At Atlassian, one of our core values is “Don’t @#$% the Customer.” This year, we’re taking that a step further.
Humanity faces a climate change emergency. It’s a crisis that demands leadership and action. But we can’t rely on governments alone. Sadly, in Australia, we can’t rely on them at all. Businesses and individuals must also play their part and this responsibility is even more urgent when governments fail.
It’s been awesome to watch the next generation lead the way on climate action. Greta Thunberg started a movement that spread around the world. Tens of thousands of school kids joined the cause and turned out in force at a series of school strikes. Now, we want Atlassians to have the opportunity to add their voices, if they choose.
As a company, we have signed up to RE100 and will be 100 percent renewable by 2025. And, we’re supporting this year’s Global Climate Strike on September 20.
Participation is optional. It’s up to every employee to decide whether they wish to attend. But every Atlassian deserves the freedom to be heard.
We created the Atlassian Foundation with the vision of helping make the world better. As a company, we contribute one percent of annual profits, one percent of employee time, one percent of company equity, and one percent of products.
Through the Foundation, all Atlassian employees are given one week per year to volunteer for charity. Those who participate in the strike will be able to use their foundation leave. But we want our people to go further and make a lasting impact by volunteering their time to other not-for-profit groups with a focus on climate.
As business leaders, we’ve got to step up and try to solve this problem. It would be amazing to see other companies join us and support their people to join the Climate Strike. To help, Atlassian is going open source on Climate Strike 2019. We will provide resources and information detailing Atlassian’s approach to the event.
We want others to take it, adapt it, and use it.
Of course, every workplace is different. Some people won’t be able to take part because they work in emergency services, or other customer-facing roles. For us, we will ensure our people can attend with no impact to our many customers. And those in critical functions will be encouraged to have their say in other ways.
The bottom line is this: our staff who attend will have Atlassian’s full support. As a company we join them in sending a united message: Don’t @#$% the Planet.
We’re sharing our internal resources below to assist other companies with Climate Strike 2019:
