Social Impact

Social Impact

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Impact_Report_2023_Social
Impact Report 2023

Social Impact

Better decisions for a better world. Explore Aon's environmental, social, and governance impact.

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Introduction

Our colleagues are at the core of everything we do and our commitment to them is essential to how operate as a firm. Colleague inclusion and wellbeing is an integral part of Aon’s culture and values and contribute to our colleagues’ sense of belonging. We live these values through continuous connection and a robust feedback process with our colleagues, empowering their decision making and professional growth and highlighting their inherent value within our firm and the communities in which we live and work. 

Our commitment to building a culture that fosters wellbeing, learning and development and community outreach is central to our workplace programs and initiatives. These same values are fundamental to how we serve our clients, our business practices and our philanthropic activities.

Jump to Section

  1. Talent

  2. Inclusion

  3. Wellbeing

  4. Learning and Development

  5. Advancing Career and Social Mobility

  6. Professional Growth Opportunities

  7. Philanthropy and Community Impact

Talent

We continue to invest in our colleagues and work to help them achieve their full potential by addressing the various dimensions of their “whole selves,” including their personal wellbeing and professional careers. We inspire each other to bring our best, authentic selves to work each day and continue to perform and perfect our service to clients.

We focus on strategic hiring by attracting talent who strengthen and complement our existing teams and prioritized areas of client demand. This approach allows us to deliver more integrated and impactful solutions to our clients’ biggest challenges and supplement our capabilities with the leverage and insights of Aon Business Services.

We continue to embrace a culture of feedback, allowing our firm to be more agile in addressing the needs of our colleagues. In 2023, we received 90,000 responses to eight engagement pulse surveys and our annual engagement survey of our 50,000 colleagues. Additionally, our culture of inclusion and two-way feedback includes executive and regional town halls, our employee-driven business resource groups and our series of listening, strategy and activation sessions. 

As of December 31, 2023, colleague engagement remained at 80 percent. These results confirm that our Smart Working strategy – which enables colleagues to deliver their best work for clients from wherever they are best placed to do so – is not only an enabler of environmental progress, but also helps foster a more inclusive workplace culture as well as contribute to our colleagues’ wellbeing, productivity, belonging and engagement. 

Our people managers continue to be a key strength for our colleagues and are one of the main drivers of colleague engagement. In 2023, 89 percent of survey respondents indicated their manager cared about them (up 1 percentage point from 2022), 84 percent of colleagues felt supported by their manager in making decisions about their wellbeing (up 1 percentage point from 2022) while 83 percent said that their managers supported their career development (also up 1 percentage point from the previous year). 

Inclusion

Inclusive teams produce better insight and solutions, deliver the best outcomes for clients and are vital to ensuring our long-term success. We are dedicated to ensuring our workforce is representative of the communities in which we live and work. 

We celebrate the strides we are making toward becoming a more inclusive team and we are committed to continuous growth and evolution toward greater inclusion and wellbeing. To reinforce inclusion as a core value, we equip colleagues to live out this commitment in their daily work. Our Inclusive People Leadership strategy is grounded in colleagues leading the charge, embracing our Aon United values and modeling behaviors that reflect those values.

Diversity chart

Our Global Inclusive Leadership Council (GILC) is focused on four key inclusion pillars to drive meaningful progress: Recruitment, Promotion, Education and Representation. The GILC is responsible for engaging regional Inclusion Councils to ensure global practices are executed across the firm to create an inclusive workplace. The Council’s work includes: 

  • Expansion of Elevation Experience for women and diverse senior leaders
  • Enhancements to our performance management process
  • A new inclusive and consistent global process for senior in-role promotions
  • Introduction of behavioral/skills-based interviewing to foster more inclusive hiring decisions
  • Further engaging colleagues to include personal commitments to continuous inclusion learning

Inclusive training initiatives and programs enable our colleagues to develop their awareness of and contributions to fostering an inclusive firm. In 2023, Aon colleagues completed over 39,000 hours of inclusion training, including our Activating Your Allyship course, which teaches colleagues how to support each other and drive Aon’s overall inclusion goals. Managers, meanwhile, participate in inclusive leadership programs to help them learn and develop their inclusive leadership, hiring and recruiting skills. 

By taking part in voluntary business resource groups led by colleagues, our colleagues have a forum to discuss shared experiences. Examples of current chapters include the Aon Pride Alliance, Women's International Network, Aon Veterans United, Multicultural Group, Black Professional Network, Mental Health, Empowering Abilities, Asian Pacific Islanders, Latino Professional Network and Women in Technology. In 2023, 112 business resource group chapters spanning 20 countries included several global chapters. Based on a 2022 Pulse Survey, 59 percent of colleagues belong to one or more business resources groups. 

