“At carsales we are continually striving to be a truly diverse and inclusive organisation and understand the importance of diversity and inclusion when it comes to having high performing and engaged teams. We are proud to be able to offer our people a range of benefits, programs, leave and flexibility options which help them to manage their personal life and work. We recognise that everybody’s situation is different and whether our people are caring for young children, undertaking elder care or going through a different phase of their life we want to be able to support them to manage this. Being formally recognised as a Family Friendly Workplace will further cement carsales’ position as a diverse and inclusive organisation and will help us to continue to improve our practices and policies to best support our people.”
We’re committed to be a family friendly workplace because it aligns with our passion for fostering a culture of inclusivity for all. We want everyone at carsales to feel a sense of belonging and respect, and to have equal access to opportunities no matter what their personal circumstances may be. We celebrate and respect all the diverse qualities of our team – this includes, but is not limited to, their age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, relationship status, ethnicity, family and caring responsibilities, religious beliefs, disability, diversity of thought, or knowledge and skillset. After all, it’s these diverse characteristics that not only give us a wide range of perspectives and innovative ideas, but also accurately represent our diverse customer base – which helps to propel us forward to achieve our purpose. Put simply, we wouldn’t be able to achieve great things around the world if we were all the same. And being inclusive and supportive of our team members with children and associated family and caring responsibilities forms a big part of this.
At carsales we aim to be an organisation where people can grow their experience and careers regardless of what stage of life they may be at. Being recognised as a family friendly workplace will help ensure we have all the right support mechanisms in place to help our people reach their full potential as their personal and professional lives change. A significant portion of the paid workforce in Australia are tasked with simultaneously juggling careers and caring responsibilities, so it’s important that workplaces such as ours are committed to supporting our working parents, as well as those with disability and/or elder care responsibilities. Being certified as a family friendly workplace will also assist us in setting a benchmark of best practice guidelines and an action plan so that we can continue to evolve and further embed family friendly practices into our already supportive workplace culture.
We feel that being recognised as a family friendly workplace will be of particular benefit to our female team members, as these practices will allow us to continue to support, grow and develop them. As a digital business, we’re passionate about doing everything we can to improve the underrepresentation of females in technology-based roles. We’ve been driving our diversity strategy for seven years and place a particular focus on gender equality for this reason. We’ve been recognised as a WGEA Employer of Choice since 2015 and being formally acknowledged as a family friendly workplace will further help us to be recognised as an inclusive and supportive workplace that both welcomes and embraces women with family caring responsibilities. Many mothers want to pursue careers alongside raising their children and we want them to be supported by us in every way possible to be able to do this.
As an organisation we recognise what a difficult time school holidays can pose for families with caring responsibilities. We have a culture that allows people to make the flexible working requests they need throughout the year to suit the changing demands of their personal lives. However, to further support working parents during school holiday periods, we have partnered with KidsCo since 2018 to provide on-site and more recently, virtual, school holiday programs.
We further support carsales parents by subsidising the cost of this program by 60% with parents just paying the remaining fee for placement.
In our most recent employee opinion survey, 92% of our employees responded positively when asked to assess the flexibility carsales offers when it comes to their work/life balance.
We also know the value and importance of this program from all the anecdotal employee feedback that we receive, and are pleased to be able to provide this innovative childcare solution to our teams.
This initiative has been really well received by our people and due to its popularity, we have been able to increase the number of days per year the program runs.
Sharon Koh, Head of Tax and Treasury, says of her experience with KidsCo:
“KidsCo holiday program has been a great benefit of working at carsales and has taken some of the pressure off my family during the school holidays. As a full-time working mother, it is great that I can bring my son to work and there is a fun and engaging program he can get involved in. He really looks forward to coming into work with me during this period and having a service like this really does make for a much easier juggle between work and family”
At carsales we truly believe people are our biggest asset and we lead with a people first culture. We have a strong diversity and inclusion strategy that is focused around attracting, retaining and developing great talent. We also recognise the link between diversity and high performing teams. Being a family-inclusive organisation is paramount to being a truly diverse and inclusive organisation.
We recognise that regardless of what stage of life our team members are at, they have responsibilities and pressures outside of work. We strive to create an environment where team members can manage these as well as their work and succeed in both.
Being a family-inclusive organisation means that our people can perform at their best, it also helps ensure we are creating teams and environments of diverse people which ultimately will help us to succeed as a business.
Vanya Mariani joined carsales in 2009 as a Sales Coordinator and has since gone on to be appointed the Group General Manager – Media. In her role she is responsible for leading a team of talented media and sales professionals as well as managing a large revenue line and delivering key business outcomes.
During her time with us Vanya has been able to make use of flexible working practices which have allowed her to manage her personal and work demands, while also continuing to build and grow her career.
Vanya took a 12 month period of parental leave and upon return to work she phased back into work part time with a permanent work from home day (pre-COVID). Vanya has since returned to full time work and has continued to manage her working hours to suit the demands of her home and work life.
Vanya also leads by example and is proud to support and encourage flexible working across her teams.
Vanya says of her experience with flexibility at carsales:
“I love working for carsales and truly believe the flexibility we have as team members is something to be proud of. As someone who has made use of flexibility during my career, I have always felt supported to do so. I am also an example that putting flexibility into practice does not limit career growth or opportunity. My career opportunities and overall professional development has gone from strength to strength and never have I felt that my opportunities have been hindered by me working part time, adjusted hours or working from home before it was the norm.
I am also pleased to be a leader who visibly demonstrates the use of flexible working practices and I see the impact this has on my team’s engagement and culture. I have been pleased to be able to mentor and support other team members in making use of flexible working practices.“
“At carsales we are continually striving to be a truly diverse and inclusive organisation and understand the importance of diversity and inclusion when it comes to having high performing and engaged teams. We are proud to be able to offer our people a range of benefits, programs, leave and flexibility options which help them to manage their personal life and work. We recognise that everybody’s situation is different and whether our people are caring for young children, undertaking elder care or going through a different phase of their life we want to be able to support them to manage this. Being formally recognised as a Family Friendly Workplace will further cement carsales’ position as a diverse and inclusive organisation and will help us to continue to improve our practices and policies to best support our people.”
Parents At Work acknowledge and pay respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
