Internal Diversity Initiative Award Finalist

Interpublic Group

The Interpublic Group is a global provider of marketing solutions. Through 44,800 employees in all major world markets, its companies specialize in consumer advertising, digital marketing, communications planning and media buying, public relations and specialty marketing. With offices in over 100 countries, they can operate in a single region or deliver globally integrated programs. The role of its holding company is to provide resources and support to ensure that the agencies can best meet clients’ needs. This includes providing thought leadership and creating a context that promotes accountability for management against diversity and inclusion objectives across all agencies. 


The Interpublic Group’s goal is to be one of the world’s most diverse and inclusive companies, channeling the power of diversity and inclusion for the benefit of its people, its clients, its communities and ultimately, its shareholders.

The Interpublic Group Integrated Diversity and Inclusion Initiative consists of a number of programs designed to promote a diverse talent base, inclusive work environment, community partnerships and awareness of diverse consumer opportunities. At the holding company level, the primary roles are to provide strategic direction, share resources and accountability for the agencies with respect to D&I.

One program to highlight is the InterAct Associates Fellowship Program, launched in 2004. This two-year fellowship program seeks to recruit, retain and develop an internal pipeline of multicultural talent with multi-disciplinary experience. IPG also hired a full-time Supplier Diversity Director, becoming the first holding company to do so. An important part of that commitment is putting together a program that allows the organization to work closely with firms that reflect the consumers they must reach on behalf of their clients. To that end, they actively seek out and provide opportunities for qualified, reliable, diverse business owners.

The Interpublic Group is focused on positioning IPG and its agencies as employers of choice. Their objectives include fostering measurable improvements in the work environment and increasing the number and participation rates of women and People of Color in key leadership roles so as to reflect the available U.S. workforce. Via a diversity-specific website, e-mail communications and webinars, they provide content on career development and mentoring to empower all employees. Their group has published a variety of tool kits to help agencies with planning for their diversity and inclusion efforts that support recruitment and MERGE activities, which include professional development workshops that sometimes involve planning templates.

For the last decade, diversity has been a corporate priority for IPG. From 2005 to 2013, IPG has seen double-digit improvements for minorities in the U.S. in terms of total “Officials and Managers” and “Professionals” as reported by U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). There has been an improvement of more than 40% within Hispanic, African American and Asian ethnic/racial groups in the “Officials and Managers,” which is an increase of 74.4% from 2005. 
The overall “Professional” talent base at IPG is now 24.3% minority, with women making up 52.6% of managers.
IPG also became the first holding company to receive the Human Rights Campaign’s “Best Place to Work” honor for supporting LGBT talent, aiding in the company receiving a 100 index for five consecutive years.