Close to half of all UK marketing agencies are 100% white according to a new study carried out by The Agency Collective in partnership with Nottingham agency Hallam.
The study revealed that 43% of UK agencies are 100% white, representing an increase of 4% on last year’s findings and a drop in diversity across the board. Over 100 agencies of all sizes were surveyed, 46% of which employed ten people or less.
On a more positive note, the report also found that women now outnumber men (54% of the workforce) – although it should be noted that parity is yet to be achieved at senior management level, where women account for 40% of the workforce.
“It’s been over a year since our partnership with The Agency Collective where we created the first-ever diversity and inclusion survey of UK agencies. Last year’s report helped raise awareness of the diversity and inclusivity which exist in the agency world and the purpose of our second survey has been to find out whether last year’s benchmarks had been reached,” Hallam senior account manager and diversity and inclusion lead, Kiorhte Aghoghogbe said.
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“However, minority ethnic groups continue to be underrepresented, particularly the Asian demographic, and it’s a statistic which demonstrates that, far from making progress, ethnic groups are still not fully represented.”
Worryingly, The Agency Collective also found that employers are overwhelmingly failing neurodiverse employees, with only 7% of the workforce currently identifying as being neurodiverse. If UK-wide disability figures are taken into account – this should stand at around 22% of the total workforce.
