VMLY&R UK Named Top 25 Employer by Investing in Ethnicity

From Left to Right: Sarah Garrett MBE, Abigail Westfield, Debbie Ellison, Dawn Butler MP

VMLY&R UK joins a power line-up of organisations recognised for having gone above and beyond to break down barriers for diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Celebrating at the House of Commons, the twenty-five organisations, including Paramount Global, HSBC, BNY Mellon, BT Group, Tesco Stores, KPMG LLP, were acknowledged for leadership and commitment to improving racial diversity while creating cultures and implementing inclusive policies that are benefit ethnic minority representation.

All twenty-five have achieved significant progress in the Government backed Maturity Matrix created by Investing in Ethnicity which is applied across six categories: board and organisations, policy & data, culture and inclusion, network groups, employee life cycle and external impact.

“Companies that put diversity front and centre perform better than those that do not. The maturity matrix gets companies talking about how to do just this and provides a blueprint for building a more inclusive and successful company” said Dawn Butler, MP.

Commented Debbie Ellison, global chief digital officer, “DE&I has always sat at the heart of our company, positively impacting what we do for our people and our clients. So, we could not be prouder of this recognition for all our people who work hard to make our worlds more inclusive. None of us should underestimate the importance of measuring progress. Investing in the Ethnicity Maturity Index is a valuable tool that more businesses should be using.”

Abi Westfield, equity, inclusion and belonging manager, added, “We’ve come a long way in addressing challenges faced by our people and our clients. We’re on our way - with more to be done. As the sole creative agency recognised – as an industry we need to power up collaboration for more significant impact.”

In 2022 VMLY&R launched its UK Inclusion Experience Practice to systematically change how companies function. Debbie Ellison was named  a Yahoo/ Empower Ethnic Minority Executive Role Model for the third  consecutive year. In 2021, VMLY&R Commerce UK was named Diversity & Inclusion Company of the Year by The Drum