Adland Diversity & Inclusion Index 2021: Redhill

Full-service agency Redhill launched its diversity and inclusion initiative last May. In the lead up to that, the agency saw great pay disparity across its various teams. The agency knew it had to act on this and made pay parity a focus of its D&I initiative. Its efforts struck a chord with our judges as Redhill improved its salary structure, ensuring that applicants’ backgrounds and experiences were taken into consideration, and not just what they were benchmarked at.

Previously, Redhill indexed heavily on offering pay structures based on a candidate’s previous salary. Using that as a benchmark and offering an amount just above became the norm. This practice resulted in different pay among employees at the same level, due to unfair compensations in their last role or perhaps because they left their jobs and were just getting back to the workforce. While this was not the intention, Redhill realised it was unknowingly perpetuating pay disparity.

Thus, the agency strived to ensure each individual was fairly compensated based on their attitude and aptitude without discounting anyone for their gender via a two-pronged approach. The approached focuses on both potential candidates and current employees. For potential candidates, one main policy Redhill implemented was to shift from asking them their current pay to asking them the total compensation they would like to get. The reason being there were many factors that affected an employee’s last salary which related to the industry or company they worked for, their personal life and even a country’s economy.

In particular, women were adversely affected by this, especially those who had taken maternity and childcare breaks.

Hence, Redhill helped ensure pay parity by offering pay that had been determined as fair based on the candidate’s aptitude and job level. It also coached hiring managers on the reasons behind asking current salaries and focusing on gaps and helped them internalise them.

When it came to the appraisal process for current employees, in May 2021, Redhill implemented a mid-year appraisal alongside its annual process to ensure pay parity. The first part focused on ensuring the agency hired the best talent for the job irrespective of their background, while the second part was to ensure that current employees also felt they were compensated fairly. Through this process, the agency encouraged team managers to update pay ranges based on industry standards, identifying employees who fell below these standards and leveraging the appraisal process to adjust their salaries.

As a result, some candidates shared with the agency that they were surprised by its recruiting process, especially the process of discussing the salary. Redhill said these candidates developed a positive association with the agency and were more eager to accept the job offer.

Also, Redhill’s diversity and inclusion initiative saw a number of women who had taken extended maternity breaks or were trailing spouses, join the agency. According to the agency, they brought with their passion, dedication and varied experiences which enhanced the creativity and results of the team.

Overall, Redhill’s pay parity policy helped it recruit more women. According to the agency, 16% of its total hires in Singapore, after the launch of this initiative, were women who had had breaks in their careers. Along with other progressive policies, the agency saw a reduction in the attrition rate from over 40% in 2019 to 17% in 2020 and was on track to further lower by the end of 2021.

To read the rest of the agency initiatives in the Adland Diversity & Inclusion Index 2021, click here.