IWD now a day off for staff at Impact
Partnership management platform Impact.com (Impact) will be giving employees in Australia (and around the world) International Women’s Day, 8 March, as an additional day off.
Typically the global business only marks three global holidays but CEO Dave Yovanno suggested adding a fourth and IWD was selected.
The team will also be attending an IWD event on 10 March called ‘Cracking the Code’ focused on the the role that bold ideas, inclusive technologies and accessible education can play in fighting discrimination and the marginalisation of women around the world.
According to Impact’s Asia Pacific director of people and Culture Tanya Suna, the day has been given as a holiday to staff, to show Impact’s commitment to how far women have come and “how far we have to go” when it comes to gender equality.
She notes that in Australia, and indeed around the world, there are still disturbing statistics on the percentage of women who are likely to experience domestic violence, homelessness or financial abuse. According to government statistics, 1 in 6 homeless people around Australia are women aged over 55.
The Impact Australia team
Suna commented: “So, what can we do as an organisation? We can empower our women with education and a community and policies that support them. By giving our global employees a day’s holiday for International Women’s Day we’re demonstrating how important gender equity is to Impact and elevating conversation, insights and action around the subject. Whilst the day off is symbolic, we’re walking the talk when it comes to implementing policies like our recruitment panel process to truly drive equality and inclusion at impact.com.:
Adam Furness, Impact’s APAC managing director added: “As a leader I’m continuously growing and I’ve made a conscious effort to listen and educate myself about gender equity within the advertising and technology industry. With this knowledge, I’m endeavouring to be part of the change at both a company and wider industry level. I certainly don’t get it right all of the time but I’m committed to openly receiving feedback, ideas and direction to drive a real step-change and I’m proud to work for a company that also champions the pursuit of equity.”
In addition to giving International Women’s Day to staff as a day off, Impact have a range of initiatives in place to support equality, including a global parental leave policy, a formal ‘parental communication plan, unlimited leave, and a global DEI series called EmpowerHER.
As part of the global parental leave policy, no matter how staff become a parent they are entitled to six months paid leave. In Australia, the payment also includes superannuation.
Suna has also introduced a policy whereby the business documents the appropriate contact person for manager’s whose direct reports were going on leave – as well as the channel to make contact if critical information needs to reach them. Employees are able to choose the way work information reaches them so they aren’t disturbed during inopportune times.
As a mum herself, Suna said it was important to understands how critical it is to have an effective communication plan that works for both the company and the new parents.
Impact have also committed a 50/50 gender split across the Asia Pacific to ensure hiring interview panels contain gender and cultural diversity.
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Olivia Kruimel is the managing editor at Mumbrella. She has more than 15 years of experience in journalism, communications and marketing. Her journalism career began at Fairfax Media (now part of Nine) and includes various B2B publications such as B&T, Travel Today and ALB. As a marketer Olivia has worked for Standard Chartered and various global law firms.
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