In Conversation With Legal PR Leaders : Diversity Amongst PR Professionals
by Sonali Arora, Associate Consultant
In more ways than one, the world of PR has remarkable variation and diversity: different agencies, company sizes, job titles, levels, and sectors, to name a few. However, does this then also mean that diversity is prominent when it comes to the workforce? For many people working in PR, the answer is no. With regards to gender and race specifically, I wanted to investigate how diverse the workforce in PR really is. It’s safe to say that both data and insight from PR representatives depict an interesting picture of whether employee diversity remains an issue…
Data
‘The public relations profession faces a diversity challenge. Our data shows that 9 in 10 UK practitioners are White and 25% are privately educated – around four times higher than the UK national average. This lack of representation hinders our ability to connect with the diverse and vibrant communities we serve.'
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations released this statement shortly before I conducted my research, and it quickly brought to light how remarkably undiverse the general PR workforce can be. Regarding gender, and specifically the gender pay gap, data only further proves a sour point. Public relations is, to many, a “feminised” profession, with approximately 60%-70% of any PR firm’s workforce being female. Worryingly, the only exception to this figure is when it comes to senior-level roles, in which case male representation dominates. As well as the gender imbalance, figures retrieved from PRWeek paint a concerning illustration of the gender pay gap in PR. According to data, male agency professionals can expect a salary that is up to 25% greater than their female counterparts. This gap is reportedly narrower for those working in-house, yet this figure is still a disillusioning 11%.
Karen Snell
Whilst this data is insightful, having chatted to PR professionals in the legal sphere, I wanted to ask them whether these trends are evident in the workplace itself. For Karen Snell at the law firm Kennedys, there is no doubt that lack of diversity remains an issue in the world of legal PR, and legal business development and marketing more broadly. With greater male representation at senior levels certainly being evident, hiring talent from a diverse talent pool is critical for ensuring inclusion. For Karen, the lack of diversity in legal PR is just a nugget of the wider issue that PR careers are shadowed by other career options.
In my own experience, a career in PR wasn’t on the cards for me whilst I was at school/university, purely because I didn’t know that it existed until I joined MadlinHanna Consulting. Karen emphasises that, likewise, in the case of law firms, it’s critical for graduates and candidates to know that law firms offer roles that don’t merely entail becoming lawyers. With many firms, including Kennedys, introducing apprenticeship schemes across business services as well as legal teams, this will hopefully begin to shift. A lot needs to be done to promote the world of PR generally, and the lack of diversity is merely one symptom of a broader affliction.
Michael Osborne
There is hope, however. Michael Osborne, a communications leader in the legal industry, remains hopeful that the lack of diversity can be improved. As Michael says: ‘the statistics tell us we have some way to go, but anecdotally I've seen a shift in my network, and some great initiatives like the Taylor Bennett Foundation. So, the good news is that change can happen.’ Various initiatives and policies can be established to ensure diversity in the workplace, and this all starts with hiring from a diverse talent pool. From a headhunter’s perspective, I know how vital it is to map the whole market whilst undertaking a search, so that qualified and high-calibre individuals are approached, regardless of background. By not mapping the entire market, hiring decisions can remain tied to pre-existing networks and contacts.
In Summary
The conversations that I had with PR professionals emphasised one key insight: that the issue of a lack of diversity is, thankfully, recognised. What now needs to be done is for PR careers to be advertised more broadly, and for firms to establish incentives to guarantee recruitment from a diverse talent pool. As Michael Osborne summarises, "any leader who is looking at their team and not seeing diversity of experience and thinking should be concerned. It's like a football team without all the players - you won't get the best performance."
Thank you to Karen and Michael for your contributions.
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