Sun Life is committed to giving back to the local community, and since its establishment in 1998, has made huge efforts in raising awareness and funds for local charities. Every second year, a dedicated committee works to coordinate a large scale employee event, such as a 10K run, for which money raised goes to employee-nominated charities/organisations. In recent years, Sun Life has supported groups such as AWARE, South East Cancer Foundation and Special Olympics.

In 2009, BRIDGE, a dedicated Sun Life community relations committee, was established to create links between Sun Life and the local community. Employees can contact this committee to nominate a charity/organisation that they feel would benefit from our efforts. To date, BRIDGE has assisted Sun Life employees in donating goods and funds to charities such as Barretstown, Rehab, Waterford SPCA, South East Simon Community and St. Vincent de Paul.

As well as its commitment to charity work, Sun Life believes that educating its employees on the topic of Diversity is vital in creating an inclusive work environment. All employees are required to attend a half-day session called Diversity Awareness where discussions and activities are facilitated around the topic. Each year, we create a Diversity Calendar, in which we appoint events and activities that focus on various aspects of Diversity. Our Diversity committee, Connect3, works to host these events for our employees. Past events held include a multicultural Christmas lunch, a Women in Business talk and a Book Swap. We have also taken steps to reach out to external groups such as the SOUL organisation who empowers people who have, for various reasons, had their career progression hindered to return to the work place.