Praytell Shows Progress Against DEI Commitments & Debuts Long-Term Agenda

We’ve all seen the same toothless statements. The same vague commitments. The arbitrary strategies that don’t produce results. That’s not what we’re about. Our mission - to lead with ambition.

We’re clear-eyed about the future we’re building together. One that won’t be achieved without rigor, accountability and intention. One that means a truly equitable, inclusive and diverse workforce.

As we uphold our commitment to sharing annual progress against our DEI goals, it’s important that we reflect on the past year to not lose sight of our role in driving change. 2020 was a year of disruption. The Pandemic-Era. A Year of Social Unrest. A Racial Reckoning. Its impact will last a lifetime, and we saw its immediate effects in our workforce - it’s rapidly changing, and we know we have to continue adapting quickly. At Praytell, the status quo has never been enough, and we welcome the pressure to build a better industry.

So we’ve put a stake in the ground. We leaned into our company values, building a progressive agenda to meet the moment, setting clear goals that we’ve used as a road map toward progress.  We communicated to our network, employees, clients and partners of our long-standing commitment toward:  

• Urgent Transparency by publishing our demographic data last year and providing monthly updates.

• Cultivating BIPOC Talent through an investment in our ERG communities, tailored programming and partnerships year-round.
• Removing Bias and Advancing Equity through anti-racism education and a thorough review and revamp of our recruiting, staffing, performance and  compensation practices.  
• Strengthening our Pipeline of our most underrepresented groups by identifying gaps in representation across all levels and deploying inclusive strategies to recruit diverse talent.
• Deeping Community Ties through employee engagement and pro-bono services for organizations committed to racial justice and solving systemic issues. We’ve partnered with the Diversity Marketing Consortium and Harlem Capital, Stop AAPI Hate, Civic Nation and USOW: Every Issue is a Gender Issue, and more.  

Our employee resource groups (ERGs) also emerged as the driving force behind our progress. Our ambitious leaders took the reins and throughout the past year have driven change and fostered community. With a seat at the table and a direct line to leadership, our ERGs have improved work conditions for underrepresented groups, brought employees together in a safe place where conversations can flow freely, identified and developed emerging talent that might otherwise go overlooked due to unconscious bias, created mentorship relationships that support colleagues across the agency, and fostered an all-agency environment of learning, respect and advocacy.

Data Deep Dive

Let’s take a look at where we were in 2020, where we are today and where we are going.

Last year, there was a call for all agencies to report on the racial and gender diversity of their workforce. We welcomed this challenge with open arms - transparency is critical to enforcing accountability in the fight to advance racial and gender equity with the urgency it deserves.

Moving forward, we are striving to meet and surpass gender and racial representation that reflects the global markets we serve (Census link).  

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BIPOC Representation

1. Takeaway: Overall racial diversity has increased 2% and is on par with the US population. Praytell is currently made up of 40% non-White employees / 60% White employees. We’ll continue to see demographic shifts in the US and our benchmarks will reflect these changes.

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Racial, Ethnic Diversity Breakdown

2. Takeaway: We made a positive shift in a difficult time for recruiting and retention.  

We’ve successfully increased representation of our most underrepresented communities. Praytell’s Black (12%), Latine (12%), Mixed Race (5%) representation is closer to reflecting the U.S. population (13%, 19%, 3% respectfully).

And while our Asian representation (11%) is higher than the national population (6%), we experienced a 6% decrease in one year. This is a noticeable decline and one we will be exploring focused recruitment and retention efforts, specifically in senior and mid-level positions.

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Diversity Across Career Level  

3. Takeaway: We are proud to see the continued diversification of our Leadership team across race/ethnicity and gender. We’ve accomplished our immediate goal to increase Asian (+2%) and Latine (+2%) representation in Leadership positions (VP, SVP, EVP, Executive Leadership Team - or equivalent) . Leadership now consists of 29% BIPOC representation (an increase from 24% last year).We also saw a slight increase in diversity of our senior level Praytellians. Notably, Black representation increased 7%.

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Gender Representation  

4. Takeaway: We know that gender is not binary, meaning identities exist outside of male and female. Gender also intersects with every social identity (ex: age, race, class).

We will continue expanding our categorization and reporting of gender beyond what is reported by the EEOC, and we remain committed to hiring men of color across all levels - an underrepresented population.

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The Next Chapter

Now is not the time to coast. Because there is no imaginary finish line, the work is constant and our goals must be our collective priorities. Staying focused is the only way to keep momentum of the gains we’ve achieved.

This is why our next 3 years will focus on core pillars that will continue to solidify our leadership status and expand our impact in global markets.  

Questions? Drop us a line at hello@praytellagency.com. We look forward to hearing from you.