Publicis Groupe’s latest diversity numbers show a 17.5% year-over-year increase in the number of people of color “across the categories of racial and ethnic diversity” in the holding company's U.S. operations.

That brings the percentage of people of color employees overall up to 34.4%, slightly higher than 32.7% in 2021, according to a statement by the holding company. The population of unknown or undeclared employees remained consistent with last year, at 8%. The data compare findings in May 2022 to those from May 2021.

The results were released during Publicis Groupe’s third annual Pausing for Action Forum, the company-wide forum that first begun in 2020 to "listen, learn and collectively advance diversity and inclusion within the organization."

A look at the numbers

The holding company saw the number of POC in entry-level positions rise by 22% from last year, while POC in mid-level positions rose 15% and POC in senior leadership positions increased by 19%.

A big part of this is likely due to the fact that 40% of the holding company's U.S. new hires self-identified as a person of color, according to a statement by Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis Groupe, which suggests around 60% of new hires were not people of color. This is consistent with last year, when POC made up 39.5% of Publicis’ new hires.

Currently, Publicis has an estimated 26,600 employees in North America according to Ad Age’s Datacenter, up from 21,000 last year.

While the number of POC entering the company has increased significantly, this didn't translate into big changes in the holding company's overall headcount percentages. Entry-level positions saw the largest change, with the number of POC that hold entry-level positions growing by 6.4 percentage points, to 42.6%. Mid-level positions saw a 0.4 percentage point increase, to 33.5%. The percentage of POC in senior leadership decreased modestly to 19.1% in May 2022 from 19.2% in May 2021.

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“We know we still have more to do—but we’re encouraged that what we’re doing is driving results,” Sadoun said in a statement.

The report is part of Publicis’ Seven Actions plan, which was announced in June 2020 as a commitment to bolster the holding company’s diversity and transparency about its efforts.

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.

Other areas of focus

Since the launch of the company’s two-day Black Talent Summit last year it has had more than 1,000 participants. Its ongoing Black Talent Career Development program has had over 240 participants.

Publicis also grew the number of business resource groups by 25%, launching groups including the Pan-Asian Alliance, Écologique, HOLA: Hispanic/Latinx Organization for Leadership & Advancement, and enABLE for persons with disabilities & allies. 

“These communities have been instrumental in establishing several new policies, including the recently-launched U.S. Trans Guidelines and newly expanded family leave offerings,” according to a statement by Publicis.

The holding company has also increased its bias training and hiring efforts. Last year, Publicis launched its Once & For All Coalition, an initiative dedicated to removing barriers preventing equitable investment and representation across minority-owned and targeted media suppliers.

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CORRECTION: A previous version of this story erroneously included percentage changes rather than percentage points, and misstated a 2021 figure due to an editing error.