GroupM to launch carbon calculator; establishes flexible approach to work
CEO of GroupM in Australia and New Zealand, Aimee Buchanan told the Australian Financial Review this morning it will be launching a carbon calculator in coming months, to help assess the carbon output of campaigns.
This is part of the group’s ongoing work in its “make advertising better” proposition, to make a positive impact on advertising, the industry, and the planet.
GroupM to launch ‘carbon calculator’ to assess carbon output in campaigns
Buchanan told the AFR the aim is to help drive the conversation around sustainability and “advertising’s effect on the physical planet with their clients”.
She admitted while GroupM does not have “all the answers”, it is wanting to “have the right conversations”, also revealing plans for the carbon calculator to assess the carbon output across its campaigns, and how it can offset the carbon generation from digital media campaigns.
“You can’t be responsible for the scale of investment that we have in this holding group and not want to make it better for future generations and for the future communities,” said Buchanan.
GroupM has been contacted for further details on the matter.
The WPP investment arm is also set to launch Strive in Australia, what it describes as its “future of work program” across each of its four agencies, MediaCom, Mindshare, Wavemaker, and Essence.
Strive looks to help GroupM employees move forward with a flexible approach to work, not mandating employees attend the office on any specific days, with a focus on “parental and carer’s leave, mental health and wellbeing, international mobility and beyond”.
“GroupM has walked away from rigid guidelines like mandating specific days in the office and is taking a much more individual approach to flexibility by developing guidelines based on trust, mutual respect and equitable benefit for everyone,” the agency said. It also stated that each GroupM employee will create their own Strive Flex Plan, to best fit their needs.
Aimee Buchanan said: “We’re passionate about making advertising work better for people. A key part of that is making our agencies and GroupM a better place to work. We know the future of work is different and we want to be bold, to become a unique place that truly looks after our people. It’s not about mandating days in the office. We have an opportunity to redefine what work looks like and ensure our people, our clients and our businesses can all win together. Strive isn’t finished, it’s a commitment to ongoing improvement and we’ll build on it over the coming months as we continue to create an environment that is focused on outcomes for our clients, supports our people and fuels our culture.”
She continued: “Work is a part of life, not the other way around. The pandemic has taught us a new working model is needed and we’ve all shown we can work effectively and deliver as a team remotely. However, we’re all craving connection to the company and to each other. Strive Flex emphasizes the importance of in-person agency cultural and collaboration moments, to grow and cultivate culture, but gives our people the opportunity to redefine how they work, where they work and when they work and be focused on delivering outcomes.”
While further details on the Strive program will follow later this year, GroupM has implemented a new parental leave policy, allowing all parents 16 paid weeks as a primary caregiver, with GroupM also paying superannuation during the paid and unpaid portion of parental leave. The group said this is to drive gender equality and an improved experience for all parents. All employees are eligible after they have passed probation, regardless of tenure at GroupM.
“Additional provisions have also been made for Adoption, Fostering and Surrogacy, as well as supporting people during devastating situations including miscarriage, early pregnancy loss and stillbirth.”
GroupM AUNZ’s chief people officer, Scott Laird, who was recently hired from Initiative said: “We are continually improving our policies to make sure that we offer our people the best and most comprehensive support when they need it, whatever their life stage. By making our policy gender neutral we want to tackle the common gender inequality in society, and encourage more of our male employees to take advantage of the opportunity to be a primary caregiver. Paying Superannuation during parental leave helps tackle the financial inequality that can stem from taking a career break to have children, which has historically been a major issue faced by women.”
Laird was one of Buchanan’s first senior hires at GroupM, after she took up her post in November last year.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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