Agency looks beyond professional experiences and focuses on individual skills when hiring new talent globally
Tasha Gilroy serves as VML’s global chief belonging officer and was hired in 2006 to work with the HR team and CEO at what was then Y&R, when the agency launched its diversity department. She worked alongside Y&R’s first chief diversity officer and rose from coordinator to manager to director. “Over time, those leaders changed, but I stayed on the global HR team. And then as I gained more responsibility and was promoted, I started managing it globally because I was connected to the global group,” Tasha recalls.
Many changes have taken place since diversity began to be incorporated into everyday life. At first, the issue focused more on the number of people that agencies could count on, so HR strategies were geared towards finding these people to fill the numbers. “What we began to realize was that we could hire as many people as we wanted, but if we didn’t do the work internally with the culture, and if people didn’t feel part of the company or didn’t feel included, they wouldn’t stay,” explains the professional. Over time, professionals began to understand the importance of feeling represented and a new phase of connection and belonging began. “That’s why we stopped focusing only on diversity, equity, inclusion, and changed to inclusion, equity, and belonging,” she adds.
Tasha is the first person to hold the role of global chief belonging officer at VML, and the title has changed several times because it has always been linked to diversity, inclusion and even equity. However, the director no longer wanted the term diversity, as it is too closely linked to headcount. “I want to be the person who manages belonging. I am excited to represent the business in this way and represent communities around the world in this way, because every person is unique and the agency is committed to making space for that. That is why we don’t call it an initiative, project or program. We call it our commitment to belonging,” explains the professional.
Diversity is still a tough job for the advertising industry as a whole, especially when it comes to representation in mid-level and senior roles, as agencies do a good job of attracting people who are just starting out in their careers, but the challenge is retaining these people up to leadership levels. “We do a great job of recruiting people, but we have work to do to ensure that everyone is promoted and developed. So getting more representation in senior and leadership roles is more complex than it seems. So I think as an industry we have to do better,” explains Tasha.
Read the full article in the July 1st edition of propmark
