Last year R/GA committed to sharing quarterly updates of our diversity data along with the initiatives we’ve adopted to improve upon it and become a permanently equitable workplace. We remain steadfast in this commitment and are excited to share updates since we last released our numbers in November.
The world is still battling Covid and our business is no exception. We consider ourselves lucky that through the uproar of the pandemic, we were still able to reward our talent for their hard work and commitment to R/GA. During our October promotion cycle, 37.3% (+8.7% pts YOY) of the total promotions were POC, and Black representation in Executive leadership has increased from 2.5% to 6.3% (+3.8% pts.). We’ve also seen the representation of women increase at every level of the organization. While this is good progress, we recognize we’re just beginning.
We recognize that we have the opportunity to continue increasing POC representation at R/GA. From 2018 to 2019 (we did not host an internship program in 2020) we increased our intern POC representation from 29% to 40% and this year we are committed to driving change forward with our 2021 Internship Program by ensuring it is 100% diverse. In order to achieve EDI goals and make our Make / Room strategy a reality, we need to be intentional with our recruiting efforts, which is why we are collaborating with key organizations such as the 4A’s MAIP program and AEF’s HBCU Campus Connect to source our 2021 Summer Intern Class.
Additionally, with Jai Tedeschi settled into her new role as VP, Global Executive Director, Culture & Operations, we are already starting to see the decentralization and democratization of EDI at R/GA. With the intent to make EDI everyone’s work, we’re happy to share that each of our offices around the network have taken the Make / Change playbook and designed dedicated initiatives that seek to lay the foundations for behavioral change inside R/GA.
Since our last release we’ve also rebooted and rebranded our Business Resource Groups (BRGs) as Culture Collectives, we’ve taken a more human and inclusive approach in how these affinity groups provide value to R/GA, our clients, and most importantly, our people.
Over the last year, we’ve really seen our Culture Collectives lead with empathy with the full support of our executive leadership team:
- WomxnUp celebrated strength for Women’s history month by highlighting the strong, fearless women who lead, inspire, and uplift our global network by asking: What does strength mean to you? The network also hosted a series of physical strength building workshops with a slate of fitness coaches as part of the Stronger Together Challenge.
- In response to the racial reckoning of summer 2020, the Black Employee Network created and facilitated Allyship Sessions that exposed our staff to concepts that would develop deeper cultural competency and awareness of the day-to-day hurdles that our Black employees face.
- The LQBTQ+ Network partnered with 4A’s to host “Strut through History,” a discussion on how ballroom culture has influenced modern-day society.
- For Hispanic Heritage Month, SOMOS came together and created a physical cookbook inspired by traditional, Latinx and Hispanic dishes, held live, digital performances from up-and-coming artists, and hosted panel discussions that discussed immigration and naturalization in the US.
- R/GAsians: The Asian Heritage Network rallied an IPG-wide fundraiser to provide relief for those in the Philippines who were impacted by the November typhoons and floods.
Make Good for Business, a program within Make / Work, is an initiative that will guide our pro bono, sustainability and social impact efforts. Moving forward, R/GA will contribute to closing the racial equity and wealth gaps by:
- Providing Black, Indigenous and minority-owned businesses with our creative capital.
- Proactively supporting BIPOC/BAME businesses, and in times of crisis, to help with their essential, marketing and growth needs
Now for the data:
Representation by Gender and Race/Ethnicity
- Of our total US talent, representation of Womxn has remained relatively flat at 53.5% ( +0.6% pts). POC talent account for 36.0% of our total US talent, which is flat (0.0 pts.) over the same time period.
Representation by Seniority
- POC promotions accounted for 37.3% (+8.7% pts. LY) of the total promotions this year.
- Since the last report, Black representation in Executive leadership has increased from 2.5% to 6.3% (+3.8% pts.).
- Due to our latest promotion cycle, we’ve also seen the representation of women increase at every level of the organization.
- The following highlights opportunities for us to actively work to increase representation by continuing to promote with and/or broaden our talent pipeline.
- Hispanic representation at the senior level decreased by -1% pt and remained flat at the executive level.
- While POC representation increased by 2.3% pts or more at the Junior, Mid, and Executive levels, we did see total POC representation decrease -2.0% pts at the Senior level.
Representation by Gender and Race/Ethnicity Variation
- Even though we saw an increase in the representation of Black employees, it wasn’t enought to offset the total decline in the total POC population when accounting for the combined attrition rates.
Representation by Seniority Variation
- We saw an increase in Black employee representation at Junior, Mid-level, and Executive ranks. As stated earlier, POC representation decreased at the Senior level. We’ve also made great strides over the last few months in increasing representation of women at every level.
Rolling 12 Month Attrition Index:
