On June 8th of this year, Padilla outlined its commitment to do our part to help break the cycle of discrimination, racial injustice and inequality in our society. As part of our ongoing commitment, we established a Diversity + Inclusion Council a year ago. We also promised to focus on improving diversity and inclusion within our industry and our firm – including a deep look at our organization to assure that we are free of structural inequities and unconscious bias in our culture, and that we are creating a workplace that puts a priority on equality, diversity and openness. You can find the full statement HERE.
Part of that commitment is establishing a baseline for improvement. Padilla is participating in #CommitToChange and sharing our staffing demographics with the rest of the communications industry. We, like our peers, have some work to do when it comes to recruiting and retaining Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) team members. We stand at just under 10% agency-wide, which is about the industry average but not nearly enough.
We also took the opportunity to share similar data as it relates to gender, and we stand firm in our commitment to pay equity and equal-opportunity advancement for all who choose our profession.
These are benchmarks. We intend to improve, and we know our clients and peers will join us on this important and urgent journey.