“Novomatic views as its obligation sharing company’s success with society”

How did the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility come about at Novomatic?

Long before the term CSR became popular, Novomatic committed to corporate governance, responsible gaming and sustainability as an elementary component of its business strategy.

After the turn of the millennium the term CSR became increasingly popular in Europe and gained more and more importance. At that time Novomatic decided to form a separate CSR department. In 2012 the company’s first CSR report was published in order to inform internal as well as external stakeholders about Novomatic’s wide-ranging CSR activities. In 2013, the idea came up to define and formulate Novomatic’s CSR activities by means of five strategic fields of action that cover Responsible Corporate Governance, Prevention and Player Protection, Employees, Social Commitment and Environmental Management.

Do you think CSR is key to building a successful business?

Nowadays CSR plays an important role in a long-term corporate strategy. On the one hand, this is due to its social aspect, and on the other hand because of its positive economic impact on a company’s outcome.

By taking over responsible corporate governance a company positions itself as a reliable partner and creates conditions for long-term success. The advantages are obvious since companies that pursue a CSR strategy are characterized by highly motivated employees, great attraction for skilled personnel, satisfied customers, increased resource efficiency, stable supplier relations as well as increasing regional awareness and appreciation in the long-term. CSR provides all stakeholders added value and is a key pillar to stabilize a company’s success.

Does it contribute in the creation of a positive work environment?

The CSR strategy impacts employees in various ways. On the one hand an elementary strategic field of our CSR strategy exclusively focuses on the welfare of Novomatic’s valued employees. Thanks to secure and motivating working conditions, interesting trainings, further education programs and distinctive career opportunities in a diverse working environment, Novomatic is positioned as an attractive employer. Moreover, the company supports the health and efficiency of our employees via an operational health management program.

Vice-versa, the CSR strategy is also impacted by employees. Each of our employees throughout the corporate hierarchy contributes in several ways to the fully realization of our CSR activities. An example is the waste recycling system in each of our offices or corporate volunteering projects such as donating blood or material donations for aid projects.

What is Novomatic's commitment when facing CSR tasks?

Novomatic’s CSR commitment focuses on five strategic fields, whereas responsible corporate governance is one of them.

Hereby competency, responsible actions and managing the business in a sustainable manner from the perspective of our customers and stakeholders is an integral part of our strategy. Those actions are taken for the benefit of our customers, investors and employees as well as society as a whole.

Moreover, a very important field for Novomatic comprises prevention and player protection. Responsible gaming, i.e. comprehensive prevention measures and strict player protection, constitutes a crucial pillar of our sustainability management allowing our customers to play in a safe, fair and responsible environment.

As mentioned above, our employees rank high in our CSR commitment. Hereby Novomatic concentrates on their well-being, career opportunities and diversity factors.

Social commitment forms a further CSR field in which Novomatic operates actively. Novomatic views it as its obligation to share its company’s success with society and thereby contributes to social solidarity. Novomatic commits to diversity, integration and education and is actively involved as a promoter of the arts, culture, science and sports.

Last but not least Novomatic commits itself to environmental management and uses resources carefully in order to minimize the environmental impact of our business activities. In order to keep the environmental impact burden as low as possible a certified environmental management system has been implemented.

Implementing a CSR strategy means to take over responsibility within the field of labor, environmental and social issues over the whole supply chain. Therefore CSR is an entrepreneurial cross-cutting issue and becomes a core component of management.