Corporate Social Responsibility

VAT IT Group is committed to its clients, partners, employees, and stakeholders. We are constantly building new partnerships and investing in innovation and technology. We conduct global business in accordance with the highest standards of trust and integrity in every region.

Our Corporate Social Responsibility policy intends to establish a reference framework, from which the VAT IT Group can develop and strengthen socially responsible behaviour.

Background

VAT IT Group was founded by two dedicated and hardworking South African’s who set out to build a global company with African roots. Throughout its evolution and global expansion, VAT IT Group has always recognised its responsibility to its home country whilst ensuring that it contributes meaningfully to the local communities worldwide.

Policies and Additional Information

Commitment, Integrity & Responsibility

Transparency

Open communication with all stakeholders (suppliers, shareholders, clients and employees), is one of the fundamental pillars of the VAT IT Group philosophy, which in turn maintains stable relationships that nurture trust and loyalty. VAT IT Group has established specific channels for communication and dialog (both digital and traditional) that also facilitate VAT IT Group’s ability to learn about their employee and stakeholder’s needs and expectations. This includes but is not limited to, disseminating up to date and truthful information regarding VAT IT Group‘s ability to provide services and products while complying with any legal and/or regulatory requirements that may exist.

Business Ethics

Maintaining corporate governance practices based on ethical dealings by respecting the rules of the single market, rejecting any illegal or fraudulent practice contrary to the rules of good governance. VAT IT Group has internal mechanisms in place for preventing, monitoring, reporting and penalising any practice in contradiction with good governance.

Integrity

Honesty and in turn integrity is an ingrained practice within the VAT IT Group and it constantly strives to provide an efficient and quality service within the agreed time frame, tracking client experiences through active engagement and transparency. In addition to adhering to its strict Data Protection Policies, VAT IT Group seeks to ensure that it adheres to each client specific request in relation to data handling and protection.

Regulatory Compliance

VAT IT Group adheres to all applicable international law and regulation in all countries where it services its clients and/or has an establishment. VAT IT Group also subscribes to the regulations set out by the IVA (International VAT Association).

Workforce Diversity & Inclusion

VAT IT Group is an equal-opportunity employer, it promotes an inclusive workplace while embracing cultural and religious differences.

Diversity and Inclusion

VAT IT Group is committed to achieving a working environment which provides equal opportunity and freedom from discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender, origin, marital status and/or disability status.VAT IT Group is committed to actively opposing all forms of discrimination.

VAT IT Group is proud to provide an inclusive workplace that embraces and celebrates demographic, cultural and lifestyle differences. We seek to ensure that VAT IT Group maintains a significantly diverse work force whilst more than half of management representation is female.

Donations and Aid

Charity

VAT IT Group sets aside an annual fixed sum for monetary donations & sponsorships. These donations and/or sponsorships will aim to:

Advance the growth and well-being of disadvantaged communities.
Support charity organisations and/or charitable efforts.

Volunteering

VAT IT Group encourages its employees to volunteer in community upliftment programs and employees are encouraged to volunteer through programs organised internally or externally.

VAT IT Cares ZA

We have recognized VAT IT SA as the branch with the most human resources throughout our 46 global branches. We currently employee over 1,000 staff members throughout all 5 of our companies.

Our goals are:

To get as many staff members involved in local volunteering projects by making it easy for them to get involved. We do everything from project planning to transporting our staff.
Tackling all 17 of the Social Development Goals as a business: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/
Collecting donations internally throughout the year for Charities and Non-Profit organizations.

Education & Internship Programmes

Growth Mindset

VAT IT Group is committed to the betterment and constant improvement of its employees and the growth of their knowledge across multiple fields. VAT IT Group adopts the concept of a progressive mindset whereby providing an environment where its employees can grow their individual potential.

Bursaries (South Africa)

In its commitment to skill development and community upliftment, the VAT IT Group offers bursaries to talented South African students who may have excelled in their education and due to financial difficulties were not able to pursue it further. VAT IT Group offers bursaries for full-time studies towards undergraduate degrees in the commerce field. VAT IT Group currently has 3 bursary students in place in South Africa and will expand to 4 new candidates in 2020.

View details of VAT IT Bursary

Internships

VAT IT Group offers world-wide internship programmes for individuals studying towards a Post Graduate qualification. Currently VAT IT Group has 7 interns as part of this programme. In 2020, VAT IT Group will be accepting 10 new candidates.

TOPP Programme (South Africa)

VAT IT Group commits to honouring its involvement in the TOPP Programme which gives individuals currently studying towards a South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) accredited chartered accountancy degree CA(SA), the opportunity to complete their 3-year training contract with the VAT IT Group. VAT IT Group is committed to fostering the careers of 3 prospective CA(SA) per year through the TOPP programme. In 2020, we plan to increase the intake to our TOPP program to 4 candidates.

View details of the TOPP Programme

Environmental Sustainability

Commitment to improvement

The VAT IT Group recognizes its responsibility to the environment and therefore aims to contribute to sustainable development and to all official sector-based carbon reduction targets. VAT IT Group seeks to achieve continual improvement in how it responds to its environmental impacts.

VAT IT Group aims to:

Communicate its environmental policy and strategy to employees and where necessary, clients and other stakeholders in an attempt to raise awareness of our collective responsibilities to vital improvements to our planet;
Ensure compliance and where possible exceed standards set in relevant UK, EU and international regulatory requirements and agreements;
Manage and reduce water consumption;
Deliver a travel plan to reduce single occupancy vehicle use to our sites; implement measures to encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport as principal modes of commuting and business travel for staff, students and visitors;
Reduce waste created and where possible to reuse and recycle before responsible disposal of surplus materials; to use recycled and recyclable materials wherever possible;
Avoid or limit wherever possible the use of environmentally-damaging substances, materials and processes;
Work with local, regional and national partners to realize environmental projects;
Develop Environmental Management Systems; where possible, that it looks at the sustainability of its offices worldwide. It has started this initiative in its UK branch in that it has taken measures to ensure that its impact on the environment is reduced by banning use of plastic bottles, installation of automatic lighting, waste recycling,no kettles or toasters.