Remote Work Alone Won’t Make Your Agency More Diverse

If you’ve been following the racial reckoning happening within the marketing industry this summer, you’ve probably heard some version of the following phrase: Remote work can help solve Madison Avenue’s diversity problem.

And, in some ways, that statement makes a lot of sense.

• In theory, without an office, the classic ad agency “culture fit” value could disintegrate and level the playing field for those typically excluded from private rooftop happy hours (aka the best internal networking opportunities) with the boys’ club.
• An indefinitely distributed workforce means ad agencies don’t suffer from the geographic restrictions that could keep them from hiring more diverse talent.
• Andrea Diquez, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi in New York, told Digiday that “major cities are expensive, and many people don’t have the economic opportunity to uproot for the job they want. Being location-agnostic would allow agencies across the board to hire more people from diverse backgrounds.”

But in other ways, not so much.

Remote hazards

Despite the benefits of remote work, marketers shouldn’t see WFH life as a catchall solution for the problems exposed this summer by 600 & Rising’s call for agencies to release their dismal diversity numbers.

• That boys' club is stronger than the four walls of an office. One half-Black ad agency employee told Digiday “that she worries that her ‘already invisible’ self will become even more so in the remote environment.”
• “The only thing that’s going to drastically impact the issue of diversity is putting more focus on the problem and companies of all sizes being held accountable,” said Caveat co-founder and managing director Josh Greenberg.
• Plus, remote work looks different for wealthier, more senior employees than it does for more junior employees without access to childcare and “family money” during the pandemic.

Bottom line: The pandemic has accelerated the shift to more flexible remote work, but marketing leaders relying on the shift to attract more diverse talent might want to think about other, more active ways to do so.