DIVERSITY AND CARBON:
COMMITMENTS, TARGETS AND PERFORMANCE
We believe in diversity not just because it’s the right thing to do. Our clients have complex problems that require different perspectives and world views that simply do not come from any single segment in society.
As such the Blurred team is proudly diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity, socio-economic background, age, religious belief, sexual orientation and national origin. Purposefully. We make the following commitments:
To support those from disadvantaged backgrounds including low-income socio-economic groups
To foster an inclusive culture
To set challenging DEI KPIs, published in 2020 and updated every six months, and to report our pay gap data annually
To conduct our own due diligence in terms only working with businesses actively working towards the UN SDGs
To a six-monthly employee survey, making sure that, as we grow, bad behaviours don’t creep in
In accordance with the above, see below our DEI, net-zero carbon and environmental targets.
Targets set November 2020
By end of 2023: at least 40% of core team roles to be held by people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
By end of 2023: at least 20% of senior core team roles to be held by people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
By end of 2026: at least 30% of senior core team roles to be held by people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Regular Board review of remuneration across directly equivalent roles to ensure ethnic and gender pay parity.
2020 baseline: core team 21% from ethnic minority backgrounds with 10% in senior roles. Pay parity.
UPDATE: As of March 2021, core team is 24% from ethnic minority backgrounds with 8% in senior roles. With pay parity.
UPDATE: As of September 2021, core team is 25% from ethnic minority backgrounds with 17% in senior roles. With pay parity.
UPDATE: As of March 2022, core team is 31% from ethnic minority backgrounds with 16% in senior roles. With pay parity.
UPDATE: As of September 2022, core team is 36% from ethnic minority backgrounds with 18% in senior roles. With pay parity.
UPDATE: As of March 2023, core team is 33% from ethnic minority backgrounds with 17% in senior roles. With pay parity.
UPDATE: As of September 2023, core team is 36% from ethnic minority backgrounds with 18% in senior roles. With pay parity.
UPDATE: As of March 2024, core team is 33% from ethnic minority backgrounds with 25% in senior roles. With pay parity.
Pay gap data
We’re also increasingly focused on intersectionality in our DEI strategy. We do not look at one single characteristic (such as ethnicity) in isolation. People’s life chances and access to opportunity are determined by multiple overlapping factors, including gender, disability and parental socio-economic status.
Taking intersectionality into account is a vital part of building and nurturing a truly diverse team and ensuring that everyone has opportunity – regardless of background, life stage or personal circumstance.
Currently our targets are focused on gender and ethnicity, but we now track and report, six monthly, on other DEI factors.
As of March 2024:
In the core team:
5% have a disability.
24% are disclosed neurodiverse (note: while the law generally considers neurodiversity to be a form of disability, we take a more positive view. Neurodiversity can also be an enabling factor. We therefore separate ‘disability’ from ‘neurodiversity’ in our tracking).
23% were the first member of their extended family over multiple prior generations to stay in full-time education beyond secondary school or equivalent.
67% went to non fee-paying schools.
27% identify as a practicing member of a UK religious minority.
10% are over 50 years old and 19% are under 30.
Targets set November 2020
Ongoing: commitment to ensure that those that identify as women hold at least 50% of core team roles and at least 50% of senior roles.
Regular Board review of remuneration across directly equivalent roles to ensure ethnic and gender pay parity.
Women account for the majority of the talent pool in the global communications and sustainability sectors. We think of our core team gender target as a minimum baseline to ensure the composition of our team accurately reflects the wider world.
However, women are under-represented in senior roles across all sectors, including communications and sustainability. We’re therefore particularly focused on ensuring that at least half of our senior leaders are female.
Also note that we recognise and respect the importance of allowing people to self-identify in terms of gender.
2020 baseline: 69% identify as female with 70% in senior roles. Pay parity.
UPDATE: As of March 2021 63% identify as female with 58% in senior roles. With pay parity.
UPDATE: As of September 2021 68% identify as female with 67% in senior roles. With pay parity.
UPDATE: As of March 2022 67% identify as female with 68% in senior roles. With pay Parity
UPDATE: As of September 2022 76% identify as female with 71% in senior roles. With pay Parity
UPDATE: As of March 2023 78% identify as female with 72% in senior roles. With pay Parity
UPDATE: As of September 2023 81% identify as female with 62% in senior roles. With pay parity
UPDATE: As of March 2024 71% identify as female with 75% in senior roles. With pay parity
Pay gap data.
Target set November 2020
October 2021: net-zero carbon impact under the firm’s Working from Anywhere (WFA) framework (see below).
UPDATE: October 2021. Achieved. However are we constantly assessing and evolving how we do things, for continuous improvement.
About Blurred’s WFA framework
We introduced our WFA framework in August 2020, which included the decision to close the office on Mondays and Fridays on a permanent basis. We have switched to a 100% renewable electricity supplier for our office and are now taking action to help employees working from home reduce the emissions associated with their household electricity consumption. We encourage every employee to switch to a 100% renewable electricity tariff at home and offer an annual subsidy for each employee if switching would lead to an increase in power costs.