Diversity strategy: Objectives for 2006

Building on 2005's objectives, we continued to raise CIPR members' awareness of the meaning, importance and value of diversity in 2006 by focusing on the business case for diversity.

Achievements to date: Action taken in 2006

CIPR Diversity Group planning meeting
The CIPR Diversity Group held its planning meeting in March to discuss the progress made by the Institute in the area of diversity and to identify their next steps.

The group restated its commitment to putting aspirations into actions and agreed that the main aim of 2006 would be to put the business case for diversity on the PR industry's agenda.

Following this meeting, Chris Genasi, chair of the diversity group for 2006, said: “A major theme to come out of this discussion was the need for the CIPR to build the business case for diversity. We need to move from just focusing on diversity statistics and quota filling, towards building the business case for diversity. We need to get across the fact that this is not about political correctness but commercial correctness.

“The focus of our activities for the coming months will be to explain in even clearer terms how important it is for the communications profession to be diverse, if it is to be effective and of increased value to business and society.”

Promoting the business case for diversity: Key deliverables

Diversity conference
On Wednesday 18 October 2006, the CIPR hosted its first ever conference dedicated to diversity issues to highlight the valuable contribution that diversity makes business.

Using a combination of presentations and case studies the conference gave practitioners the opportunity to understand why the subject is important for business. Topics covered included the challenges organisations face in reaching and understanding ethnic minorities through PR; how to diversify a PR department; and recent equal opportunities legislation.

Also at the conference, Transport for London launched its new Press Office Internship Programme for aspiring young media and PR professionals from minority ethnic backgrounds. See news item: Transport for London launches intern scheme.

View presentations from the conference here

Diversity report
A major CIPR report, The Business of Diversity – how PR performance can be improved by embracing diversity, was launched at the October conference.

The report reviewed the diversity of the PR profession today in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability, age and sexuality, and outlined issues such as why diversity is good for business; how it improves innovation, efficiency and productivity; how it improves staff recruitment and retention; and how it enables organisations to penetrate different markets.

Case studies of employer champions who can link their successful businesses to having diverse workforces, and successful PR campaigns targeted at diverse audiences were also incorporated in the report.

The report can be purchased online at www.cipr.co.uk/publications.

Other activities in 2006

Building on 2005's activities and achievements the CIPR continued in 2006 to:
 

	Support schemes such as the Commission for Racial Equality's Race for the Professional campaign
	Develop and add to our Diversity Matters website – www.cipr.co.uk/diversity - an online resource, dedicated to diversity issues
	Incorporate diversity matters into our own events

Communications strategy: Achievements in 2006

Again, building on the achievements and activities of 2005, we continued our campaign to raise members' awareness of diversity issues; its importance and value to the communications industry and business; and the CIPR's diversity work through the following communication channels:
 

	CIPR member magazine Profile – including regular updates about CIPR diversity work
	Member emails – including updates about the CIPR's diversity work
	Diversity website – developing and adding to this online resource
	Events – including diversity matters into our own events programme
	Marketing and communications – we extended our reach to diverse groups through relevant associations and organisations; and through ethnic and national media