Coming soon: Campaign-Kantar study reveals upsetting opinions around inclusivity, mental health

In July, Campaign Asia-Pacific and Kantar launched a joint call-out on an annual study around diversity and inclusion in the marketing, advertising and comms industries across APAC. Ahead of the full report reveal next week, here are some nuggets of information that stood out based on feedback from respondents.

Gender inequity deepens

In a backward trend, women in the region continue to feel that their performance in the workplace is judged on their gender rather than their capabilities. Over half say that they miss out on opportunities in the industry because of this. Compared to 2017 (when we first launched this survey), the number of women who feel this way has significantly increased.

Judged by the colour of their skin

With the BLM movement driving global conversations around race, respondents in the region feel that they are overlooked because their viewpoint doesn’t tie with the ‘white-dominated business world.’ Just under half believe that they are judged by race and about a third feel that respect from top management is based on their race instead of what they do. One market in APAC particularly stood out as the most racially divided—find out which one during next week’s report reveal.

Mental health takes a toll

Exacerbated by the pandemic, stress and mental health dominated concerns this year. More than half feel very stressed at work or find it a challenge to manage stress in their lives, sometimes leading to poor psychical health such as lethargy or lack of sleep. Adding to that, increased concern around gender and race issues have led to a hit on mental health, or even depression.

The results this year—as alarming as they are—will hopefully act as a siren song for agency heads and leaders who might be oblivious to the effects of these issues on their staff. Campaign Asia-Pacific and Kantar will be jointly releasing the results of the study during a free live webinar on Sep 24 at 1 pm SG.HK time (GMT+8). Register for a spot now.