Wellbeing

Aon continues to focus on enhancing its approach to colleague wellbeing, including strengthening our understanding of what it means for our colleagues and our firm, building frameworks that include mental health, individual, team and organizational resilience, and establishing an organizational wellbeing maturity curve, which identifies five levels of wellbeing maturity from foundational to leading. 

Using global and broadly understood terms and data measures, we have established clear foundations from which to drive change. This enables our firm to target our programming more precisely and pursue innovative partnerships and solutions as well as deliver best practices internally and externally to clients. We have also set a regular reporting cycle to measure our progress and drive success. 

Once again in 2023, our colleagues were provided two days off as “wellbeing days,” in addition to many opportunities to attend global wellbeing sessions, find resources and other materials on our new wellbeing site and benefit from new global wellbeing platforms and partnerships, including Burnalong, an inclusive wellbeing platform for all colleagues, and our new global Employee Assistance Program, which offers wellbeing benefits for all colleagues.

Our focus on wellbeing extends to our client work and supporting our clients and their employees to build a healthier, happier and more productive workforce. Aon’s Human Capital team has developed a diagnostic tool for clients that produces a Human Sustainability Index (HSI), which combines individual and team assessments with peer data and analytics-based benchmarking to enable our clients to directly connect people strategy goals to execution.

The HSI provides measures for eight wellness categories – such as physical, emotional, and financial – so that individuals and teams can identify gaps in their health, wealth, rewards and other wellness programs. It also it provides a trackable plan to strengthen the company's talent strategy on their most significant, often external, commitments at a time when these commitments are more important than ever.

Learning and Development

Across our firm, we create a culture of opportunity for our colleagues that is driven by collaboration and innovation. To help colleagues reach their full professional potential, we work to provide targeted, meaningful learning and development opportunities designed to advance our colleagues’ development. 

In 2023, our colleagues participated in over 126,000 hours of virtual and in-person facilitated learning and online courses. This included more than 19,000 hours of leadership development learning following the return of our Pinnacle and Catalyst trainings in addition to external leadership programs.

Virtual learning remains key to our learning and development programs, with 293 sessions held in 2023. In-person sessions were reinstated as COVID-19 protocols were relaxed around the world with 131 sessions delivered leading to 45,000 total hours of training.

Impact Story - Health Innovation

At Aon, our health care insights and expertise enables our firm to develop innovative solutions that not only help improve workforce health for our clients but also allow them to deliver their strategies and manage costs.

Medical advancements are constantly being made and organizations offering health plans to their employees need to understand whether the new treatments or drugs support their workforce’s needs. 

One new way that Aon is helping clients address their employees’ health needs is developing innovative solutions that assess the financial impact and demand around health insurance coverage for gene and cell therapy. As these potentially lifesaving therapies become available, our clients are assessing the efficiency, cost and availability of these treatments, especially when they only apply to a small handful of patients, are costly and have uncertain outcomes.

By bringing together leading health analytics and Risk Capital capabilities, backed by Aon Business Services, we can help clients decide if they should offer to cover these treatments, based on their effectiveness, quantify their financial risk based on their employee population and place reinsurance coverage to provide financial support.

Aon also helps clients address broader health challenges, including diabetes and obesity, with targeted solutions that address overall employee health and drive better business results.

Advancing Career and Social Mobility

Aon strives to create a more equitable future through diverse hiring, talent development and other initiatives. Through targeted programs, we seek to provide more paths for the next generation of leaders to grow and succeed and help businesses and communities thrive.

Apprenticeships and Early Careers

Our apprenticeship program helps our firm build a talent pipeline of highly skilled and diverse professionals with advanced education and work experience. By removing some of the traditional barriers to entry-level employment, we help develop local workforces, cultivates talent and improves retention rates in entry-level roles.

In 2020, Aon made a commitment to invest $30 million by 2030 to expand our U.S. apprenticeship program. This work continues, with seven U.S. cities now represented in our apprentice networks.

“Aon’s apprenticeship program brings so many talented colleagues to our firm and is an important platform to help young people build thriving careers and create new opportunities and professional networks,” said Lisa Stevens, chief people officer for Aon. “Expanding our network has also allowed us to build a more resilient workforce, embed inclusion and diversity into our firm’s culture and drive better outcomes for companies and communities.”

Aon’s two-year Apprenticeship Program serves as an alternative route into a permanent role for motivated, high-potential individuals. The program bridges the gap between education and employment with on-the-job and classroom training, professional skills development, mentorship and experiential learning. Apprentices also take part in small-group networking in person at the local level and virtually at a national level.

