DIVERSITY,
EQUITY &
INCLUSION

At RPG, our core cultural building blocks are authenticity, belonging and compassion. However, these are empty words without a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Conversations about racial and social injustice, once considered unsuitable for the workplace, are now critically important for us to have everywhere. As our partners at The Diversity Movement remind us, “when companies downplay demographic differences, they actually increase underrepresented employees’ perception of bias from white colleagues and reduce engagement at work.”

“C.S. Lewis wrote: ‘Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.’ Our people are watching us now. We must authentically be part of the solution. [I will] put in place an actionable commitment to diversity at RPG. My goal is for us to be impeccable in this regard. It will take time and we won’t be perfect, but know that this is a priority.”
– Excerpt from a letter to the Racepoint Global Leadership Team from Bob Osmond, president (June 1, 2020)

For these reasons, we have taken concrete steps at RPG to address issues of DEI. These gaps are significant in the communications industry, and RPG is no exception. As an agency, we have wholly committed to laying the groundwork for our future through ongoing transparency, training, allyship, action, and hiring practices. To that end, these are the concrete steps we have taken to lay the groundwork for the future:

EQUITY, TRANSPARENCY & TRAINING

  • We have achieved and are committed to pay equity. Transparency is key to equity and we share salary bands for all employees.
  • We share demographic and diversity data with industry organizations, including the Diversity Action Alliance and the PR Council. We actively take part in the PR Council’s DEI community group and PR Council’s employee resource groups (ERGs) for black professionals and LGBTQIA+ employees.
  • All existing and new employees have completed DEI training and an agency-wide unconscious bias course.
  • Agency president and chief people officer have both secured their Certified Diversity Executive (CDE®) credentials, allowing us to credibly champion DEI on many fronts.

ALLYSHIP & ACTION

  • We are proud members of Time to Vote, Don’t Ban Equality, and the Diversity Marketing Consortium (DMC). Through the DMC, we have provided more than $481k in pro-bono services to support women- and BIPOC-owned start-ups.
  • We committed to a recovery-forward culture by taking the Working with Cancer pledge.
  • We committed to a fighting all forms of antisemitism and bias by taking the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Workplace Pledge to Fight Antisemitism.
  • Every employee has access to eight hours of paid time to participate in the democratic process.
  • Since 2020, RPG donated more than $31,000 to organizations focused on equity and diversity, including the T. Howard and Taylor Bennett Foundations, Planned Parenthood, The Clubhouse Network, Girls Who Code, among others.
  • Members of the leadership team mentor young PR professionals through the T. Howard Foundation.
  • We diversified our supplier base by working with minority-owned businesses for our own technology and service needs, partnering with BIPOC-owned companies for RPG training and events, and co-developing solutions for our clients.
  • We speak at industry conferences about diversity, inclusive communications, and the importance of DEI.

HIRING PRACTICES

  • We have embraced best practices in building a talent pipeline by partnering with minority-serving institutions, HBCUs, and foundations to source candidates.