London, 8 January 2021: Inclusivity issues were, for good and ill, headline news in 2020 across the UK and beyond. According to Kantar’s Issues Radar, over three million social and digital posts were related to inclusivity-related Sustainable Development Goals. With a monthly growth rate of 25%, inclusivity is the fastest growing ‘values’ conversation on social media.
Kantar, the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company today celebrates its ranking, for the second successive year, in the UK’s #InclusiveTop50 ranking from Inclusive Companies, and commits to building on that progress in 2021. Kantar’s position in 2020 improved six places to #42 on the ranking, reflective of the work we have done both internally, and in partnering with others. During 2020 Kantar:
- Confirmed our internal commitment to stand with our Black employees, clients, partners & neighbours and be visible allies of those who push for justice and equality, with a number of programs including safe space sessions for everyone within our organisation to share their opinions, concerns and experiences as we critically re-evaluate ourselves on our journey to be the most inclusive and diverse Kantar we can be.
- Built on diverse recruitment policies, created new mentoring programmes and internal training and expanded groups such as Pride@Kantar and Colourful@Kantar to enable greater understanding and engagement within our teams.
- Continued support of the Special Olympics organisation, with almost 1,000 employees participating in a 30-day virtual fundraising trek.
- Committed to the Valuable 500, the global movement putting disability on the business leadership agenda
- Continued our partnership with the UN Women and Unstereotype Alliance on gender equality, and were founder members of the newly formed UK Chapter alongside many leading clients.
- Partnered with Diva magazine to monitor and understand the experience of LGBTQI people across the UK
- Celebrated the recognition of Caroline Frankum in the HERoes awards for her active ally-ship for underrepresented groups
- Celebrated Dionne Aiken’s recognition as winner of the Professional Services award in the Baton Awards, which shine a spotlight on women from diverse racial groups
- Launched Issue Radar to monitor social conversation around the UN SDGs and Sustainable Transformation Practice to support brands in their journey to a more sustainable future, in addition to continuing to scale the Inclusion Index, enabling companies to measure their own performance in Inclusion and Diversity and pinpoint focus areas for progress.
Discussing our progress across 2020, and committing to building on that progress in 2021, Bart Michels, Kantar’s UK Country Manager, said: “At Kantar we take pride in our ability to help our clients and wider society better understand people and inspire growth, at many levels. Being able to help more people understand and act on diversity and inclusion issues is an important part of this promise. We continue to be proud supporters of the Unstereotype Alliance and authors of the Reykjavik Index on Female Political Leadership and also look to build a higher level of inclusivity for our own business too across our many diverse groups. We are delighted to again see our endeavours acknowledged in the Top 50 UK Inclusive companies list and are happy on behalf of the thousands of Kantar people who work every day to help create a more inclusive culture, and a diverse and exciting company.”
Caroline Frankum, CEO of Kantar’s Profiles Division and Global Exec Sponsor for the Pride@Kantar community, added: “The challenges presented by 2020 including the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to think about inclusivity in its broadest sense; from overtly living our allyship with our colleagues and partners in underrepresented groups, to supporting working parents and carers as well as those living alone as we pivoted to a working from home model across the world. It is in difficult circumstances such today’s that our values are tested and who we are as individuals and as companies becomes apparent. As I look across the Kantar community, I am proud of how we responded to the myriad challenges thrown at us in 2020, and grateful for the recognition of being included in the #InclusiveTop50 ranking.”