In an effort to consolidate and effectively manage our ESG efforts, we developed a unique framework which prioritizes our main areas of focus. In addition to our strategic core of protecting user privacy, our ESG strategy includes three key pillars: climate action, diversity and inclusion, and fostering a positive online environment. These issues will be top-of-mind in our ESG management and constitute major focus points in our ESG strategy. Alongside these key elements, we included two additional supporting components in our ESG strategy: employee wellbeing and business ethics. Responsible business practices and a strong, dedicated workforce are foundational to the successful implementation of our ESG strategy and will greatly support our effective ESG management.
ESG
“Becoming more sustainable is not just a business principle, it’s a responsibility we have to the planet and future generations. Together, let’s create a brighter, sustainable future.”
-Tal Jacobson, CEO
Our ESG Strategy
At Perion, we are deeply committed to running a responsible business which takes the needs of its various stakeholders into account. As a leading company in the field of digital advertising, we have a unique role in taking on key ESG issues in the industry. To this end, we developed an ESG strategy to outline our commitment to responsible business practices, including promoting environmental sustainability, social responsibility and corporate governance.
This holistic strategy is integrated across our operations, employees, and geographies. As part of our commitment to transparent communication with our stakeholders, we are publicly sharing our ESG strategy, direction and plans.
Strategic Framework
Protecting User Privacy
Protecting User Privacy is at the core of our business and our ESG strategy.
In the past years, concerns regarding online privacy have grown significantly, particularly surrounding advertising and the collection of personal data. We recognize our role in this conversation, and we believe that we are uniquely positioned to offer breakthrough solutions.
We maintain robust data privacy and security measures to protect the data of online users. However, our commitment to user privacy goes well beyond compliance, as our unique product – namely SORT® – offers innovative solutions to key user privacy issues. We offer advertisers a more effective targeting method for advertising based on real-time user behavior, replacing personal user data tracking. This eliminates the need to collect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and safeguards users’ online privacy.
We are at the forefront of user privacy protection, and we intend to continue our focus on developing and implementing solutions to this pressing issue. These actions have a major positive impact on the advertising industry as a whole, and we will continue striving to transform the industry to the mutual benefit of users and advertisers.
In 2022, hundreds of advertisers used our SORT® platform to provide high-quality ads to their clients, reaching over 1 billion impressions and achieving performance levels 2x greater than traditional cookie-based methods.
More information regarding our SORT® solution can be found here.
Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion
Fostering a Positive Online Environment
We deeply believe in the vital importance of providing our employees with a welcoming, safe, respectful and inclusive environment. We strive to foster a corporate culture of inclusion and actively work toward having a workforce that is diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity, sex, age, nationality, religion, cultural background, sexual orientation, or disability. To this end, we are promoting equitable hiring practices by designated sourcing channels modified to fit the diversity goals we set, using special referral programs and making sure there is no biased language in our job descriptions and that we hire the best person for the role. We are also providing employment opportunities to a broad array of candidates from different backgrounds. While having a diverse workforce is a key first step, all of our people should also be treated fairly and equally and be made to feel included. We plan to create opportunities for internal mobility for employees from diverse backgrounds, as well as carry out training programs for key staff to provide them the tools they require to appropriately manage diverse employees. We will particularly focus on technological roles, where gender and other forms of inequality are commonplace in the industry.
In order to maintain these values during the employee lifecycle, we are monitoring equality in compensation, training and other organization activities across the board. The DE&I data is regularly being tracked and presented to management and the board of directors.
We believe that the actions above will ensure that Perion is truly a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment for its many employees across the world.
[*] As of September 30th, 2023
The Uplift Collective
The Uplift Collective is a dedicated network, comprised of diverse-owned publishers, including women and LGBTQIA+ owned media. For each campaign that runs on the Collective, we will be donating a portion of the proceeds to relevant charities & organizations.
This network enables us to connect diverse publishers with direct demand opportunities from premium advertisers – while providing brands the ability to uplift underrepresented communities through intentional media buys and donations.
In this digital era, as people’s online presence is growing by the day, it is more important than ever to make their online experience safe and comfortable. As a leading marketplace of digital content for advertisers and publishers, we acknowledge our role in affecting the content that reaches users online. One way we fulfill this role is by ensuring that distributed content meets certain standards and guidelines, and that illegal or offensive content is not spread over the internet. This includes both our original content generation and our digital advertising activities.
We are fiercely committed to creating engaging content that adheres to high standards of quality and safety. The content we generate is produced by a team of highly experienced writers and editors, who follow rigorous guidelines when it comes to accuracy, editorial standards, and originality. Our aim is to provide our readers with content that is entertaining, informative, and inspiring. We strictly avoid sexual, violent, drug-related, and illegal themes, and we are committed to avoiding fake news. Accuracy and quality are at the heart of our ethos as a digital publisher.
Another aspect of this issue is ensuring that digital advertising content is responsibly and thoroughly monitored. Our operations are fully compliant with the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG), a global initiative which combats criminal activity and promotes trust and transparency in digital advertising. We work to ensure that content is targeted toward appropriate users and that potentially offensive content does not reach vulnerable groups, such as children. By monitoring this content, we can protect users from uncomfortable and unsafe situations and allow them to have a positive online experience.
