Nearly one in seven members of the global marketing industry say they would leave industry because of a lack of diversity, equity and inclusion, according to responses to the World Federation of Advertisers Global DEI Census 2023.
The picture is worse among certain groups, with 16% of women (almost 1 in 6), 17% of LGBQ+ (1 in 6), 22% of ethnic minorities and 24% of disabled respondents say they are likely to leave.
Younger professionals (25-34 years) and caregivers are also slightly more likely to leave than the global average (18% versus 14%).
The results are based on nearly 13,000 responses from 91 countries providing a detailed insight into people’s lived experiences from across the industry globally.
The overall one in seven figure remains the same as that found by the first Global Census on DEI in 2021 despite all the efforts that companies have made to increase diversity, retain talent and improve their appeal to potential employees around the world.
However, those efforts are recognised with nearly three in four (72%) respondents globally acknowledging industry attempts to improve the lived experiences of key groups.
Half the respondents to the survey (50%) said things have improved but three in ten (30%) said things were the same as in 2021. Globally, those in senior positions were more likely to report that things have improved (58%) compared with managers (49%) and junior staff (42%).
The overall level of inclusion, calculated on the basis of answers to questions about a respondent’s sense of well-being, an absence of discrimination and a presence of negative behaviours was almost identical to 2021.
The global DEI inclusion index was 64% last time (69% for men and 61% for women) and this year it is 63%, and still 69% for men and 61% for women. For LGBQ+ respondents, the Index has fallen two points from 60% to 58%.
The three countries to record the biggest improvements were New Zealand (up 10 percentage points to 71%), South Africa (up seven points to 61%) and Ireland (up six points to 68%) while the biggest three declines were recorded in Hong Kong SAR (down six points to 61%), The Gulf Cooperation Council (down four points to 57%) and the Netherlands (down four points to 63%).
The most common forms of discrimination reported are still around age, gender and family status. Four out of ten (41%) of women, 42% of parents and 39% of caregivers feel that family responsibilities hinder one’s career.
Among 18-24-year-olds, 12% (and 17% of 55-64) said they personally experienced age discrimination compared to an overall global average of eight percent.
Women, LGBQ+, ethnic minority and disabled respondents still have worse experiences than their counterparts. Men reported living better work experiences (69%) than women (61%).
Disabled respondents reported living the worst work experiences (45% versus 67% non-disabled).
Women, disabled and ethnic minority respondents are all more likely to say they are unfairly spoken over (30% of women versus 21% men, 39% of disabled versus 25% non-disabled and 30% for ethnic minority respondents respectively versus 26% for ethnic majority respondents), undervalued compared to colleagues of equal competence (31% for women versus 23% men, 42% for disabled versus 26% for non-disabled, 33% for ethnic minorities versus 26% for their majority counterparts), bullied or made to feel uncomfortable in the workplace.
Women and ethnic minorities also report being under-represented in senior positions. Analysing function by gender, women are more likely to be in marketing/PR and account management. Female respondents are dominant in junior positions (64% W vs 36% M) and male respondents are twice as likely to be in C-Suite positions (21% M vs 11% W). Thirty-six percent of women who took parental leave in the last five years think it has put them at a disadvantage in their career compared with eight percent of men.
Nearly half of respondents still feel that promotion or hiring decisions can be discriminatory with only 55% agreeing with the statement: “Senior management do not discriminate when it comes to hiring or career advancements of those that report into them”. This drops to 52% for women, 51% for ethnic minorities, 49% for LGBQ+ and just 43% for disabled respondents. The 2023 number represents a slight improvement on the 51% scored on the same question in 2021 but Japan is currently the worse scoring market with just 34% agreeing.
Key groups are also less likely to agree that there are people like them in senior positions in their company, highlighting a lack of role models. Women’s scores are three points down on men with 58% agreeing, ethnic minority respondents are 13 points down on ethnic majority at just 48%, LGBQ+ respondents are 13 points down on heterosexual respondents at 47% while disabled respondents show the biggest gap of all, 16 points down on non-disabled at 46%.
Mental health is also an important concern with 42% respondents saying they feel stressed and anxious at work. This peaks in Italy at 52%, which coincidentally is also the market with the lowest percentage of respondents agreeing that their company is open about mental health issues (31%).
“We should see this as glass half empty – and half full,” said Stephan Loerke, WFA CEO.
“We are not greatly surprised to see no measurable change across the global industry in just two years because the challenges are so deep-rooted and systemic in society.
“They take time to address and overcome. But the first step is building awareness of the problem. We may not have meaningfully moved the needle globally but industry efforts are increasingly visible.
“Now is the time to double down and stay the course because ultimately our efforts will be rewarded with more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces where the best talent will flock.”
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