The program offers a competitive salary and full employee benefits, paid tuition at partner schools in the U.S., government-sponsored Apprenticeship Pathway programs in the UK, leadership exposure and a full-time permanent position.

In the U.S., apprentices typically enter their first corporate position through the program while pursuing associate's degrees at a local community college. In the UK, apprentices are high school graduates who join a government-approved apprenticeship program as an alternative to university. In the U.S. and the UK, the programs are certified by the Department of Labor and the Department of Education, respectively.

In total, we have hired over 700 apprentices since the inception of our programs.

$30M

Aon made a commitment to invest $30 million by 2030 to expand our U.S apprenticeship program

Professional Growth Opportunities 

Every year, Aon asks teams of early-career colleagues from both our Launch (college graduates) and Apprenticeship programs to take part in the Launch Aon United Challenge to build their internal networks, increase their Aon IQ and help us shape our business for the future. 

In October 2023, more than 700 colleagues were split into 90 teams to take part in the Launch Aon United Impact Challenge, a virtual challenge that focused on developing recommendations and solutions focused on bringing our Colleague Experience to life. 

By December 2023, 29 teams had advanced to the next stage of the Challenge and those teams were then given the opportunity to deliver their ideas in a 10-minute presentation and a discussion with project leaders and senior sponsors. Congratulating the five winning regional teams, executive sponsor and Aon Deputy Chief People Officer, Anthony Scattone said: “It’s great to see so many global graduates participating in our Aon Impact projects this year and hearing their fresh perspectives and diversity of thought on this important topic.” 

  • Mentorship and Educational Partnerships
    Aon continues to share industry expertise and build relationships with the next generation of leaders by engaging with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Aon has taken a robust approach to working with partner universities by focusing on four key areas: university support, scholarships, curriculum development and veterans. 

    In 2023, we were recognized by two of our partner schools for this work:

    • Brooklyn College presented Aon with the “Best of Brooklyn” award for our work with the Kopelman Business School on student support and curriculum development.  For three years, Aon has worked with the school on investments to support students through scholarships, recruiting and curriculum development. In 2023, 15 students received scholarships from Aon after successfully completing coursework in the field of risk management developed through our partnership.
    • Morgan State University’s school of business presented Aon with the “Earl G Graves Legacy Award.” This award is given to outstanding leaders whose significant contributions to higher education have had a substantial, lasting impact on the academic, social and professional lives of young people. We were recognized for specific campus efforts, including donating laptops, corporate office visits, community service events and, most notably, its Professional Preparedness and Experiential Learning (PROPEL) Mentorship Program. In 2023, twenty-three MSU freshman and sophomores were selected to participate in a series of mentoring and professional development sessions through the PROPEL program.

    In addition to the work recognized by these two schools, we have continued to invest in all six of our HBCU partnerships to expand pathways into our industry, an extension of each school’s commitment to providing access to opportunity through education.

    Aon also supports professional development around the world. In Latin America, the Aon Institute, which runs several social initiatives, is also focused on preparing young people — high-school-age students in Brazil’s public schools — to work and find jobs. There are three main pillars of the program: training, assistance campaigns and volunteering. Since the program launched in 2014, Aon has helped 500 students, providing educational guidance, school supplies, transportation and lunches. This has helped support vulnerable students and addressing multiple dimensions that enable them to learn and thrive. Aon colleagues mentor students and participate in lectures; in 2023, there were 40 speakers from Aon covering topics, including diversity and insurance.

    In South Africa, Aon’s learnership program introduces young learners to the country’s insurance sector with a 12-month program and opportunities to further build their knowledge with an 18-month internship. Since we established the program in 2006, we have mentored 611 young people, 86 of whom have gone on to work for Aon on a permanent basis. 

  • Veterans at Work

    As part of our commitment to inclusion, we have found that veterans with often non-traditional backgrounds have very boundless talent, leadership skills and potential. Their military experience often does not align naturally with private-sector roles, but with the right guidance and mentoring, veterans can understand how their existing skill sets can be applied with impact to roles in civilian workplaces.

    Since 2010, Aon has partnered with American Corporate Partners, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping military veterans transition to the private sector through one-to-one mentoring with business leaders. Aon colleagues commit to year-long mentorships, providing career guidance to veterans transitioning back to civilian life. During this partnership, 225 Aon colleagues have mentored 569 veterans and active-duty spouses.

    Veterans who take part in the program expand their career opportunities, enhance their resume and interview skills and build a professional network. Jennifer Bell, chief executive officer of Aon’s North America region, commented: “Our commitment to veterans focuses on providing the right tools to assist with acclimatizing to and growing in their role at our firm. We have experienced great success with hiring veterans given their ability to think quickly and decisively and to be creative problem solvers and strong leaders. All of these elements are essential to building a resilient workforce.” 

