The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) has published its 2022 Agency Census revealing a general accelerated pace of change for employment and diversity levels within the marketing industry.
The diversity of senior executive teams in the advertising industry has risen in the past year, with a 58% increase in members from a non-white background and a 12% increase in the number of women holding C-suite positions.
The total employee numbers within IPA member agencies have recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic, with the number currently standing at 26,290 as of 1 September 2022, a 19.2% increase on the 22,062 employees recorded in 2021.
The number of employees in creative and other non-media agencies increased by 19.3% year-on-year to 14,643, while the number of employees in media agencies rose by 19%, to 11,647.
IPA’s census also found that the number of female employees in agencies increased by 24,1% to 14,411 in 2022, while the number of men increased by 13.2%, to 11,777. This means women now account for 54.8% of all employees.
However, women only held a 37.5% share of C-suite roles, although this was up 12% from the 33.5% recorded in 2021.
At the same time, the percentage of employees from a non-white background is estimated at 23.6%, up by almost a third (29% increase) on the 18.3% reported in 2021. Individuals from a non-white background also make up 33.3% of entry and junior-level roles, up from the 27.1% reported in 2021.
In spite of the largely positive news the IPA’s census has revealed, a pay gap of 17.4% in favour of males exists in the industry although this is lower than the 23.3% recorded in 2021. There was also an ethnicity pay gap of 21.1% in 2022 in favour of white employees.
As for hybrid working models, almost all agencies within IPA membership (96%) indicated that they were continuing to use a hybrid approach to working, with over a third (38.6%) using a three-day remote – two-day office model for their staff.
According to the IPA, the average age of employees has also reduced from 34.6 years in 2021 to 34.4 years in 2022. Some 6.5% of employees are aged 50+, which reportedly remains unchanged year-on-year.
Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest marketing news sent straight to your inbox each morning
“These latest results represent a much healthier pace of improvement than in previous years and demonstrate that our concerted collective efforts to improve diversity and inclusivity within our industry are beginning to pay off,” IPA director general Paul Bainsfair said.
“We must continue this great work to ensure our business is fully representative and inclusive for those working within it and attractive to those considering a career within the agency world. On which note, I’m pleased to highlight that our IPA Talent Conference is returning this April for the second year which will address the most vital challenges our industry faces today around talent recruitment, retention, and inclusion.”
IPA associate director diversity, Leila Siddiqi, added: “This year’s Census findings paint a hopeful, much improved snapshot of the industry. The pandemic and BLM have proved to be real catalysts, and provided priceless stimulus and purpose to people who were already frustrated at the slow rate of positive change in our industry.
“Now is the time to double down on our collective efforts by paying extra attention to the areas of fair pay, equal opportunity and creating inclusive, flexible workplace cultures which enable all underrepresented groups to thrive and reach their full potential.”
