Inclusive workplace with increased sense of belonging: Data from the All in Census 2023

The results of the 2023 All In Census have been published today at the All In Summit, following participation in the study by almost 19,000 practitioners from across the advertising and marketing industries, spanning agencies, media owners, tech companies, and brand marketing teams. It is the largest response yet for the initiative (equating to an investment of £300,000 of the industry’s time and exceeding the 16,000 participating in 2021), making it the largest survey of its kind undertaken by any UK industry.

The analysis - presented by Kantar and supported by UK advertising think tank Credos - shows some progress has been made, with respondents indicating a sense of belonging up 2 percentage points (ppts) to 71 per cent and a presence of negative behaviour down 1 ppts to 15 per cent, with an All In Inclusion Index score of 69 per cent, up 2 ppts since 2021.

Findings from the 2023 All In Census, which has been led by the Advertising Association, ISBA and the IPA, include:

Gender Representation

• Over half of the women who responded feel that taking parental leave has negatively impacted their career progression. 29 per cent of women believe their gender is a hindrance 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 per cent of respondents were from a minority ethnic background, of those 4% were Black, and 8 per cent 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 per cent in 2021 to 21 per cent 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 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. These were followed by Muslims and Women as the next most likely to experience discrimination – both 9 per cent. 

Disability Representation

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

Social Mobility Representation

• 20 per cent of the workforce are from a working-class background compared to 40 per cent of the UK population. 19 per cent of people in the industry attended a fee-paying school versus 8 per cent 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 in 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 per cent 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 per cent, that stress/anxiety was primarily work-related. 

Menopause

• 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.

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 per cent of potential leavers. This was followed by poor work-life balance and changing careers.

Kathryn Jacob, chair, All In Working Group, said: “Firstly, our 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. 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 the qualifying criteria can access their own results to compare how they benchmark against the industry average and identify specific areas for improvement.