Committed to Diversity,
Equity and Inclusion
At RPG, our core cultural building blocks are authenticity, belonging and compassion. Without a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, these are empty words.
In 2020, we all realized that conversations about racial and social justice, once considered unsuitable for the workplace, are critically important conversations 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.
For these reasons, we have taken concrete steps at RPG to address issues of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). DEI gaps are significant within the communications industry and RPG is no exception. However, as American tennis legend Arthur Ashe famously said about transformational change, it’s critical to “start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.” To that end, these are the concrete steps we have taken (as of January, 2021), to lay the groundwork for the future:
Transparency and Training:
Transparency: We share demographic and diversity data with industry organizations, including the Diversity Action Alliance and the PR Council.
DEI Training: All RPG employees have completed DEI training. We completed agency-wide unconscious bias eLearning training and a privilege walk in 2020. We expect that all new employees will complete this training moving forward.
Leadership Certifications: We have committed to securing Certified Diversity Executive (CDE®) credentials for our president as well as our head of people and DEI. This will ensure that we model best practices for our teams and our clients, allowing us credibly to champion DEI on multiple fronts.
Allyship and Action:
Pro Bono Work: We are a member of the Diversity Marketing Consortium, through which we support women- and BIPOC-owned start-ups by providing more than $185,000 of pro bono services per year.
Financial Support: We have donated a combined $7,500 to the T. Howard and Taylor Bennett Foundations, both of which focus on diversifying the communications field.
Supplier Diversification: We are diversifying our supplier base by working with minority-owned businesses for our own technology and services needs and partnering with BIPOC-owned businesses for RPG training needs and co-developing solutions for our clients. (Our partner TDM is a certified Minority Business Enterprise.)
Promoting Democratic Participation: We participate in Time to Vote and provide our employees a full “Democracy Day” each year to participate in the democratic process.
Hiring Practices:
We have embraced best practices in building a talent pipeline by partnering with minority-serving institutions and HBCUs and foundations to source candidates.