Diversity Equity and Inclusion
Our Vision and Journey: Making What’s Implicit, Explicit as one Global Team
Our agency vision is to help world-changing organizations solve the planet’s biggest problems to advance business, people and society. It is a vision of progress, with earned media at its core, to create impact and change. To achieve this on a global scale we are committed to building a team that delights in differences, and we embrace diversity that reflects the markets in which we operate and the audiences we need to engage with.
Across our global organisation we are committed to building an environment where everyone can thrive. With 37 different types of diversity that can be recognised within the workplace, our cross-boarder commitment means that regardless of nationality, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities both visible and invisible, neurodiversity, faith, socio-economic or educational background, there is a seat at our table.
Operating across boarders since 1994 we are acutely aware of the cultural differences, laws, nuances and terminologies that build the fabric of our international society. Guided by our values(intelligence, integrity and initiative), we fundamentally believe that every voice needs a seat at the table and encourage constructive dialogue, underpinning our global commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
We are proud to be part of WPP, and lean heavily into the networks own DE&I principles, which aim to build and foster an inclusive culture of belonging, that is equitable and respectful of diverse thought and individual expression.
On our mission to advance business, people and society, we work in partnership with our people, clients and broader networks (from partners and suppliers to our sister agencies within the network) towards a more inclusive global society.
We’ve taken the traditional framework of workforce, workplace, and marketplace, and adapted it to our agency spirit. Which means you’ll see progress across (and hear us talk about):
- Our Crew: What we expect of and offer our people and the environment we create
- Our Ship: Our global agency, across borders and overseas
- The Ocean: What we expect of and offer our clients, partners, and wider networks
- Progress is a journey. We will always listen to help ensure our journey continues to make progress.
Where we are today
Since our foundation we’ve used our values of intelligence, integrity and initiative (the 3 I’s) as our north star, guiding us through everything from how we recruit, to how we create culture, to how we work with clients. It’s been a secret sauce that’s served our business well, building a workforce that statistically (and historically) has been above our industry average in the diversity stakes.
Whilst ‘secret sauce’ is great, but it can only take us so far.
If we’re truly looking for progress we have to be honest that there have also been plenty of times when we’ve been below the average.
If we are truly looking for progress, we need to raise the average not benchmark to where it sits today.
Through this work we aim to bring consistency, recognising that diversity has become even more complex and intersectional. We also recognise the need to future proof ourselves and deliver more purposeful accountability; the 3 i’s have been incredible to bring us this far, and we will continue to rely heavily on them, but within broader frameworks that hold us accountable to delivering against our refreshed diversity, equity and inclusion goals.
As we continue to align globally, the time is right to refresh our framework and approach to inclusion to ensure we’re advancing in the right direction as one team, with all voices heard and represented. We are an ongoing work in progress. To get us started as one global team we are paring things back to basics and hold ourselves accountable to the following:
- Understanding what matters most to our global team (our crew). We’ve surveyed all staff to understand where our people feel we have the gaps and/or need more focus. To be successful we need our people with us, which makes alignment critical to our progress. We’ve asked where they see our strengths and opportunities as well as our weaknesses and threats.
- Forming a global culture council with representation across all markets in which we have a presence. This council is tasked to work with global leadership to set clear goals and priorities that are specific and measurable.
- Learning from our ocean (our partners, peers, clients and wider networks), being inspired by and open to suggestions from our partners, be that clients, our agency partners and wider networks. We will steal with pride ideas and initiatives that surface and credit the teams that inspired us, as we hope to inspire others.
- There is a lot at AxiCom that is implicit in our values and we have relied on this to inform our DEI progress over the years. However, our progress today is dependent on us being explicit. Which is why we are going back to the start to ensure we’ve covered all aspects that matter most to our people today and our people tomorrow.
As we make progress we will aim to post updates here to be transparent on our journey and open to discussion and input.
Introducing our Global Culture Council
Meet the team responsible for driving our culture and efforts across all areas of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Concepting, delivering and executing our plans. Reviewing, reiterating and refreshing our efforts. Holding everyone at AxiCom, including leadership, accountable to delivering on our vision.
