May 11th 2023

All In Census reveals industry progress toward inclusion

The census conducted by the Advertising Association, ISBA and the IPA launched at the All In Summit and reveals small but positive progress

Georgie Moreton

Deputy Editor, BITE Creativebrief

The Advertising Association, ISBA and the IPA today (11th May) revealed the results of the All In Census showing the progress the industry has made in creating a more inclusive environment.

Launched at The All In Summit, the results compile findings from almost 19,000 practitioners from across the advertising and marketing industry, spanning agencies, media owners, tech companies and brand marketing teams, the largest response yet for the initiative (16,000 in 2021). The participation equates to £300,000 of the industry’s time making the survey the largest investment of its kind by any UK industry.

The analysis, presented by Kantar and supported by UK advertising think tank, Credos, shows that the industry has made small but positive progress on the previous findings such as respondents indicating a sense of belonging up 2% to 71% and a presence of negative behaviour down 1% to 15%.

Positive findings of the census reveal that representation of ethnic minorities amongst All In respondents exceeded that of the UK working population; 18% of respondents were from a minority ethnic background, of those 4% were Black and 8% Asian. Levels of discrimination, bullying and harassment of ethnic minorities are marginally lower in 2023 than in 2021.

However, less positive findings show Black and Asian respondents were more likely than any other minority group to have personally experienced discrimination at their current company – 14% and 11% respectively. And, with regards to social mobility 20% of the workforce are from a working class background compared to 40% of the UK working population

For the first time in 2023, questions relating to menopause and the workplace were included. The data shows one in four women would not feel comfortable approaching their manager about menopausal symptoms.

The findings of the survey will be used to paint a picture of the current state of play and used to inform All In action plans and provide invaluable insight into how to create a more inclusive industry.

“Thanks to every single person who took the time to fill in the survey – your participation is so valuable to help make our workplace one where every person belongs.” says Kathryn Jacob, Chair, All In Working Group, “This second All In Census provides us with an even richer set of data to understand where we need to focus efforts to make progress. The All In team and the many All In Champion organisations are committed to taking these latest results and using them to help drive forward to achieve a fully inclusive workplace for everyone who works in our industry.”

The full results are available on the All In Hub. Member organisations with participation numbers above a qualifying criteria can access their own results to compare how they benchmark against industry average and identify specific areas for improvement.

All In Census 2023 - Headline Findings

Gender Representation

Over half of women who responded feel that taking parental leave has negatively impacted their career progression. 29% of women believe their gender is a hinderance to career progression in the industry, more than twice the proportion of men.

Ethnicity Representation

Representation of ethnic minorities amongst All In respondents exceeded that of the UK working population; 18% of respondents were from a minority ethnic background, of those 4% were Black and 8% Asian.

Levels of discrimination, bullying and harassment of ethnic minorities are lower in 2023 than in 2021. Most notable is the decline in relation to Asian people likely to leave the industry, falling from 27% in 2021 to 21% in 2023.

However, three in ten Black people stated they were likely to leave the industry due to a lack of inclusion and/or discrimination. One in ten people from an ethnic minority had personally experienced racial discrimination at their current company.

Black and Asian respondents were more likely than any other minority group to have personally experienced discrimination at their current company – 14% and 11% respectively. These were followed by Muslims and Women as the next most likely to experience discrimination – both 9%.

Disability Representation

11% of all respondents and 8% of C-suite respondents to the All In Census are disabled based on the Equality Act 2010 definition, lower than the 14% in the UK working population.

Social Mobility Representation

20% of the workforce are from a working class background compared to 40% of the UK population. 19% people in the industry attended a fee-paying school versus 8% in the general population.

Sexual Orientation Representation *

The proportion identifying as LGB+ in the survey was significantly higher than the UK average, though there is work needed to improve representation at C-suite.

Age Representation

The industry’s age profile skews heavily towards the 25-34 and 35-44 age brackets with nearly three quarters of the sample represented here, compared with just under half of the UK working population. 12% of respondents in the 55-64 age bracket have felt personally discriminated against due to their age, more than double the industry average.

Stress and anxiety

A third of respondents were affected by stress or anxiety and for 14%, that stress/anxiety was primarily work related.

Menopause

Hybrid Working

Also new to 2023, the average number of days spent working in the office for full time employees was 2.2 days while the number that respondents would ideally like to spend in the office was 1.9 days.

Retention

One in five respondents were likely to leave their company in the next 12 months with the overwhelming reason for most people leaving was for better opportunities / salary elsewhere, relevant to 71% of potential leavers. This was followed by poor work-life balance and changing career.

* The term LGB+ is used to refer to an individual’s sexual orientation (i.e. those identifying as lesbian, gay, bi or other). Those who identified as transgender and/or non-binary are captured in gender representation.