2020 CEO Survey: Deanne Stewart, Aware Super

COVID-19 brings a singular opportunity to build a more sustainable economy, says Aware Super chief Deanne Stewart.

What are the three enduring lessons or changes to flow from COVID-19?

Firstly, COVID-19 reminded us of what really matters in business, particularly during a crisis. Real humanity, deep care for the wellbeing, safety and issues your team is experiencing; together with the ability to make clear decisions and remain nimble and alive to an ever-changing landscape, are critical.

The need to have a clear purpose, vision and strategy for the organisation. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, these three things helped the Aware Super team to stay focused, maintain momentum and continue to support our members while also delivering on two mergers, a major rebrand and commencing the process to insource our administration services over the next two years.

The need to grow and develop as an organisation and embrace many elements of our new way of working. These include leveraging technology to provide virtual alternatives for service and advice, work from home capability, more inclusive ways of working as well as faster and more frequent check-ins between leaders and their teams.

Looking forward, we are certainly planning to institute a hybrid model of working to create a balance between enabling our team to work from anywhere for part of the week and face-to-face time in the office to support deeper connections, collaboration and a strong culture.

How would you rate the shape of the Australian economy as we head into the new year?

While in some ways the economy is looking stronger than many expected, there are still some challenges ahead.

We don’t expect the recovery to be linear, with significant stimulus needed to re-set the economy and support more Australians to return to the workforce.

COVID-19 has provided us with a unique opportunity to re-set and reconsider how we can deliver a more sustainable economy for the future, that is more resilient to unexpected shocks such as COVID-19.

What three reforms are needed to sustainably grow the economy?

An end to the divisive commentary and politics around climate change. Climate change is one the most significant financial risks to superannuation investors in the long-term and therefore to our members long-term financial future. Investors, businesses, governments, and the community are setting meaningful targets, actions and goals to respond to the risks of climate change. We would like to see a clear and consistent national policy that provides long-term certainty to investors, businesses, and the community alike.

Increased focus on removing the barriers to gender equality. The recent WGEA data found Australia had actually moved backwards this year, which is very disappointing. To really drive economic growth in the year ahead, we need to lift participation rates among women. To do that we need to eradicate the current gender pay gap, actively reduce the super gap and deliver policies that support women to return to the workforce if they want to. These include greater subsidisation of and access to childcare, and greater acceptance of both men and women taking time out of the workforce to care for children and family.

A real focus on improving housing affordability so Australians can live in safe, secure and affordable housing closer to where they work and within easy distance of key amenities such as healthcare, schools and transport. This will not only improve Australians’ quality of life, it will also drive productivity growth and overall wellbeing. Aware Super has already invested more than $250m in essential worker affordable housing initiatives and has plans to increase this in future. We want to do more and with the right policy settings, we can do more.

What are the three best growth opportunities for your company in 2021?

Mergers and consolidation in the super industry. In 2020, Aware Super achieved two mergers with VicSuper and WA Super, and we expect there will be more as the sector continues to consolidate and funds look to leverage the benefits of size and scale to deliver strong, sustainable returns to members at lower cost.

Our members have been on the frontline of responding to the pandemic. They are teachers, nurses, emergency services personnel, aged care, and public sector employees. These industries will continue to grow and thrive in 2021 and we look forward to supporting more members to achieve the kind of retirement they deserve.

As one of the top performing super funds, Aware Super has also built a reputation for taking a leadership position in climate change and sustainability to ensure our members are protected from the emerging risks as well as able to participate in the opportunities that lie ahead. As more and more Australians care about where their money is invested and what impact it is having on the community and environment, we believe more members will actively choose to invest in funds like Aware Super, that demonstrate both strong performance and sustainable investment principles.

What impact will digital transformation have on your company?

This is critical for Aware Super, as we want our members to be able to access the advice, service and support they need, when and how they want to. While we still believe in providing local service and support through our 40 plus offices and appointment locations nationally, COVID-19 has demonstrated that not all members need or want face-to-face support.

Earlier this year we announced that we would be insourcing our administration services underpinned by a digital-first approach, aimed at providing our members with profoundly simple and intuitive service and help. This is particularly important, given how complex Australians find navigating the superannuation system.

During COVID-19 we have leveraged technology to support all of our team to work from home, including our 130-strong telephone-based Member Service Centre. We have moved to online and telephone-based advice services and moved seminars and education services online.

We have also continued to develop our award-winning app to support our members to engage with their super, track how their savings are performing for them and plan the kind of retirement they deserve.

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

Overall business, state and federal governments have performed extremely well, balancing the health priorities with the need to respond to the economic crisis.

We have seen state governments, like NSW and Victoria for example, navigate the immediate challenges of drought, bushfires and COVID-19, while also announcing significant policies about the future, making some critical announcements about delivering more sustainable energy and making it easier for investors to support renewables and new technologies.

We have also seen our state and federal leaders come together like never before, to respond to the crisis at hand and provide leadership during the biggest challenge many of us have faced in our lifetime.

Business has also taken a real leadership role, responding quickly and effectively to support their workforce and the community during this difficult time.

As we progressed through the worst of the health crisis, each state reacted differently, and the inconsistencies, division and lack of consensus exposed vulnerabilities in the system and greatly impacted businesses and individuals.

We also have concerns about the discourse around superannuation in 2020; where some sectors have moved to diminish an industry that is regarded as one of the best in the world and we know has and continues to deliver a better future for many Australians, particularly low and middle-income earners.

We look forward to working with the government, industry and stakeholders in 2021 to continue to improve our industry, support the economy to emerge stronger and deliver even better outcomes for members in the decades ahead.