WPP Unveils Staff Share Scheme & Host Of New Talent Initiatives

WPP AUNZ has launched an employee share ownership scheme and a raft of leading talent initiatives for its employees across Australia and New Zealand.

Under the share scheme, all eligible employees will receive $500 worth of WPP AUNZ shares and will continue to operate on an annual basis.

“WPPAUNZ has more than 5,000 people across Australia and New Zealand and they are the lifeblood of our business,” said Mike Connaghan, CEO WPP AUNZ (main photo).

“We know that having our teams engaged is essential to our business. The share ownership scheme means that our people have some skin in the game. As we are a listed entity in Australia, being able to give real shares to people is unique and an obvious benefit,” he said.

WPP AUNZ has also launched a series of initiatives under the umbrella of MyTime. Centre pieces of this policy include the ability of team members to purchase leave, and flexible working. With purchased leave, employees have the option to self-fund an extra period of leave of up to four weeks per year, on top of their paid annual leave to assist work and life interests or obligations, or provide time to pursue sport, study, training or lifestyle options. Employees also have the option to negotiate to work in a way that better suits them and are encouraged to speak to their managers and teams about how they might achieve better balance in their work week.

According to Elissa Good-Omozusi, chief HR & talent officer: “An organisation likes ours has to respond to the changing nature of our people and their lives. We must ensure that we are supporting all our people so that they can do their very best work for us.

“This includes new parents, our team members who may be studying, changing work hours to reflect where they live or ensuring that we have the technology to support how people want to work. Work is something that you do, not where you go so it’s important that we flex with our teams,” she said.

The company also announced The Academy, a bespoke training school which provides all employees with a learning and development programme that focuses on the skills and capabilities they may need as they progress through their career within the Group. More than 40 courses are offered from foundation through to senior Leader levels across key focus areas of leadership excellence, commercial acumen and creativity and strategic thinking.

The training and curriculum is being delivered by WPP AUNZ’s own training organisations (Yellow Edge and Phuel), experts from across the Group and external training organisations.

The Academy also launched the Wellbeing Programme. The objective of this programme is to ensure that WPP creates a sustainable, workplace environment that focuses on mindfulness, time and energy management and work and life integration and balance.

“We are able and should use our size to offer the best opportunities for our people. These flagship programmes are just the start of our ambition for our people,” said Connaghan.

“We have always invested heavily in training and development. It is a cornerstone to having our people better connected across the Group. Our scale enables us to offer the best opportunities for our people. The new flagship programmes are just the start of our ambition,” Connaghan concluded.

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Mike Connaghan WPP