Create Space Resources

Develop a gender-neutral parental leave and return to work policy with Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s leading practice guide for employers.

Workplace policies and practices that address inequalities in pay and leadership and provide women and men more choice in managing paid and unpaid responsibilities are key to progressing workplace gender equality outcomes and eliminating gender differences in pay, employment status, and progression into leadership. For companies with more than 100 employees, reporting on their Gender Pay Gap is now a legal requirement.

What makes an organisation #FlexibleFirst? Check your progress with WACL’s self-assessment checklist. Every organisation is at a different stage of maturity when it comes to adopting flexible working in all its forms and at scale. If you are starting out or not quite there, check out WACL’s website for lots more tools and resources.

WACL UK (Women in Advertising and Communications Leadership) has launched an open-source menopause policy, based on and updated from Dark Horses’ landmark open-source menopause policy. The idea is to provide companies with a menopause policy to adopt or use as a practical reference tool to ensure whatever they do is fit for purpose. 

Signing the Mentally Healthy Minimum Standards is your opportunity to make a statement and show your people and the industry your commitment. There are more resources for individuals and employers on the website too. Leaders should talk openly about the Minimum Standards to destigmatise and encourage transparency around mental health and stress.

Universal Music has published what it says is the first handbook for supporting neurodiversity in the creative industries. The guide titled Creative Differences looks at the experiences of people with facets of neurodiversity (ND), including ASD, ADHD, Tourette’s, dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia, and uses them to advise companies on how to be more neurodiverse-friendly.

Sonny Jane is on a mission to challenge neuronormativity and build a neurodiversity-affirming future where neurodivergent folks are no longer labelled as disordered. Through their workshops and public speaking, Sonny Jane encourages professionals and individuals to adopt Neurodiversity Affirming Practice and unpack and challenge neuronormativity. They have created a sample neurodivergence inclusion policy, available on their site.

The gap around disclosing challenges at work is fuelled by a lack of confidence around how the conversation will be handled. We’re asking the industry to educate staff using RUOK?’s practical workplace guide to spotting the signs, asking RUOK and responding with compassion when someone says no, I’m not.

More workplaces are realising the importance of managing mental health at work and recognising the benefits of creating mentally healthy workplaces. This is where Mental Health First Aid® can help. Mental Health First Aid offers early-intervention education courses for adults in the workplace that equip people with the practical skills and confidence needed to approach and respond to a co-worker, or another adult, experiencing a mental health problem.

Microaggressions come from a place of ignorance not malice. Educating everyone about the adverse impact and the mental stress that microaggressions cause is critical. Our guide steps through definitions, examples, and how to respond and lead action. We’ve included links to more interactive resources too.

Everyone can help tackle microaggressions at work by becoming an ally. Encouraging a culture of allyship and bystander action starts with awareness and empowerment. Download our starter list and start the conversation.

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has released a comprehensive legal resource on the positive duty under the new Sex Discrimination Act. Employers must proactively take ‘reasonable and proportionate measures’ to eliminate sexual harassment. Taking preventative action will help create safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces.

The Respect@Work website is an initiative of the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Respect@Work Council, developed in response to recommendation 48 of the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces.

The site also includes an interactive tool to help you identify your options for support if you have experienced sexual harassment at work.

Inclusive Recruitment is the process of connecting with, assessing, and selecting a diversity of individuals when hiring. It requires organisational and individual practices that value diversity and are bias-free.

This toolkit supports businesses to consider more inclusive approaches to recruitment. It provides high-level advice, practical tips and resources.

Diversity in the work we create for clients is closely related to the industry’s makeup, although it is not the central focus of Create Space. 

The Feeling Seen reports from System1 show that advertising can both celebrate diversity and inclusion and also create massive commercial impact. The report explores when, how and why this happens, and explains the “diversity dividend” – where a good ad becomes great among a featured group.

BRiM is a UK-based cross-industry initiative created to improve the representation of Black people in marketing.

BRiM provides a wealth of tools and frameworks that can be applied to all aspects of diversity in the work we create – across client strategy, media placement, team makeup, supplier selection, briefs, concepts, casting and production.

BRiM has also designed a talent sponsorship toolkit to help support diverse talent to progress towards leadership positions.

The Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) is a non-for-profit organisation. Membership is free, and while many members are based in the UK and Europe, they encourage interest from across the world.

Their Diversity Manifesto asks agencies to ensure that content is as diverse as the society it serves, from research to strategy to media placement.

Their goal is for all clients and brands to include the CAN Manifestos in agency briefs and RFPs.

The Shift 20 Initiative is a coalition of leading brands, led by the Dylan Alcott Foundation, which is focused on increasing disability representation, inclusion and accessibility in Australian advertising and media. Australians with disability make up almost 20% of the population. Yet in advertising, they are only represented 1% of the time.

Representation of disability begins at the very start of the process, with the storytelling. This involves considering authentic narratives, talent selection and crew selection that will help bring each story to life.

Shift 20 has developed 4 core principles to guide marketers, industry professionals and business leaders in applying best practice within their own organisations.

This framework from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) highlights 12 key areas where bias can occur, aiming to provide brands and their agencies with practical guidance that helps them avoid such pitfalls and ensure that content is as representative and inclusive as possible.

To support our vision of making Advertising the most valued professional services industry in Australia, ACA has partnered with leading employment law firm Danny King Legal to devise tailored support for member agencies, to aid comprehension, commitment and compliance with legal and ethical obligations.