Let me inform you a bit about Rock Content material’s social affect story, from our objective to actions, outcomes and classes discovered.
We at present hear the next query, “Why are you doing social affect?”, and let’s imagine that we do what we do for 2 important causes: as a result of it’s the appropriate factor to do, and this opens vital conversations in lots of locations.
In fact, we wanted a while to know that we had been really following the appropriate path. As with every firm, we aren’t born prepared, however independently we all know that we need to be higher to our stakeholders — together with clients and traders — however not solely them, and never above others.
Step one was recognizing that we are able to and should use our data, expertise and instruments to assist the individuals in our neighborhood. Rock Content material was based in 2013, following an academic path to assist the market develop. That’s why we now have Rock College, which has licensed greater than 500,000 individuals in Digital Advertising and marketing programs.
We determined to evolve on this strategy. Since 2019, we now have structured our affect initiatives below Rock.org, our social arm, to realize the outcomes and journeys we observe now.
We made it clear that, as an organization, our mission is to share our data, services and products to advertise social change. Moreover, wanting inward, we understood that change additionally wanted to come back from the within out.
The results of all of our efforts speaks for itself. In 2021, Rock Content material impacted 20,000 individuals by donating Rock College scholarships and our workers’ volunteer time. In the present day, 52.8% of Rock Content material’s group consists of girls, and 49% of management positions are held by girls. The query is: what did we do to realize that? Let’s go deeper into it.
Sharing our mission with all people
Your complete strategy of turning into a structured, dedicated firm that needs a greater world was solely potential as a result of we made certain Rock Content material’s mission made sense for our complete workforce. This workforce is greater than 400 individuals robust, distributed throughout 20 nations. Our Rockers!
For a very long time, our acknowledged mission was to “allow development alternatives.” That made sense for the form of firm we needed to be and has guided us to develop into the worldwide firm we’re immediately, with a fantastic presence within the US, Canada, Brazil and Mexico. Greater than the enterprise facet of this phrase, excited about our Rockers and neighborhood, we may use this assertion as an incentive to present alternatives to underrepresented teams.
Now, we now have a brand new mission — one which higher represents our willingness to create development alternatives with superb content material and speaks to a broader mission: “Making Advertising and marketing higher whereas having a constructive affect on this planet.” With that, we licensed that this strategy could be multiplied in our neighborhood.
So, if I can share a tip in regards to the path we’re monitoring: wherever your organization goes, don’t overlook that your mission must make sense to all stakeholders. If you’d like development, this development must be shared. Your mission is the core of your organization, so individuals shall be reminded of it and can ask for actions aligned with it — with objective.
2021 Social affect report
In the present day, social affect is a shared dedication from all Rock Content material stakeholders. We’re aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Improvement targets in 4 commitments: High quality Schooling, Respectable Development and Job Alternatives, Gender Equality, and the Discount of Inequalities.
As members of the Pledge 1% motion, we donate time and merchandise. Extra just lately, in 2021, we signed an settlement to donate 1% of our shares to schooling and employability initiatives.
In 2021, 19,322 college students had been impacted by Rock College course donations, and 13,462 certifications had been achieved. Moreover, 73% of the scholarship holders indicated in a suggestions type that there was a change of their situations of employment, schooling, or another space of their life after taking the programs.
It’s the journey of João Medeiros (18 years), a participant of the Rock ‘n’ Develop and Rock Camp packages, to deliver schooling to younger individuals with fewer situations to enter the job market:
“I turned an expert communicator due to the Rock Content material packages. With the scholarships and packages, I noticed I’ve a fantastic affinity with the communication sector. In the present day, I’ve an internship in Social Media, and I can apply a lot of what I discovered within the programs I had entry to via Rock ‘n’ Develop. This improved my high quality of life rather a lot. I want that everybody I do know may additionally do it.”
In 2021, to realize these outcomes with schooling initiatives, Rock Content material centered on two vital issues: how we are able to collaborate to develop expertise and the way we are able to get nearer to the individuals who want this improvement.
First, we hold our Rock ‘n’ Develop program, with donations of scholarships at Rock College. This can be a option to assist underrepresented individuals who have a month-to-month household earnings of lower than USD $48,000/12 months. The programs assist most of our beneficiaries to develop their technical expertise in Advertising and marketing, social media, gross sales, and buyer success.
Analyzing the employment market, we additionally determined to create a brand new program — that was the brainchild of a former Rock Content material worker — and concentrate on mushy expertise for younger individuals beginning their skilled careers. Rockcamp was born! A program which have weekly mentoring classes for nearly three months with Rock Content material’s professionals to be extra ready for his or her profession.
On this program, we don’t concentrate on scalability. Relatively, we try to be nearer to those younger individuals and allow development of their mushy expertise and expertise about learn how to behave at first of their journey. Within the pilot version, in June of 2021, we had the participation of 15 college students — from that, 33% acquired a job throughout or after this system — two of them work as younger apprentices right here at Rock Content material.
To make these outcomes potential, we wanted to affix forces with 15 companion organizations. This amounted to 1,698 volunteer hours from our workers.
For Helena Chang, our Product Director and participant in our Volunteer Week 2021, volunteering means “caring, passing on to others, and serving to to create the identical alternatives you had or wish to have had.”
Certainly, volunteering is a superb technique to interact, reinforce your tradition, and develop talents similar to communication and management expertise inside your group.
Achievements of variety, fairness and inclusion
Rock Content material additionally holds a number of inner and exterior occasions related to Variety, Fairness and Inclusion (DEI).
We create inner insurance policies and honor our Code of Conduct concerning discrimination. We run coaching classes and campaigns centered on our workers’ well-being, well being, and empowerment.
All this effort is to make our complete group really feel like Raissa Costa, our Employer Branding Analyst. For the primary time in her 13-year profession, she lastly feels that she is working in a corporation that truly turned its speech into motion:
“Seeing issues occur made me hope once more for a greater world. I’m a lady, mom, black, visually impaired, and from a poor neighborhood. Being understood and with the ability to construct improvement alternatives is one thing new in my skilled life. And I lastly really feel that I’m in a spot that gives me with the psychological safety to take care of the limitations which have slowed down my improvement for therefore lengthy.”
These had been a number of the examples that give us a 52.8% girls worker composition, and 49% of management positions occupied by the identical gender.
We nonetheless have an extended street forward. However we really consider we’re on the appropriate path. We’ll proceed to work towards having a tradition of schooling and insurance policies to battle in opposition to any form of discrimination and scale back all gaps primarily based on gender, race, disabilities, and affective-sexual orientation, amongst others.
Why will we do this? As a result of it’s the appropriate factor to do. And this opens vital conversations in lots of locations.
This text can also be within the new concern of Rock Content material Journal, launched this August. On this concern we deliver unimaginable content material about variety, inclusion and accessibility, a particularly vital matter for manufacturers and society immediately. You may obtain the journal right here, it’s utterly free! Good studying!
