmental matters, such as waste recycling and water conservation, which, following a program to introduce intensive water reduction and recycling processes into our facilities since 2008, has produced water recycling to over 85 million litres of water per annum. 

In 2008, Avis committed to reducing and off-setting their own business GHG emissions and in 2009, became South Africa’s first Carbon Neutral accredited company in accordance with UN protocol.
 

At Avis, we believe that we are only as good as our people and that it is our people that make the difference to the customer experience, as opposed to the cars, locations and systems etc.

While all these other aspects will help, it is ultimately the people that will either make the experience a great one, or a mediocre one. This is why we refer to our people as Brand Ambassadors, for it is they who have the power to enhance or destroy the value of our brand.

With this in mind comes the culture that to look after our customers, we need to look after our people. We start this process by ensuring we recruit the best talent for our service and customer centric business. Once we have the right people on board, it is all about training, developing, leading, rewarding, caring and listening that makes their time with Avis worthwhile.

Avis focuses on the development of each Brand Ambassador, with a view to improve the skills and abilities of its people for personal growth and service excellence. We grow our own leaders and it is not uncommon to hear of managers at Avis who had started their careers on the counter, call centres or in the vehicle preparation areas.

We remunerate ahead of the industry averages (using the SAVRALA Car Rental Salary Survey as one index) and include good employee benefits such as a strong provident fund topped up by the company, an Employee Wellbeing support program, medical aid assistance, full uniforms at company expense and a host of other initiatives.

The Avis Brand Ambassador program is a life changing experience for our staff. The connection and alignment that our people have with the brand and all it stands for, is very clear and strong within the first few months of employment.