    Part of Aon’s larger focus on veteran wellbeing includes a focus on financial wellbeing for veterans and military families, and Aon has developed approaches to serve their unique needs.

Philanthropy and Community Impact

Aon supports the communities where we live and work. We champion non-profit organizations that are making a difference across the globe – including our marquee partners like the Red Cross and United Way – as well as support the charitable efforts that matter to our colleagues. Our annual giving for 2023 totaled more than $12 million, supporting over 2500 organizations in countries around the world.

In 2023, Aon continued to grow our focus and expand our activities in climate and sustainability. Our commitment to sustainability can be seen in all aspects of our business and culture and is a priority for our colleagues.

A few highlights from 2023:
  • We launched our first-ever sustainability committee, representing colleagues from 20 countries. These individuals act as sustainability champions in their markets, organizing service events, spreading the word about our internal sustainability efforts to reduce waste and carbon emissions and giving us feedback on new ideas we are considering.
  • In the U.S., we funded 10 environmental service projects “pitched” by colleagues through our Community Grants pilot. We supported a range of efforts, including a river clean-up in Atlanta, trail maintenance in Montana and furniture recycling in Minneapolis.
  • In Spain, we teamed up with the Prodis Foundation to plant an additional 250 trees in the Aon Spain Foundation Forest, where we have planted more than 2,000 native trees since 2020.
  • In Australia, we continued our long relationship with OzHarvest, which collects and distributes surplus food, thereby eliminating both hunger and waste.
  • Full-time employees can participate in civic engagement through community-based volunteering, and in the U.S., Aon encourages colleague charitable giving by matching individual contributions up to $1,000 for any 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

As always, our Community Impact is driven by our Aon United strategy, our ESG approach and goals as well as our colleagues’ local connections and causes.

Additionally, Aon has expanded the partnership it began in 2022 with Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), a transportation organization dedicated to training drivers to spot and report potential victims of trafficking. Aon’s engagement in 2023 included organizing a session for over 200 industry professionals at Aon’s Transportation Symposium. Aon also hosted a roundtable with eight major companies headquartered in Texas that examined the best ways to raise awareness of TAT within their firms. Aon participated in TAT’s Houston Energy Coalition, where we partnered with energy clients, local law enforcement and the district attorney’s office to encourage and teach energy workers how to identify and report potential victims. 

On top of this, TAT and Aon organized training sessions for our colleagues across the U.S., including Aon’s Law & Compliance and the Transportation Industry teams. Over 300 colleagues were trained in 2023 on awareness, identification and how to support victims of human trafficking.

Impact Report Chart Philanthropy
  • Impact Story - Improving Employment Opportunities in Spain
     

    Since 2018, our colleagues in Spain have worked alongside the Integra Foundation, an independent non-profit organization, to help socially excluded and disabled people rejoin the workforce. By taking part in courses that include job placement, training and personal empowerment, the participants have been able to recover their self-esteem and self-confidence to access the labor market. 

    In the five years it has been working with Integra Foundation, Aon colleagues in Spain have helped train 49 people at risk of exclusion – 43 of whom have found employment.

  • Impact Story - Helping a Survivor Find a New Life
     

    Aon prevailed in a three-year-long battle to secure a visa for a pro bono client who was lured to the U.S. by a human trafficker. Anna (name changed) was promised $500 per month for domestic work in a Florida home. She was told that her employer in the U.S. would also pay her expenses to travel back to her native home of Colombia on a regular basis to visit her children.

    In reality, the trafficker held Anna against her will, withholding her passport and forcing her to live in his garage and work 80-hour weeks for $200 per month. Anna endured challenges involving abuse and threats to her health but eventually managed to escape. Unable to secure legal work in the U.S., she struggled to survive. In 2019, Aon took up Anna’s cause, filing a 91-page visa application on her behalf. In 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services questioned Anna’s qualifications for the visa. Aon submitted a 73-page response that included a psychological evaluation. 

    The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services granted Anna’s visa application in 2022, enabling her to pursue stable work and build a better life. 

    Aon’s Law & Compliance department championed this effort as part of a more comprehensive pro bono program working with partners from the National Immigrant Justice Center and Kirkland & Ellis. In 2023, colleagues in Aon’s Law & Compliance department committed more than 1,500 hours to pro bono and corporate social responsibility initiatives.

$12M

Aon contributed more than $12 million in 2023 to philanthropic causes.

Related Information

Impact Report 2023