Creative Access announces results of annual survey charting career optimism among diverse talent & employer progress towards DEI goals in creative industries
- Respondents feeling sufficiently prepared & resourced to advance their careers has dropped since 2022
- A third of respondents haven’t progressed in the last year
- 1 in 5 don’t see DEI progress from their company
New research from leading diversity & inclusion social enterprise Creative Access confirms a dip in optimism about career futures in individuals from under-represented groups in the creative industries.
The Creative Access Thrive Report 2023 comes after a gruelling year for talent as well as organisations navigating the world of work – from the return to the office, technology shifts and staff retention. The not-for-profit reflects a decline in sentiment around career prospects in disabled individuals (54% versus the average 62%), and markedly so when intersectionality is taken into consideration, for example if an individual is also Black, Asian or Ethnically Diverse (BAED) which drops to 50%.
Increased employer ED&I investment – the results?
The report findings show that despite 68% of organisations upping DE&I spend in the last year, talent from under-represented groups still faces significant barriers to progression and employers are not focused enough on addressing these, which leads to churn:
- Only a third (33%) of individuals from under-represented groups in the wider creative industries have progressed in their career in the last 12 months – but for those who have received support services (such as: training, mentoring & networking) this significantly rises to 67% having progressed
- And a third (31)% of individuals from under-represented groups across the creative industries do not feel they have the skills & knowledge to progress in their careers
Under-represented talent stuck in the middle
Organisations within the creative sector such as PR, broadcast/media, publishing, performing arts and more are currently putting most of their efforts into improving diversity and inclusion at entry-level (45%), however when asked where they felt their organisation should focus their DE&I efforts, 70% said it should be at all career levels of the organisation.
How do employers support diverse talent?
From respondents who aren’t in receipt of support services a lack of networks and contacts was highlighted as a key barrier to career progression, where only 29% of BAED individuals feel armed with career-enhancing contacts (such as mentors or career champions), this drops even more so if individuals are from lower socio-economic status (lower SES) backgrounds 24%, or are disabled 21%. Respondents largely pointed to five main career progression barriers:
- Organisational structures preventing progress
- Financial barriers (for equipment or training)
- Physical location where an individual lives
- Lack of training
- Lack access to networks, such as mentor or career champion
Bibi Hilton, CEO, Creative Access: ”It’s encouraging to see that despite a year of challenging economic headwinds, organisations are encouragingly still prioritising DE&I work. Whether appointing DE&I leads or teams, or increasing overall spend to reach their DE&I goals. However, while 38% admit to having a DE&I strategy in place, that means the vast majority do not, and we’re seeing the knock-on impact by way of increased poor mental health and a lack of career progression in under-represented talent who are without support. It begs the question as to whether employers are investing in the most impactful areas to acquire, develop & retain diverse talent at all levels.”
Founder and executive chair of Creative Access, Josie Dobrin, has been featured amongst leaders in the PR and advertising world in an article on how to address the ‘high churn’ of junior staff in the industry. Read the piece in full here.
A Bookseller article by Caroline Carpenter focusing on the prospects for the book trade in the north-west features former Creative Access intern and current editor at Orion Books.
The article reads:
Witty believes that, despite being encouraged early on in his publishing career to relocate to the capital, he would not have signed the book if he had. Coming from a working-class background in Merseyside, Witty says: “Publishing was never an industry I’d heard of growing up.” It was only during his postgraduate degree when a careers officer pointed him towards Creative Access that he discovered the industry and the opportunities within it. He was accepted onto the Penguin Random House mentoring programme in January 2021, where he was “brilliantly supported and taught about the industry”, however, “throughout all my research and all the advice I was given, one thing was clear: if I really wanted to make it in publishing, I’d have to move to London”.
Read more here.
Vicky Janaway joined a panel along with the wonderful people at Smarts (MSQ’s PR agency), at the latest in Creative Access’ series of inspirational masterclasses. During the event, there were lots of great questions about careers and in particular, career moves. From how to move to agency-side from client-side, or vice versa, as well as how to freelance, or, perhaps, understandably, what it takes to be successful. As Janaway offered advice at the event about career decision making and reflected on how important these choices can feel with each step, she wondered about how we can truly own our non-linear career stories and a source of career inspiration came to mind.
Bhavini Goyate, Creative Access programmes manager (alumni), featured on CH Video’s ‘A Really Useful Podcast #1 | How do I get into the TV/Film/Video production business?’ detailing our services to school/college or university leavers.
