Publicis Groupe agencies and VCCP have reported the widest gender pay gaps in the UK ad industry, an analysis of new government data by ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 has revealed.
The agency with the largest median pay gap was Publicis Groupe's Bartle Bogle Hegarty at 33%, the second largest was recorded by its sister shop Digitas at 28.2%, followed by VCCP at 27.1%.
The median pay gap is the difference in the midpoints of male and female pay ranges.
±±¾©Èü³µpk10 analysed in the UK and found that 49 had submitted their median pay gap data for 2021-22.
WPP agency Wunderman Thompson was among a handful of adland companies that had not provided their data to the government by the 5 April deadline at the start of this month.
Mindshare was also included in this group, but contacted ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 after publication of this article to say its data was submitted but has not yet appeared on the ONS site.
Two other WPP shops, AKQA and Grey Advertising, were deemed no longer legally required to provide this information.
±±¾©Èü³µpk10 has previously reported on the gender pay gap in other holding groups. WPP's overall pay gap was reported as 15.6% in 2021, in regards to eligible companies for its company's report.
Businesses were required to provide data to the government if they employed 250 or more people. The previous year's data collection was pushed back by the government from April 2021 to October 2021 due to the pandemic.
Ultimately, the pay gap has narrowed since last year’s report, which found that one in four companies had a pay gap of at least 25%.
That figure has now slimmed down to just over one in 10 agencies – five out of 49 – reporting a pay gap in excess of 25% for 2021-22.
In addition, the average pay gap of those that supplied data was 11.9% in 2021-22, a reduction of 3.1 percentage points on the 15% average pay gap found in 2020-21.
The UK’s average gender pay gap was , according to the Office for National Statistics.
“We must do better”
Bartle Bogle Hegarty's median pay gap reduced from 34% in 2020-21 to 33% in 2021-22. Karen Martin, chief executive of BBH, said: “We must do better, and we will do better. We have a comprehensive plan in place that addresses the causes of the gender pay gap, focusing on everything from how we hire to how we support and progress female talent within the agency.
“We are committed to measurable actions through monitoring our data monthly, and we know our action plan is having an impact as we’ve made considerable progress since April 2021.”
Martin added that the agency was “pleased” with its progress since April 2021 and noted that it had attracted many women into senior roles and that women in the lower and middle quartile had furthered their careers at the agency.
Dani Bassil, chief executive of Digitas UK, said there had been a “raft” of programmes and initiatives aimed at creating a more diverse and representative agency last year.
Although the pay gap has been reduced at Digitas, from 30% in 2020-21 to 28.2% in 2021-22, Bassil said: “This figure is still far from where we want to be, but we’re on the right trajectory and we will build on the significant progress made since the data was collected in April 2021.”
VCCP’s gender pay gap increased from 23.2% in 2020-21 to 27.1% in 2021-22 – the third largest gap reported by UK ad agencies.
A spokesperson for VCCP said: “We’ve got work to do in closing our gender pay gap, so have made some clear plans and are committed to swift improvement.”
Publicis Groupe made another appearance among the five agencies with the biggest gender pay gaps, with Publicis Healthcare Communications Group reporting a 2.1 percentage point increase, going from 24.1% in 2020-21 to 26.2% in 2021-22.
Philip Chin, president of Publicis Health Europe, said: “We have more women than men on the Publicis Health Executive Committee and two of our three agencies are led by women.
“Despite this, we need to do more to achieve a better balance; we are committed to reviewing the causes of this and putting measurable actions in place to close the gap.”
Chin cited the agency’s family-friendly policies introduced in 2021 and early careers programme aimed at equalising the gender balance.
OMD EMEA recorded the fifth highest pay gap, with a reduction on 2020-21, from 27.3% to 26%.
Guy Marks, chief executive of OMG EMEA, said: “Many of our UK-based agencies have delivered year-over-year improvement in their gender pay gap, with some agencies more advanced on the journey than others. While we are heartened by the year-on-year improvements, we are focused on the long term.”
He added that the group had doubled down on diversity and inclusion initiatives, published internal targets, and implemented a range of measures to ensure the development of talent.
Elsewhere in the Omnicom group, PHD emerged on the other side with a pay gap of 1.7% in favour of women.
Overall, the industry has demonstrated positive change, however slight that might be.
Some agencies, such as The Brooklyn Brothers – which voluntarily reports its gender pay gap – have reduced it close to pre-pandemic levels. In 2018-19, the median gender pay gap at The Brooklyn Brothers was 16.7%, but in 2020-21 it shot up to 33.1%. It has now settled at 18%.
“It’s critically important that we’re transparent so that we can make genuine, long-term changes”
Clear Channel UK came top with a 28.2% gap in favour of women. Despite this, a spokesperson for the out-of-home media owner said the figure was “possibly a bit misleading”.
“As Clear Channel has a large population of male operations staff – 230 employees of 569, who install and maintain our public street furniture and screens – our gender pay gap figures end up skewed and are notably different to the UK average.
"We’d argue that companies such as ours – which are as much public infrastructure businesses as media businesses – perhaps don’t provide an easy comparison to the wider media industry.
“It’s critically important that we’re transparent about these matters so that we can make genuine, long-term changes.”
JC Decaux, a fellow outdoor media owner, also had a skewed pay gap in favour of women. In 2020-21, the company reported a -30.9% pay gap and in 2021-22, it reported a -19.6% gap.
“Progress remains glacially slow”
Mel Exon, campaign chair (2021-22) of WACL, said: “For an industry that prides itself on being progressive, our progress on closing the pay gap between men and women remains glacially slow, and at this point we're being harsh on glaciers.
“At WACL we see closing gender pay gaps as the 'ultimate proof of progress' for gender equality because, when the myriad of other criteria that signify equality are in place then, funnily enough, the pay gap between men and women melts away at a far greater pace.”
Exon noted the percentage increase shown between women in the top pay quartile and in the lower pay quartile.
For example, women at BBH made up 40% of the staff in the top pay quartile and 75% of people in the lower pay quartile.
Exon stated that agencies should consider flexible working and as solutions to the issue.
Amendment
.jpg)
.jpeg)
