Working To Build A More Inclusive Workplace For All

Our Commercial Director and Inclusion lead, Sharon Lloyd Barnes, hosted a special All In session on Thursday morning at the LBB beach, to talk about what our industry needs to do next to accelerate change and support the creation of a workplace where everyone belongs.

She was joined by three incredible people from our industry – Reckitt’s Diversity & Inclusion Director, Efrain Ayala, adam&eveDDB’s Head of Diversity, Equality & Inclusion, Bukola Garry and Harjot Singh, the Global Chief Strategy Officer at McCann.

Sharon set out the All In achievements to date, most recently the awarding of All In Champion status to more than 70 companies from across the UK advertising industry for implementing the first six actions of the All In Plan. This has been delivered in the space of 15 months, following the first every industry census to record the make-up of the industry back in March 2021.

When asked about to share his views on the importance of achieving greater inclusion, Harjot said, ‘No client has ever said please make work for us that looks just like everyone else. All In is a business imperative.’

His point was built on by Efrain who added, ‘In order to deliver positive portrayal, you need a diverse group of people involved in that work. We need the diversity of perspectives. If your team isn’t diverse now, you have to ask yourself, how do you outsource to make sure that range of perspectives is there, while you continue to build a more inclusive team.’

Bukola explained how the All In initiative has had an impact at adam&eveDDB, who are one of the newly-announced All In Champion companies, ‘All In has made us all stop and say let’s not keep doing the same thing which isn’t making a real change. D&I is not adjacent to the business strategy. We all have to own this and the All In framework has helped to ensure inclusion is properly adopted and embraced right across the business.’

Sharon went on to describe how all of the actions in the All In plan have been developed by working groups drawn from experts in our industry. She asked the panel whether they think change is happening fast enough.

Harjot responded by saying, ‘We’re not here to talk about how tough it is to drive change, we’re here to ask what are you going to do about it? We do not have to accept the current structures, but it is clear that I as an individual have to keep pushing forward. People say to me, tone down, and I say, no, tone yourself up! People must continue to experiment and bring their real self to work. My advice? Tell your story and be loud as hell.’

Efrain acknowledged there has been some progress but said, ‘it’s in pockets, it’s not deep enough and it’s not broad enough. We need everyone to make work a safe place where people can be their authentic selves, rather than feeling that they have to perform.’

Bukola shared the pressures of being a representative of the change the industry needs to see, saying, ‘I want to be positive but it is exhausting and it is tiring to keep bringing your whole self to work. It’s hard and I don’t think we should always have to do that. While it is a good thing that there are all these new platforms to speak from, it is hugely demanding to constantly be asked to show up and share your lived experience. Many people from different backgrounds are saying, you know what, it is easier to become a consultant, rather than be constantly expected to be sharing everything all day, every day.’

Sharon finished the session by asking the panel to share a piece of advice with anyone looking to help build a more inclusive workplace.

Bukola said, ‘Ask yourself, what have I done today to be more inclusive? This work is as much about self-reflection than anything else.’

Efrain’s advice was to look closer at the bias that is present, saying, ‘I can guarantee you your work is full of bias, so how are you going to remove it?

Harjot rounded off the advice, with a strong call-to-action to leaders across the industry. ‘You have to create inclusion by design, before it happens by default. Right now, if you are in a leadership position, hire hire hire, promote promote promote. That’s what we need to be doing.’

To find out more about All In, check out the All In Hub.