Independent strategic marketing management company Trinity P3 is now asking agencies to sign a statutory declaration on harassment policies.
Now agencies that join Trinity P3 on pitches will be asked to sign a legal document. It’s a move that comes as adland is still trying to shed its old boys’ club image and be known as a more woke and progressive industry.
TrinityP3 put out a post on Linkedin to outline why it has decided to take such a cool stance in a lengthy post.
It explained, “In the past year, we have become increasingly aware that issues related to workplace bullying, harassment and assault were still occurring in the advertising industry. Too often, these issues are framed as historical, and the industry was “not as bad as it was”.
“But you only have to look at the stories and concerns that emerged at recent International Women’s Day events to realise the issues are still very apparent and directly affect this generation of adland employees.”
According to the article, the statuary declaration asks for:
- The agency to define their status in regard to complaints of workplace bullying, harassment and assault;
- The agency to detail their use of Deeds of Confidentiality and other legal instruments potentially gagging victims and others from reporting such workplace behaviours;
- It also asks for warrants on policies and processes regarding meeting agency obligations as employers in ensuring the safety of their employees and contractors.
The post went on to say, “Trinity P3 does not pretend statutory declarations are the solution to what is a major and entrenched industry problem.
“But we hope that in taking this stand we can be on the right side of history and act as agents of change in the interests of protecting not only our clients but also the agency employees who too often do not have the power to act and push for change and reform.”
It’s particularly exciting because TrinityP3 is a big player in adland, it has heavyweight clients like Optus and Bega and by taking such a hardline stance, this should suggest real change will happen in our industry.
Founder and chief executive of Trinity P3, Darren Woolley (main image) wrote on Linkedin, “Sadly, harassment, bullying and even assault are nothing new for the advertising industry. From today we at TrinityP3 in Australia will be asking all agencies who join one of our pitches to sign a statutory declaration.”
It’s a response that is already being applauded in the industry, Keeva Stratton, brand strategist and founder of Quip, said: “Silence and anonymity are powerful enablers of bullying, harassment and discrimination.
“It’s critical that as an industry, we build real transparency, no matter how challenging that might be initially, so we can normalise the reporting of bullying, harassment and assault and develop appropriate policies and measures to provide greater protection against it.
“Future employees also have the right to know how safe the environment a prospective employer offers, and staff deserve to better understand how committed their leaders and board are to eliminating these very damaging behaviours.
“I think what TrinityP3 is proposing is the kind of radical disruption that’s urgently needed to improve the safety of the advertising industry, especially if it’s going to be a truly welcoming, diverse and inclusive industry going forward.”