In addition to these actions, we leverage our platforms and products to create and endorse positive and educational online content, while supporting social causes and communities. One example is our partnership with Givsly, an advertising and marketing solution that helps companies incorporate giving back and values into their marketing strategies. For more information about Givsly, see our Social Responsibility section.
Climate Action
Climate change is a critical issue and a major focus for communities and companies across the globe. We recognize the immediate and serious nature of this issue, and we are committed to doing our part to combat climate change. We intend to tackle this issue across our value chain with a two-pronged approach, focusing on reducing both direct and indirect emissions. As a digital advertising company, a substantial amount of our emissions result from the energy consumption of data centers operated by cloud service providers. Therefore, we will assess the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of our third-party data centers and explore opportunities to reduce and offset these emissions. In addition, we plan to implement initiatives to reduce the direct emissions resulting from our internal operations by rolling out sustainability initiatives in our offices and reducing our direct electricity and fuel consumption. These actions reflect our commitment to the planet and our intent to rise to this global challenge.
Green Operations
We integrate environmental considerations across many aspects of our office management, including:
– Minimizing the usage of disposable utensils, transitioning to reusable utensils and switching to biodegradable utensils
– Placing separate recycling bins for electronic and paper waste.
– Using management software to plan office air condition and controlling lighting through automated systems
– Transitioning the company’s fleet of vehicles to electric vehicle
– Reducing our employees’ transportation emissions by implementing a “work from anywhere” policy in our U.S.-based operations, and hybrid in all other locations.
– Implementing smart electricity systems to make sure our usage is controlled
The Green List: Tracking Scope 3 Emissions
As part of our commitment to reducing the climate impact of our products, we have partnered with Scope3, a company that measures and monitors the greenhouse gas emissions of the digital advertising value chain. In addition to measuring and monitoring emissions, we can also provide customers with a curated Green List – a Green Media solution which enables advertisers to shift their spending to lower-carbon alternative media. This enables our customers to manage their climate risks and minimize their carbon footprint. We also intend to integrate Scope3 solutions in our own operations and do our part to combat climate change.
Employee wellbeing
Business ethics
Our exceptional employees are our most valued asset, and their wellbeing is of paramount importance to our mutual success. We invest greatly in creating an environment in which our employees can thrive personally and professionally and unlock their full potential. We also strongly believe in creating a trust-based relationship with our employees, encouraging them to speak their mind and share their thoughts freely.
Our offices and working spaces are tailored to suit the needs of our employees and promote productivity, both in the offices and in the home office. As part of our hybrid model we supply all equipment needed for the home office to all of our employees across the globe, while ensuring a safe and healthy work environment by implementing and adhering to workplace safety standards and protocols. Regularly review and update safety practices.
To promote physical and mental health we provide dedicated fitness programs and mental health support. Our global flexible work approach, and our work-from-anywhere policy in U.S. operations, enable our employees to balance their work with other responsibilities in a way which works best for them.
In addition to all that, we also offer our employees extensive benefits, such as expanded healthcare, additional vacation days, celebration of personal events, parental leave for all genders, and more. These investments represent our deep care for our employees, as well as our commitment to their wellbeing and success.
We are committed to ethical conduct across our business and in all our operations. Our activity is driven by our Code of Ethics, which details our ethics standards and to which all our employees are bound. Our Code of Ethics outlines the appropriate behavior which we expect from our employees, both in their internal activities and when engaging with external stakeholders, such as suppliers and clients. We are determined to fully integrate our values and standards across our geographies, products, and services. Our adherence to high ethical standards enables the continued resilience and growth of our operations.
Our Social Responsibility
At Perion, our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is more than just a corporate duty; it’s a driving force behind our culture. We believe that giving back to the community is not only the right thing to do but also a powerful way to inspire our employees and strengthen our organization. Through our CSR initiatives, we focus on community development, education, and basic needs, partnering with nonprofits to maximize our impact. We’re dedicated to improving the lives of underprivileged individuals, including Holocaust survivors, children with special needs, and disadvantaged youth. Our Volunteer Program empowers all employees to dedicate 40 work hours annually to volunteering, fostering a deep connection between our team and the community we serve. Together, we’re building a more inclusive and equitable society, one meaningful action at a time.
Our Partnership with Givsly
For the past several years, we have partnered with Givsly, an advertising and marketing solution that helps companies incorporate giving back and values into their marketing strategies. By partnering with them, their tools can drive higher performance for marketing and advertising while taking on all the heavy lifting of working with the nonprofits through various implementations. We work with them on numerous initiatives throughout the year, all tied to giving back and making an impact in our communities. In 2022 we won the award for “Most Impactful Company” in our U.S.-based operations and we recently rolled out a new advertising solution, Good Ads, in partnership with them, that involves a charitable donation from each advertisement delivered.
June 1, 2023
2023 Perion's annual volunteer week
July 20, 2022
"Unistream" 2022 Entrepreneur of the Year Competition
April 5, 2022