Media agency members of the Media Federation of Australia (MFA) have completed the industry’s second annual DE&I survey, providing a holistic view of progress of diversity, equity and inclusion.
The aim of the survey, completed by 2,203 individuals working in Australian media agencies, is to help the MFA and its members track ongoing progress and to provide strategic direction for improvement.
The survey results show that 43% of media agency employees describe their cultural background as non-Australian, including 24% with North European background, 12% Southern and Eastern European, 17% Asian and 4% New Zealanders.
Nearly 27% of respondents speak another language (compared to 21% of the general population of Australia).
However, only 0.3% of respondents reported being First Nations people.
Those living with a diagnosed disability or special need are under-represented, making up 4.31% of the media agency population, versus 17% of the general population.
On a positive note, this figure was up from 2020, when only 1.2% of respondents were living with a diagnosed disability or special need.
Women represent 45% of C-Suite management roles, which is higher than the average in the Australian workplace of 32.5% of key management positions held by women.
Of the survey respondents, 10% are members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
In the area of inclusion, 94% said they feel included and like they belong in the media agency industry, and 97% felt supported and safe to be themselves at work.
That leaves 6% of people who don’t feel included and 3% of people who don’t feel supported to be themselves.
Most (80%) said they had not experienced ignorance, prejudice, insensitivity, or exclusion in the past 12 months – meaning one out of five did experience some sort of bias.
The MFA’s goal is for 100% of individuals in the industry to feel they belong and are safe to be themselves at work.
The MFA’s Head of People, Linda Wong: “This is the second year we’ve conducted an industry-wide DE&I survey, with a lot of useful data coming through.
"The results are shared with agencies so they can benchmark where they sit versus the rest of the industry, and to identify areas for improvement.
"We believe measuring what matters is a critical element to driving change and improvement, and this is just the start of our journey in making our industry more diverse, equitable and inclusive.”
Tanvi Singh, Vice Chair of the MFA DE&I Advisory Council and Mindshare Strategy Director: “The results of the DE&I survey are a great starting point for agencies in improving their own initiatives and programs in all areas of diversity, equity and inclusion.
"We’d like to see them be more aggressive with their targets so that we see the metrics shift towards a more diverse industry – one that is closer to aligning to the Australian population.”
The MFA DE&I Advisory Council will launch its Media for All DE&I strategy for the industry at next year’s MFA EX conference in Sydney February 10 and Melbourne February 16.
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