Research findings within Creative Access’ Disability Report 2022 were quoted in Campaign’s article covering Clear Channel, Heineken and Arla’s adaptation of OOH ads for neurodiversity drive.
Clear Channel UK has joined forces with Heineken, Arla, Keep Britain Tidy and LeoReader for the launch of “Different minds, better outcomes” – a campaign devised to make ads more neurodivergent-friendly.
About 15-20% of the UK population is neurodiverse, and, according to a Creative Access report, 54% of people employed in the advertising, marketing and media industry are neurodivergent.
Lauren Brown in The Bookseller has reported on the return of the David Miller Internship for the second year in partnership with Deborah Rogers Foundation (DRF) and Creative Access. The programme offers two internships in an effort to create publishing industry entry pathways for people in underrepresented groups.
The internships will provide an entry-level introduction to rights and agenting in publishing companies and literary agencies, providing a full understanding of the role of rights professionals within the wider industry. Companies committed to the programme and which will provide placements include Penguin Random House, Faber, Profile Books, David Higham, Greyhound Literary, ILA, PEW Literary and Eccles Fisher.
Weber Shandwick UK has joined forces with social enterprise Creative Access to create Launchpad, a programme that aims to enable individuals from under-represented communities to enter the comms industry, Elizabeth Wiredu writes in PR Week.
It forms a key partnership and emphasizes the talent strategy to intentionally drive the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion action plan at the grassroots level. Weber Shandwick and Creative Access will work together to provide those on the programme with unique opportunities to gain practical knowledge in areas such as public relations, marketing, social media, or corporate communications and build industry connections.
This partnership will include a three-month paid summer internship at Weber Shandwick UK from July -September 2023, providing individuals with hands-on experience, exposure to real-world projects, and access to mentors from the creative industries. Creative Access is managing the recruitment process and will provide career support for those on the programme, including an induction to working in the creative industries, a “buddy” from the CA community, access to monthly masterclasses and the wider CA community, training and ongoing pastoral care.
Bibi Hilton, CEO of Creative Access featured on PRmoment Podcast, an insiders view of the structure, skill set and role of a modern in-house communications team.
Click here to listen to the full episode and hear from Bibi all the details of Creative Access’ mission, what creative employers who don’t have a diverse range of employees get wrong, and how individuals can access our support.
Bibi Hilton, CEO of Creative Access, featured in Rohan Banerjee’s Raconteur article discussing the use of positive action schemes in senior leadership recruitment.
Bibi Hilton is the CEO of Creative Access, a charity focusing on diversity within the arts and media industries. She takes the same view. “The talent is there,” she says. “But companies need to cast their net wide enough to reach senior individuals… Whether that means fishing where the fish are using more diverse jobs boards, or working with external partners who inherently have an inclusive pool of talent within their networks.”
Anoushka Dossa, Creative Access’ director or recruitment, has contributed her advice to Rafe Uddin‘s piece “How to use your experience for a standout job application” in the Financial Times weekend edition.
“Rather than applying for every role you find, it is better to choose quality over quantity, says Anoushka Dossa, director of intern recruitment at Creative Access, a charity that provides career support and access to the UK creative industries. “Consider earnings, benefits, corporate social responsibility — all the things that are important to you.”
Advanced Television report on the findings of the Freelancer Report, conducted by Creative Access, ‘Data: UK TV freelance creatives demand change’. Creative Access research showed that although freelancers are broadly happy with their career path, there is a breakdown in the relationship between freelancers and employers within the creative economy, as over one in two freelancers say they ‘don’t feel supported by employers’ they work with.
“Freelancers are all too often the lifeblood of a creative organisation,” says Bibi Hilton, CEO, Creative Access. “They’re the flexible extra resource we bring in when the workload suddenly spikes and there’s no time or budget to hire to plug highly valued, and often specialist skills gaps. And yet, our survey shows, many employers are not treating their freelancers in this way. They are treating them as ‘other’ to their permanent employees; investing in training or wellbeing for everyone except their freelancers or worse, claiming to create a culture of ‘belonging’ that includes everyone except the large proportion of individuals not on permanent contracts.
“At Creative Access we’ve been at the forefront of supporting diverse talent for over a decade, it’s all part of our mission to make the creative industries reflect UK society. However, we also appreciate our own role in offering career-long support – particularly when talent is self-employed and lies outside the safety net of an organisation.”