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New ICCO White Paper Challenges PR Industry to Confront Modern Communication Challenges

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The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) has launched its first ‘Modern Communication Challenges for Society’ white paper, setting out the PR industry’s role in improving the global media and communications landscape.

Following consultation with members and working groups, the white paper identifies freedom of media and freedom of speech, media literacy and education, and new technology and digital media ethics, as the three issues most crucial for the PR industry to have a leading voice on.

To tackle these challenges, the paper calls for a serious alliance across industries, including journalism, advertising, tech, and policymakers. The paper outlines the issues and impact on PR practice, and PR’s role in finding solutions. As part of this work, ICCO and its members have been contributing to the relevant committees within the Council of Europe, to discuss legislative and educational solutions.

Massimo Moriconi, ICCO Europe President, ICCO said:
“PR professionals both design the modern communication landscape, and are key players within it, dictating how media impacts people’s lives. Freedom of media to enable free expression, media literacy to fight fake news, and responsible use of artificial intelligence, are all at the core of today’s agenda for ICCO. This first white paper was created as a global collaboration, taking heed from the Council of Europe’s great work. The paper will inspire and support PR businesses and communications stakeholders in our efforts to collectively design a better communications landscape and benefit society.”

Patrick Penninckx, Head of Information Society, Council of Europe said:
“We look forward to working with the public relation industry, global institutions, and other relevant stakeholders, to tackle these critical issues at a time of great change for the global media landscape”.

Nitin Mantri, President, ICCO said:
“This paper can be the start of a great dialogue between all types of stakeholders as we tackle core issues facing communications today – with PR professionals rightly at the heart of the conversation.
“It’s important to acknowledge this paper is being published amidst war in Ukraine, in which systemic, sophisticated misinformation is being communicated by the Russian government. Through collective, international high standards, we can fight bad practice in a coherent and emphatic way.”

The paper calls on PR professionals and all media stakeholders to:
– Engage with the issues directly and understand the role of PR within them.
– Engage with national PR associations and projects locally
– Open dialogues that span PR, advertising, tech, and journalism
– Bring forth ideas and solutions as we create further papers, tools, standards and agreements to confront challenges together.

The paper can be viewed and downloaded here: Global Communication Challenges 2022
Contact rob.morbin@iccopr.com

Four ways to elevate women’s voices and make the PR industry a level-playing field

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Nitin Mantri, ICCO President, Group CEO Avian WE

Just two years into the new decade and the world has seen an astounding number of breakthroughs in science and technology. Shared knowledge resulted in the fastest development and rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine; WHO approved the world’s first malaria vaccine for children; NASA learned how to fly in a Martian atmosphere, IBM launched the most powerful quantum processor yet, and every company worth its salt jumped on the “metaverse’ bandwagon.

The speed at which new discoveries and advances are helping humankind accelerate into a new world is both exciting and ironic. Because all the progress notwithstanding, when it comes to gender equality, we are abysmally behind. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021, the pandemic has increased the global gender gap by a generation – from 99.5 years to 135.6 years.

Gender inequality exists in every industry – from technology to corporate, politics, media, sports, entertainment, and beyond. It is a complex issue and there is no one size fits all solution.

What can we do about this? How can we ensure that the communications industry, where agencies are overwhelmingly staffed by women but often led by men, functions fairly and equitably? Here are four ways we can elevate women’s voices as powerfully, and as often, as we elevate men’s and make our industry a level-playing field:

Gender equality should be a CEO’s top priority

Gender equality must be in the DNA of every communications firm, embedded in its values and culture, and used as a lens for every decision from strategy to recruitment. And it must swoop down from the top leadership. If the CEO and the board of directors are not committed to ensuring a safe and supportive work culture that is conducive for the growth of their women employees, equality will just be a tick box. Change must start at the top of an organisation and the onus to eliminate biases lies on the CEO.

Build a work culture that integrates work and family

Even though we are living in the 21st century, women are still the primary, and at times, the sole caregivers in their families. In the absence of an office structure that integrates work and family, several women are forced to drop out of the workforce every year. We can prevent this by developing policies and programmes that support both women (as mothers and daughters) and men (as fathers and sons). Provide sufficient maternity and paternity leaves; introduce flexible hours for expectant and new parents, give caregiver leave or part-time work opportunities to employees who need to tend to the medical needs of aging parents or ailing family members. This way the burden of family responsibilities will be equally distributed, and women will find it easier to do their jobs.

Introduce returnee programmes
Invest in returnee programmes to balance the gender gap. Many women are not able to restart their careers after a break because the rapid evolution of technology results in their skillsets being outdated. We can address the industry’s talent problem by helping women reskill and upskill and join back the workforce. VMware, for example, started India’s biggest returnee programme called VMInclusion Taara in 2019 to address the increasing gender gap in the technology sector. Over 12,000 women have registered with the programme in a span of two years and around 2,000 women have found their way back into the workforce.

Measure progress to achieve gender equality

Gender equality policies and programmes will remain only on paper, if we don’t track and measure their implementation and progress. The best way to do it is by tying executive bonuses, including the CEO’s salary, to diversity goals. Companies like Microsoft, Intel, Nike, Facebook and Johnson and Johnson, to name a few have already done that. So, while we counsel our clients on the importance of sustainability and purpose, we also need to put our money where our mouth is and incorporate gender diversity goals in our business strategies. This will hold our leaders accountable for their behavior, help them address their unconscious biases, and build a steady pipeline of senior talent.

