A report the Association of National Advertisers Educational Foundation (AEF) shared with Marketing Dive reveals that marketers are still struggling to recruit and retain diverse talent due to a lack of inclusiveness that diverse workers feel and lack of diversity initiatives in the workplace.

The report also states that marketers could retain and attract more diverse talent by following the guidelines in the ANA’s Talent Forward Alliance, which helps the marketing industry grow by developing top talent.  

When interviewing a group for the study, new hires stated that the likes of management disconnect, microaggressions, cultural illiteracy and difficulty having conversations around diversity were affecting their breaking into the industry. The report also hints that the industry is focused “too narrowly” on numbers as opposed to recruiting and retaining talent from underrepresented populations. What leaders should be focusing on is inclusivity as it looks to appeal to the next generation – they need to feel like their voice matters and their talent is indeed needed.

The ANA has created several initiatives that help marketers be more inclusive when it comes to gender diversity and representing minorities in the workplace and beyond.

This goes beyond just recruitment and is a wider issue within the industry. For example, at business events, there is a huge lack of diversity in those taking to the stage to speak, and that includes gender diversity. We are still seeing all-male panels across events in the industry, and this is something PerformanceIN wants to delve into deeper. Why is this? Is it down to the lack of females submitting pitches to speak, or are the event organisers just not choosing to represent female talent? PI LIVE is looking to have a 50/50 split in panel discussions this year and to help encourage new talent to the stage.  

Diversity in public speaking

To help tackle this problem and delve into why we are still seeing a lack of diversity on stages, PerformanceIN is teaming up with Acceleration Partners and Connected Path to discuss public speaking and why the industry needs to change to encourage more diversity on stage. What better way to kick off the campaign than on International Women’s Day?

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