For our CSR strategies illuminance have chosen to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Sustainable Development Goals or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” Since day one, illuminance—with the guidance of its management—has centred around and focused on giving back to the community to help, support, design and execute solutions based on technology to benefit everyone.
Index
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West Tech Assemblage
Since 2015, the West Tech Assemblage has established itself as an annual event in the WA tech industry calendar, bringing together Perth’s brightest minds. The event has focused on key themes such as digital literacy, where from 2019 and onwards each year’s edition of the event have focused on the inclusion of the Indigenous peoples of Australia in the WA tech sector, digital, physical or workforce access and inclusion of people with disability, and continues to bring together the state’s technology and innovation sectors to focus on digital access and inclusion, and drive collaboration to benefit the State. 2021 marked the seventh consecutive time since 2015 that West Tech Assemblage has coordinated state-wide connections to advance important diversity and inclusion programs.
These past themes have influenced illuminance’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives over the years, and this strategy incorporates projects promoting digital inclusion throughout.
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
#4
Quality Education
ENSURE INCLUSIVE AND EQUITABLE QUALITY EDUCATION AND PROMOTE LIFELONG LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL
illuminance has since its inception created a coherent portfolio in keeping with the firm’s purpose and values. This includes its products and technologies and various training programs specifically designed to tackle the emerging digital divide. As technology is advancing at a rapid pace, some groups in our community are being left behind, and to support equal opportunities for all groups and communities illuminance has developed unique training courses and programs in collaboration with relevant parties and organisations.
ONLINE SAFETY FOR SENIORS
An on-site training program in collaboration with Switched On Seniors, WA AustCyber Innovation Hub and other relevant key organisations to help secure seniors online presence.
DRONES – PRINCIPLES TO FLIGHT
An accessible training program for people with mobility or dexterity impairments. The training is developed and executed in collaboration with Techlearn and Western Electric Sporting Association (WESA).
OFFICE 365 IN THE WORKPLACE
Developed in close collaboration with The University of Western Australia (UWA) and UniHall, a vibrant student community at the UWA campus. This free one-day training session aims to equip Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth with essential job-readiness skills in current technology.
OFFICE 365 TRAINING PROGRAM
Developed in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame Australia and held at their Broome Campus. The tailored training programs teach the basics of Microsoft Office programs in addition to the use of online services, general search engine usage, research basics and cyber security.
MICROSOFT 365 FOR THE DEADLY SISTA GIRLZ MENTORS
The Waalitj Foundation needed the mentors in the Deadly Sista Girlz education program to be trained in Microsoft 365 programs such as Teams, Outlook, and Excel.
DIGITAL LITERACY FOR INCARCERATED INDIGENOUS YOUTH
Developed in collaboration with Banksia Hill Detention Centre. The tailored training covers the unique needs and challenges of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth, as many youths who are incarcerated are also marginally literate or illiterate and have already experienced school failure.
#5
Gender Equality
ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS
Gender inequalities are still deep-rooted in every society. Women suffer from a lack of access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps. illuminance is striving to close this gap through training programs and promoting an equal opportunity and flexible work environment to support women in the technology sector.
DEADLY SISTA GIRLZ TRAINING
After learning about illuminance’s previous digital literacy training programs, including at The University of Notre Dame’s Broome campus and in collaboration with UniHall, it was decided that illuminance would provide three of our brilliant female team members to conduct an introductory training session in various Microsoft software. The training saw almost 40 participants (making it our biggest training yet), all being mentors for girls in the Deadly Sister Girlz program by the Wirrpanda Foundation.
OUR WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY
Two of our staff members shared their expertise and professional journeys with the Women in Technology WA (WiTWA) conference in 2019. Women in Technology WA (WiTWA) is a non-profit organisation providing a framework for women in tech to extend their networks and expand their knowledge on a broad range of professional topics. WiTWA encourages open conversation and inspires deliberation and debate. illuminance Solutions’ Project Manager & Consultant Mihi was also invited to speak at the WiTWA 2019 Conference and was a nominee in last years’ 20 in 20 Award!
illuminance continue to support our women in technology on an equal basis—and encourage upskilling, Microsoft certifications, and industry participation in the form of attending events—or joining associations or organisations that may support professional growth.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Equality is not a women’s issue, it’s a business issue and gender equality is essential for economies and communities to thrive. Collective action and shared ownership for driving gender equality are what makes International Women’s Day successful, and while the efforts are made every day, 8th March is a great opportunity to focus a little bit extra on the issues around female inclusion and equality, celebrate women’s achievements and raise awareness against bias.
