Publicis Groupe today released new information about the diversity of its U.S. workforce, revealing that just under one-third of its more than 21,000 American staff now identifies as a race other than white—a slight uptick from the figures the company released last summer in an initial bid to hold itself accountable.

Overall, Publicis’ staff makeup has seen a 5.5% increase in diversity from June 2020 to May 2021, bringing its total non-white representation to 32.7% of employees across all levels. 

Rookie positions at the agency are shown to be the most multicultural, with 36.2% of all entry-level staff currently identifying as diverse, though this tier has also fluctuated the least year-over-year, up less than one percentage point from 2020’s data. Non-white mid-level staff now make up 33.1% of the total, a more measurable rise from last year’s 30.5%. And across senior-level positions, employees of color now make up 19.2% of the total, up from last year’s 18.2%.

“One year after we first published our diversity data, it is encouraging to see that we are making some progress in providing greater support for people of color in our organization,” says Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun, calling the fostering of an equitable and inclusive work culture a “top priority” for the agency. But he concedes that while the newly released data is a step in the right direction, there’s still a long road ahead for the company to achieve its diversity goals.

“When it comes to our Black and Hispanic talent in particular, we are still far from representing the full diversity of the U.S. population,” he continues. “However, after staying inside the Groupe at the height of the pandemic to save jobs, since January we restarted a fuller hiring program and we are seeing 39.5% more Black joiners to Publicis in the U.S. than leavers.”

Broken down by ethnicity, the disconnect between Publicis’ in-house diversity and the racial makeup of the American populace becomes clear. 

As of last month, just 5.9% of the agency’s employees identify themselves as Black—up from 5.4% in mid-2020, but still a far cry from the more than 13% of Americans who identify as Black. Hispanic and Latino employees are similarly underrepresented with just 8.3% of Publicis’ workforce identifying as such; almost unchanged from the 8.1% shown in last year’s data, and less than half of Hispanic Americans’ current share of the U.S. population.

Other than whites, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the only ethnicity at the agency whose presence in the workforce is greater than their national representation; while 15.4% of Publicis employees identify as having Asian heritage, less than 6% of Americans at large do. AAPI staff made up 15.1% of the total Publicis workforce in 2020.

Across the remaining ethnic categories represented in Publics’ data, Native Americans and Indigenous employees make up 0.4% of the total, unchanged from last year, while employees belonging to two or more races encompass 2.7% of the U.S. workforce, up from 1.9% in 2020.

Publicis Groupe, headquartered in Paris, has only compiled its American diversity data at this time due to longstanding French laws that forbid the collection and use of any and all race-based data; even national census questions about ethnic origin have been outlawed in France since the 1970s.

“Our commitment to providing access and opportunities to all underrepresented identities in our industry remains steadfast,” says Carla Serrano, chief strategy officer of Publicis Groupe and CEO of Publicis New York. She adds that the company is continuing to “live up” to the ideals outlined in its Seven Actions, a series of commitments made last summer to bolster its diversity and transparency.

Released July 1, 2020, the original Seven Actions included: the publishing and monitoring of diversity data; the cultivation of Black talent; the design of a hiring process that champions Black talent; forming a culture of allyship; focusing investments on diversity-minded causes; launching an open apprenticeship on its AI-driven platform Marcel; and creating the Diversity Progress Council.

Alongside the diversity data released today, Publicis Groupe is reporting healthy strides in achieving the goals originally spelled out in its Seven Actions.

Since last year, the company has made efforts to improve hiring, retention and career development for Black employees with measures including the creation of a two-day Black Talent Summit, implementing mentorship programs, mandating bias training for its U.S. employees and launching the Multicultural Talent Pipeline to help bring racialized college students into the creative industries.

Publicis has also committed at least 45 million euros, or nearly $55 million, to diversity, equity and inclusion investments over the next three years.

“Our data and accomplishments to date demonstrate that our commitments are beginning to create tangible change,” says Renetta McCann, Publicis Groupe’s chief inclusion experience officer. “We will continue to increase the scope of this work, ensuring that our entire organization can play a role going forward.”