If life is a continuous journey, there is no question 2022 was a turning point for many around the world after being derailed, even stalled, by the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years.
At InLife, however, we continue to put the present and future first — not just to power our success today, but to create “A Lifetime for Good” for Filipinos.
For 112 years, we have shown that our ability to grow is not dependent on the revenues and profits we generate in the short-term, but directly connected to being a responsible business and doing good. In turn, our ability to do good is strengthened by our growth. We aim to be a force for growth and a force for good. We see these as inseparable.
Do Good, Do Well
ESG at the Heart of InLife
At the heart of our strategy is our adherence to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. These guide us in the conduct of our business and enable us to promote and protect the interests of our stakeholders — our policyholders, employees, our agency force, and the communities we serve.
Adopting ESG principles, however, is not just about adhering to global best practices. It is the right and ethical thing to do, as citizens of this planet. It also makes business sense.
Our business is anchored on protecting people from pre-mature death, accidents and illnesses, and other uncertainties in life. We mitigate risks and provide a safety net to the insured to ease their or their family's financial burden when the unexpected happens.
To ensure that we meet our obligations that can span the lifespan of the insured — which we call our commitment to a “A Lifetime for Good” for every customer — our business must be sustainable as well as thrive in the future. This means we need to be part of the solution to ESG issues so there will be a bright future we can leave behind for people and the planet.
Walking the Talk
We want to ensure that ESG does not become a corporate box-ticking exercise. Thus, we are implementing various programs, investment preferences, and operational decisions, including philanthropic endeavors, social outreach projects, and civic oriented initiatives, to help address various ESG issues. We promote health and wellness, regulate safe living and working conditions, customer-centricity, diversity, and inclusion, as well as impact investing.
Through our corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm, the Insular Foundation, and our women empowerment program, the InLife Sheroes Advocacy and Movement, we are tackling some of the biggest sustainability challenges the country is facing today and in the future: poverty, an education crisis, and climate change. We maintain sound governance practices because first and foremost it is our fiduciary obligation to our policyholders.
In 2022, we launched a “revolution from within” by making our organization fully customer centric in everything we do and, therefore, ESG conscious and aware. By aligning our corporate culture with our ESG aspirations, InLife's every action — whether strategic, tactical, or operational — must reflect our adherence to ESG principles from our customer's viewpoint. Our marketing teams and various communication channels are helping ensure that our customers are aware of ESG issues and why they matter to InLife and to them.
To embed ESG within the organization, we put our ESG program under the supervision of our top management and assigned a Sustainability Lead Officer and Core Team to drive and accelerate our ESG initiatives. We also mandated our employees, agents, service providers, and business partners, to adopt our ESG Sustainability Policy and ESG Framework in the context of our respective operations. With all these in place, we expect InLife and our stakeholders to live and breathe ESG principles.
Moving Forward
Just like life is a journey, our work at InLife is never done because our horizon is ever moving. Customer and societal needs are rapidly evolving, and so should we — in accelerating the way we serve so that we can continue to offer a best-in-class experience for our customers.
We have long known that InLife has a purpose much bigger than its bottom line. We are a company that goes beyond profit, with an enduring vision for the common good. We are meant to last lifetimes on a legacy that future InLifers and Filipinos can build upon.
We hope you continue to journey with us so we can truly live our purpose, create solutions at the societal level, and build community as well as individual resilience now and tomorrow.