An equal world is an enabled world. illuminance celebrates International Women’s Day with social media and digital marketing campaigns to raise awareness and will encourage participation in community events but more importantly, we have gender quality engrained into our everyday operations and empower our team members every day regardless of gender.
#8
Decent Work & Economic Growth
PROMOTE SUSTAINED, INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH, FULL AND PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT AND DECENT WORK FOR ALL
illuminance is dedicated to supporting our team. We have put in place weekly internal training sessions for employees, with opportunities for skill development, sharing of knowledge among colleagues and familiarisation of new technology, trends, innovation and entrepreneurship ideas. Sponsored training and certification with Microsoft and the Australian Computer Society (ACS).
MONTHLY CEO LUNCHEONS
This monthly gathering includes all team members in strategy sessions, goal-setting and general updates in the business’ overall state and vision along with the company management.
MORNING STAND-UP MEETINGS
Every morning the team will gather around the boardroom table to make sure that all team members are aware of the daily activities and tasks performed by each member. This way every team member will know the whereabouts and deadlines of everyone and will have an opportunity to help where needed. The morning meeting also supports the team to share both personal and professional achievements.
COLLABORATION WITH TRAINEES FROM WA UNIVERSITIES IN DAILY OPERATIONS
This provides an experience for illuminance employees that encompasses responsibility for the trainee’s experience, accountability of the outcome, and learning experience and empathy with the trainee’s current knowledge and expertise. It also provides an opportunity for learning and looking at projects from a new perspective. By offering opportunities for on-the-job training and industry exposure, employees are directly involved with the company’s vision of heightened social impact.
ACTIVITIES THAT ENCOURAGE AND HELP TO MAINTAIN CAMARADERIE AND EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING
This includes games nights, badminton, fun runs, cycling trips and a games room, library and lounge area where employees can spend time during work hours. During onboarding of new staff members, they are asked what they would like to bring to the table in order to align the business with its values and help make illuminance Solutions a better place to work. There is an open-floor policy in the business, where all team members are encouraged to approach the management to provide feedback and suggestions on how to improve the customer service delivery. This is made possible as a result of the current small structure in the business.
#12
Responsible Consumption & Production
ENSURE SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION PATTERNS
Being an IT company, illuminance Solutions is very aware of the cost to the environment of printing, and as such encourages all staff to reduce the printing of documents. We have an infrastructure and shut down policy on our electrical system apart from the main backup server.
illuminance has a coffee machine available for the staff to use, and thus encourage them to make their own coffee instead of buying from a coffee shop. This way, takeaway cups are not used by illuminance Solutions’ staff. The coffee beans are also ethically and locally sourced.
Staff members are encouraged to use technology in all communications and project management, and whiteboards have proven a more effective tool than paper when ideas and project workflows need to be mapped out.
illuminance has recycling bins available for the staff and complies with sorting plastic and paper for recycling.
illuminance has a policy to only use and to only buy environmentally friendly cutlery for parties and gatherings and has invested in sustainable solutions for ongoing use.
A printer from Canon and in-house graphic designers will print most marketing material in-house where digital sharing of the same is impossible and bulk orders of marketing material are only ordered if necessary.
illuminance also provide t-shirts and jackets to its staff with company branding, to prevent damage and wear to their own clothing.
The current office has furniture and infrastructure sourced second hand from old and closed offices in and around Perth CBD. illuminance also donates second-hand hardware/computers to the Aboriginal communities in the Broome and Pilbarra region in collaboration with Robe River Kuruma Aboriginal Corporation, a client and user of Aboriginal Trust Management System (ATMS).
#13
Climate Action
TAKE URGENT ACTION TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACTS
At illuminance, we also invest in the future. As climate change and other environmental issues take centre stage and impact all areas of our lives, responsible companies are taking initiative to reduce their carbon footprints. Even small actions can have a big environmental impact.
Lighting is reduced in areas of the office not required and other power usage is minimised by switching off appliances when not in use.
Very few staff members drive to and from work on a daily basis, and the rest of the staff use and are encouraged to use public transport.
Three bicycles are available for staff to use for meetings in the city, instead of using private vehicles or public transport.
