Adland, diversity and workplace culture

The UK advertising industry is failing to treat employees equally, staff believe, but it does boast a strong workplace culture.

Context 

That’s according to a new survey across industries by ad industry body the IPA and insight agency Opinium, which asked like-for-like questions to last year’s All In survey. Speaking at yesterday’s IPA Talent & Diversity conference, Jack Tadman, senior research manager at Opinium, compared the two to see where the ad industry stands in relation to others. 

Takeaways

• People working in the advertising industry thought employers were treating people less equally than other employers, with a particular difference when it came to the perception of treatment of people with a disability.
• The industry scored lower than average on equal pay for equal work and there was a greater perception that who you know is more important than what you know. 
• Workplace culture is stronger than average in advertising: there’s less likelihood of mistakes being held against people or their efforts undermined; there’s more openness to problems being raised, to people asking for help and to taking risks. 
• Across all industries, positive recognition of work was more important than things like work-from-home policies or training.

Key quote

“Whilst it’s great there’s this high awareness of D&I initiatives within the industry, we do see this repeating theme of inequality, despite that inclusion” – Jack Tadman, senior research manager at Opinium.

Why it matters

At the same conference, historian David Olusoga observed that, in his experience, the liberal, creative sectors are “behind the curve” when it comes to the issue of promoting minorities into management positions. “Other sectors that are far less culturally liberal – the law, the financial world – are doing more and doing it faster and doing it better than we are,” he said. 

Reported by BEC [Image: Pexels]