600 & Rising
#CommitToChange
At PMG, we’ve always said that people come first, which is why Digital Made for Humans™ is our guiding principle. Beyond the headshots you see on our website are individuals with unique perspectives and passions that shape the vision and values of our organization.
Two of our core values are “to always change for the better” and “do the right thing.” A more diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace should have been the foundation on which we uphold those values. However, we unintentionally fell behind when it came to prioritizing diversity and inclusion.
Over the past few weeks, our people have helped us confront an uncomfortable and necessary reality about our company: we’ve failed to fully live out our mission.
We have not done enough to hold ourselves and our partners accountable.
We must do more to ensure BIPOC representation in our leadership.
We have not done enough for Black people and people of color within our community and our industry and must do more for those within our organization.
As a company, we recognize that we have not done enough. We need to do better and have a lot of work to do.
We are pledging to the 600 & Rising #CommitToChange call to action. We’re committed to bringing forth meaningful and lasting change to the advertising industry as well as holding ourselves publicly accountable to creating a culture that is inclusive and welcoming of everyone.
PMG Commits to the following efforts
Change Our Work Environment & Culture
Empower an agency-wide strategic initiative that will receive the same level of commitment as agency business development and growth programs. Elevate the Diversity and Inclusion Group (DIG), Gender Equality Group (WeCollective), and Employee Resource Groups by being open to feedback and encouraging these teams to actively shape policies, processes, and to monitor the progress of the company. In doing this, we are committing to:
- Increase our investment in Diversity & Inclusion by 100%, both monetarily and through time commitments to further the impact of these causes both internally and externally.
- Continuously audit and adjust agency policies and processes to be more inclusive.
- Fully integrate and support new Employee Resource Groups.
- Create a leadership role at PMG dedicated to Diversity & Inclusion in 2021.
- Prioritize learning and education as a catalyst for change by requiring bias, anti-racism, mentorship, and inclusive leadership training for every PMG employee.
- Implement mandatory annual Diversity & Inclusion learning commitments for all employees and achieve 100% participation.
Change Our Talent Practices
Democratize our diversity data by tracking and publicly reporting PMG’s internal diversity data on an annual basis.
Evolve recruiting practices to attract more diverse talent and optimize PMG’s candidate selection process to reduce bias. This includes:
- Rewriting all job descriptions to be more inclusive, posting all leadership roles on diversity-focused job boards, implementing resume blinding, and ensuring that every hiring manager interviews at least two BIPOC candidates for new roles moving forward.
- Building relationships with at least eight HBCUs and/or HSIs to help further diversify our 2021 Graduate Leadership Program applicants.
As we move into 2021, we aim to double down on recruiting by working towards the goal of increasing the number of BIPOC candidates interviewed for open roles by 50%.
Increase representation of diverse employees at PMG, especially BIPOC, at all levels of the agency, including Leadership and Senior Leadership positions.
- Increasing diversity at the highest level of the organization by adding at least one BIPOC executive.
Our goal is to set in motion action plans today in order to hit the following targets by 2022:
- Ensure our hires are reflective of the diversity of our markets, with a goal of 50% of new hires being BIPOC.
- To address our current underrepresentation of Black employees, our goal will be for 15% of new hires in 2022 to be Black.
- By the end of 2022, we commit to increasing BIPOC aiming to increase that representation in leadership roles by 70%.
PMG is dedicated to continuous improvement to make our company as diverse as possible. The above goals represent aspirational goals of a path forward to make PMG more reflective of our communities. PMG is dedicated to merit-based, equal opportunity employment. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.
Make Diversity & Inclusion a core competency for the organization, and tie participation to performance and rewards. More specifically, we plan to:
- Recognize and reward employees consistently and fairly by completing a pay equity audit and introduce updated performance, promotion, and rewards practices.
- Integrate new Diversity & Inclusion competencies into PMG’s performance and rewards system by the end of 2020.
- Achieve parity of retention rates between white and BIPOC employees by the end of 2021.
Change Our Community & Industry
Demonstrate the importance of Diversity & Inclusion at PMG through external marketing to attract applicants, clients, and partners who share our values by
- Creating a Diversity Review Panel and Media, Creative & Engineering Council to champion diversity across everything that we do internally and externally.
- Evolving the PMG brand and mission statement to reflect the importance of Diversity & Inclusion.
Increase involvement in our local communities by dedicating resources, time, and talent to BIPOC organizations and initiatives. This includes:
- Completing at least one diversity-focused community outreach initiative per quarter in the 2nd half of 2020.
- Increasing our PMG Gives Back budget by 50% YOY, and committing at least half of that into organizations led by or representing BIPOC individuals.
- Partnering with at least five local diversity-focused organizations across our core markets.
- Leveraging our skill sets at PMG to provide support, education, and training to local BIPOC-owned businesses and diverse local schools and community colleges.
- Set up the first workshop by the end of 2020.
- Moving into 2021, introduce a PMG mentorship, training, and scholarship program for local community college students.
Use our agency voice and platform to influence the state of the advertising industry in hiring, culture, and transparency as it relates to Diversity & Inclusion.
- Participate in at least one industry event or forum per quarter to help promote the importance of Diversity & Inclusion in the advertising industry.
Without great resolve, there cannot be change. But we cannot do it alone. Together we built this agency into what it is, and together we can work to change the world around us. We work hard for our clients, but we also work hard for our fellow humans. Alongside other agencies and organizations, we commit to fighting for a cause that is bigger than all of us…We can always change for the better, and right now, we are committed to doing just that.