#BreakTheBias

It’s critical to remember that gender equality is not for the benefit of women alone. When companies empower their women employees, it has a multiplier effect on businesses, families, communities, and economies. High time we made a conscious effort to #BreakTheBias, and bring about genuine structural changes for gender equality in the communications industry.

A Time For Authenticity and Action

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Extracted from the 2021-22 ICCO World Report.

Sudha Singh’s thought provoking reflections on diversity, equity and inclusion are featured in the 2021-2022 ICCO PR World report.

As I review the data from ICCO’s World PR Report, I sit with the awareness and understanding that countries and cultures are not homogenous, they are different and unique. That when we speak about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), we are at different points in our journey; sensitivity and awareness levels may wildly differ from country to country within a region or a continent. It is important to understand that priorities differ from country to country and sometimes in the same country the drivers of DEI differ from one region to another.

The US and UK – parts of the West that were roiled [in 2020] after the brutal murder of George Floyd and ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) – and Latin America fared poorly on the question of ethnic representation. The US was at 3.6 and the other two at 4.1. The key takeaway here is that there is heightened awareness and recognition of the inequalities in these geographies which is great, because it means that there is an acknowledgement of a) the problem and b) the need for urgent change.

This is further reflected in the fact the same three countries score highest on firms that have a diversity and inclusion policy with the US at 71% followed by Latin America(62%) and UK(60%).

However, there seems to be worrying shift though in the Middle-East, Asia-Pac, and Africa if we compare with last year’s data: representation of ethnic minorities has gone down in percentage terms. Surprisingly Western Europe fares the worst amongst the eight regions surveyed and we need further data to understand why that is. Overall, the data is indicative of the absence of sub-stantive progress across countries/corporates and that may very well be due to the fact that in the past 18 months companies have paused to reflect and review their efforts in the direction. Or that most corporates have been fairly oblivious to systemic inequalities. It is encouraging to see that a large number of those surveyed review their policy at least once a year if not more.

The DEI agenda in the West was propelled by the horrific murder of George Floyd, BLM and the pandemic that exacerbated racial and ethnic inequalities. It required seismic events to spotlight the trials and tribulations of marginalised communities.

The impetus in some regions/ countries is regulatory requirements and for many companies it gets to the top of the agenda because of the associated business and reputation risks. In India for example the conversation centres largely on gender; the LGBTQ agenda comes to the fore at multinationals – where DEI policies at the HQ become the trigger points in local markets. Western multinationals have the power to enable positive change in the countries and communities where they operate.

However, it is critical to keep in mind that companies must not try to force fit their policies in local markets, they must be mindful of local realities and engage with teams and experts to identify priorities or focus areas.

The last 18 months has laid bare the stark inequalities in our world. As we slowly move towards recovery, the outlook is fairly positive for our industry. This has also been a time for the sobering realisation that we are failing abysmally on representation, equity and inclusion, and the consensus all around is that it will require transformative changes if we are to build a fairer industry. For businesses as they struggled with aftershocks, it has been a time to align their core purpose to broader societal needs, listen to their stakeholders, take a stand on important is-sues and not just because of share holder imperatives. CEOs and the C-suite are grappling with the pace of change, to adapt, and understand whatever state of flux we are in at that point in time. For an industry that aspires to have a seat at the table, and advise clients on purpose and sustainability, this puts us on the back foot. How can we advise clients authentically if we as an industry are not equitable or inclusive?

As we look to the future it is important to think about what we can do to build a better and fairer industry. We can start by creating awareness about best practice through setting benchmarks and making cultural intelligence a key skill for all practitioners. According to a recent article in Forbes, the rise of awareness about diversity and inclusion has been one of the most transformative cultural trends of the last 10 years. How can we ride this wave, and what can we do to take advantage of the momentum?

Prioritise on just two things:

  1. a) Be Authentic
  2. b) Take Action

To be authentic live the values that we preach. Don’t just say it to other people or for your clients, embed inclusion into your business. Start with C-Suite buy in and accountability; listen to your employees and stakeholders; create an inclusive hiring process; be transparent about the pay gap; consider intersectionality; be a sponsor and monitor constantly.

Take Action: Before you head to the next conference or write the next blog on equity and inclusion check your equity and inclusion policy. If you have one, map where you are on the journey; share your journey including your challenges. If you are not on the journey, get started.

Almost a third of PR leaders ‘Open to 4-day week’

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London, 21st February, 2022

 

23% of global communications leaders are interested in trialling a four-day working week with no reduction in pay and a further 9% have already adopted the model, according to new research published by the ICCO and PRCA.

The study – conducted by Question & Retain – follows a recent PRCA MENA study revealing UAE professionals believe they work more efficiently under the new four and a half day working week adopted in UAE.

128 CEOs, Directors, and Department Heads took part in the latest ICCO and PRCA  quarterly Confidence Tracker, which assesses market confidence in the global public relations industry.

Market confidence boost

The study reveals impressive levels of confidence amongst PR and communications leaders. The research shows more than two-thirds (72%) of PR agencies and in-house teams globally are hiring and almost nine out of 10 (87%) respondents are ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ about the future of their organisation – this is a three percentage point rise since the last Confidence Tracker in October 2021.

Download the ICCO results here and the PRCA results here.

 

ICCO Chief Executive and PRCA Director General and  Francis Ingham MPRCA said:

“The data from our latest Global Confidence Tracker is very encouraging. Market confidence around the world is now higher than at any point since the beginning of the pandemic and the growing confidence is reflected in the number of organisations hiring. The four-day working week is an interesting proposition for agencies and in-house teams, many of whom are looking for creative ways to attract and retain the most talented professionals. The model won’t work for everyone but there are clear benefits for those willing to embrace change.”

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