Due to covid-19 staff are attending more and more events remotely and reducing transportation and CO2 emissions.
#16
Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
PROMOTE PEACEFUL AND INCLUSIVE SOCIETIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, PROVIDE ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR ALL AND BUILD EFFECTIVE, ACCOUNTABLE AND INCLUSIVE INSTITUTIONS AT ALL LEVELS
illuminance is promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development in two main ways where one is by supporting events like the Borderless Gandhi project that is supporting the growth of the City of Perth to remain inclusive, peaceful and multicultural. The organisation achieves this with annual events and campaigns that focus on Gandhi’s values of peace, equality and nonviolence and presents them to a nationwide and global audience through art exhibitions, social media campaigns. and public conversations.
Australian Red Cross
Another way that illuminance is promoting peaceful and inclusive societies is by supporting the Australian Red Cross in their efforts to locate employment opportunities for refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia. While refugees find it difficult to enter the workforce, illuminance understands they may have many benefits as potential employees and have strong work ethics, dependability due to seeking stable employment and willingness to take on new challenges. illuminance have organically built a multicultural team which offers a higher degree of creativity, increased innovation, and a more holistic decision-making process as a result of having a variety of different perspectives. With recent developments in countries like Afghanistan and Myanmar, illuminance have taken on board refugees to join our team, offering Microsoft Certifications and various other learning opportunities that will benefit them long-term and not only as part of illuminance.
Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) 2019 – 2024
Our vision at illuminance is to help bridge the gap of digital literacy across Australia with a primary focus on improving the socio-economic condition of the Indigenous community through providing education, training and employment and creating a solution specific to the needs of the Indigenous sector. illuminance’s Reconciliation Action Plan (2019-2024) signifies our strong commitment to support diversity and inclusion and reflects our beliefs relating to the ongoing issue of inequality among Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Through our own ways, using our interactions and connections, we stand firm in supporting those who strive to preserve and celebrate the unique culture of the First Australians. Our RAP tells a story of our journey towards bridging the gap in the literacy divide among Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, a story that began long before the official RAP was collated. The actions we took to foster diversity among our workforce and the tech sector and the commitment we have towards pursuing our goal of creating and driving social impact is all part of who and what we already are as a company. Not who we aspire to be.
Borderless Gandhi
Borderless Gandhi is an organisation working to promote Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings, values and philosophies to support the multicultural population of WA through the means of art and social media and annual events and was founded by Nilesh and Lene Makwana, with the support of illuminance Solutions’ team members and other volunteers and supporters. Previous events include:
2015
Public Screening at Northbridge Piazza of the 1982 movie; ‘Gandhi’ on 2nd October.
2016
“Borderless Gandhi presents Mahatma in me by Vibhor Sogani” exhibition at Elizabeth Quay from 2nd October to 2nd November.
2017
Social media campaign promoting Mahatma Gandhi’s values of peace, equality and nonviolence through graphics, quotes and ‘Did you know’ from 2nd to 6th October.
2018
“Borderless Gandhi presents Mahatma in Colour” presented a unique curation of GandhiServe’s collection of digitally restored and coloured photographs taken throughout the life of Mahatma Gandhi. The exhibition had three locations; Parliament of Western Australia, Perth Airport International Terminal 1 and Pan Pacific Hotel in Perth that ran simultaneously from 2nd October to 9th November.
2019
“Borderless Gandhi presents Mahatma’s Message” invited to a discussion and conversation forum event with a focus on the spoken and written word by Mahatma Gandhi on 2nd October.
2020
For the sixth Borderless Gandhi event, the organisation collaborated with the Consulate General of India in Perth, the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Indian Society of Western Australia. The event was held at UWA on 2nd October.
2021
Collaboration event with the Consulate General of India in Perth held on 2nd October, with speakers reflecting on the Mahatma’s Message. Following the event, a month-long social media campaign invited a global audience to participate and engage with the message of peace, equality and non-violence.
2021
An event organised by the United Nations Association Australia WA—and hosted by Borderless Gandhi, links between Non-Violence and Human Rights was explored. The panel, speakers (and the audience!) shared their personal experiences of war, trauma and refugee issues, on the importance of Non-Violence for healing and growth in people and societies, and its effect on Human Rights. Held on 10th December at illuminance’s office.
illuminance’s CSR Initiatives in the Media
