SheSays Asks Industry to ‘Rework the Future’ to Help Create Future of Work Manifesto

SheSays, the non-profit organisation championing gender equality in the creative industries, has partnered with JCDecaux Community Channel to launch a nationwide campaign asking the industry to “Rework the Future”. This initiative aims to cocreate a more inclusive future of work that better meets the needs of women and non-binary people. 

Launching today, the month-long OOH and social campaign features a range of creative variants, each presenting a blank for the audience to complete such as:

“Flexible work will be _____________ for women.”

“If we ______________ we can smash the glass ceiling.”

“The best bosses will be the ones that ________.”

The messages are displayed on brightly coloured "Post-its," symbolising the work needed to shape the industry's future. Folded corners on the creative indicate the importance of the matter and act as a reference to indicate that the audience should return to the topic repeatedly, as you would do when marking a key page on a book. The campaign’s tagline “The Future is what we make it” is a positive call to action, encouraging everyone to “Have your say at reworkthefuture.com” by completing a questionnaire about the fundamental changes needed to create a better work environment.

“We want people to cocreate the future of work with us,” commented Amy Dick, UK president of SheSays. 

The data collected will feed into a manifesto for change, which SheSays plans to present to businesses in late September. SheSays hopes this manifesto will highlight urgent issues and serve as a roadmap for actionable improvements in workplace policies.

In recent weeks, we’ve witnessed a growing spotlight on work, culture and flexibility as many agencies and industry figures push for people to be increasingly in the office come September. This coincides with the new government’s focus on the workplace. Labour’s Plan to Make Work Pay and the “Right to Disconnect” code of practice shows they are aiming to strike a balance so that work functions for employees and employers: “Good employers understand that for workers to stay motivated and resilient, they need to be able to ‘switch off’ and that a culture of presenteeism is damaging to morale and productivity.”

Amy Dick, UK president of SheSays, added, “Our campaign is urging people to have their say to build a better future of work. We want people to feel empowered and see that the future is yet to be decided. There is a massive opportunity to shape it in a way that better reflects our needs. The 2023 AA All In Census found that 26% of respondents would consider leaving their company within the next 12 months due to a poor work / life balance, and two days in the office was the preferred hybrid working option. Yet the push for people to be in the office continues, and many recommendations urging change are not being enforced. Our industry has inherited working practices that need reviewing and updating, and now is the time for our people-centred industry to have a say on how they want the future of work to look.”

Chris Dooley, head of social impact at JCDecaux UK, said, “I am proud that we are bringing SheSays’ important message to a national audience across our digital Out-of-Home screens. The JCDecaux Community Channel creates real value through the power of the public screen and aims to amplify Out-of-Home’s role as a force for good in the community.”

The OOH campaign can be seen across the UK on 250 poster sites and people to answer the questionnaire here.