GroupM chief executive officer of Australia and New Zealand Aimee Buchanan has unveiled the company’s global plan for a “new way of working” and responsibility to sustainability to the industry and the environment.
The company has set its focus on maintaining flexibility in regard to work as they and their employees navigate the returning to office after two years of Covid lockdowns.
Among some of the flexible options are in-office hours, and parental and carer’s leave under Strive, a program across its four agencies – MediaCom, Mindshare, Wavemaker, and Essence – and can define how, where and when they work.
“Work needs to fit around your life, and we’ve proven that there’s not a productivity issue with people working remotely,” Buchanan in a report by the Australian Financial Review.
“This is a whole new way of working. We’ve worked in the same way for hundreds of years. What we need to do is keep evolving it,” she added.
GroupM have also made changes to their parental leave policy, by allowing employees 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for the primary carer after probation periods.
Secondary carers are also eligible for up to four weeks of fully paid parental leave, the company will also continue paying an employee’s superannuation during any unpaid portion of parental leave, this is to help drive gender equality with all parents.
The company also also has leave available for parents who adopt, foster or chose surrogacy, as well as support for employees who lose a baby, experience stillbirth or miscarriage.
Buchanan also spoke about how the importance of driving sustainability in the advertising industry, with clients and the environment to AFR.
She said: “We don’t have all the answers, but we’re wanting to have the right conversations.”
Buchanan noted that GroupM is set to launch a carbon calculator this year that helps determine the output of campaigns, as well as examining how best to offset carbon through 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,” she said.
GroupM’s agencies include Mindshare, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Essence, Neo and m/SIX and the group made up 30% of advertising spend locally and globally.
“Ultimately, if we’re not making things here better for our people, I’m not doing my job and we won’t have the best talent,” she added.
Buchanan joined GroupM just six months ago after serving as the CEO of OMD.
Read more: Aimee Buchanan leaving OMD for CEO role at Group M Australia & New Zealand