Is your company doing enough to be inclusive? Tell us | Advertising

Campaign Asia-Pacific and Kantar are excited to announce the launch of our fifth annual survey to observe diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI) progress in APAC adland. The survey aims to assess the degree of which organisations in the region have achieved in their pursuit of diversity and inclusion, whether it relates to gender, age, race, sexual orientation, mental and physical ability, or any other factor.

To show our appreciation for your time and commitment, you will enjoy a 30% off on the ticket to this year’s Campaign Leading Change Conference and Women Leading Change Workshop upon completion. Three participants will also win a 1-year Campaign Asia-Pacific membership (US$180) or a ticket to the 2022 Campaign Leading Change conference (US$270).

The survey is open to all individuals across the marketing, advertising, media and communications industry in Asia-Pacific and most importantly, it is completely anonymous. The findings will be presented at Campaign Leading Change (virtual) in June 2021 and will be available in a downloadable report.

From last year’s study featuring 345 responses from industry folk across 18 countries in APAC, the results were a cry for help to say the least. The number of people who say that men and women are treated equally in their organisation dropped to 48% in 2020 compared with 68% in 2017. And almost half (47%) of people say that men are more respected by top management, a figure that has doubled since 2017 (28%). This is also worse in India, where more than half feel that men are more respected (58%).

On the race front, forty-three percent of people believe that they are judged by race (up 20% from 2017) and more than a quarter (26%) feel that respect from top management is based on their race rather than what they do. A prevailing view across the region was that people feel that they are overlooked because their viewpoint doesn’t tie with the “white-dominated business world”.

Perhaps the most pressing area that needed immediate help was mental health, especially against the backdrop of the pandemic and WFH. More than half last year reported feeling very stressed at work (57%) and finding it challenging to manage stress in their lives (40%). This is not limited to psychological impact as 46% say work has impacted their physical health negatively, causing them to lose sleep and feeling more lethargic (55%). We suspect this worrying trend might carry through this year as well.

To help us shed light on these matters and more, we urge you to take our 10-minute survey and help us understand and detect problems in the industry. Thank you!