Publicis Sapient joins diversity community Out Leadership
Publicis Sapient has joined Out Leadership as one of its partner companies, looking to drive LGBTQ+ inclusivity in modern business. The news sees Publicis Sapient join the likes of EY, KPMG, PwC, and FTI Consulting among Out Leadership’s high-profile supporters.
Out Leadership Founder & CEO, Todd Sears said, "We're delighted to welcome Publicis Sapient as part of the Out Leadership family as we work to build a more equitable world for LGBTQ+ people. The Publicis Sapient goal of broadening understanding by challenging the status quo is a great match for our mission. Our work to advocate for LGBTQ+ equality is more important than ever and we're looking forward to working together with our newest member firm Publicis Sapient."
Out Leadership is the oldest and largest global LGBTQ+ business advisory which partners with the world's most influential companies to build business opportunities, cultivate talent, and drive LGBTQ+ equality forward. The organisation believes that LGBTQ+ inclusion positively impacts business results, and that including LGBTQ+ people at the most senior level of executive leadership builds business. The concept, which Out Leadership terms “Return on Equality” is widely supported by a mounting body of research.
The latest consulting firm to register its support of Out Leadership is Publicis Sapient, which has become a partner company. The consultancy has over a global staff of over 20,000, and 53 offices around the globe, providing clients with technology, data sciences, consulting and customer experience services. Working with some of the world's most recognisable brands including Walmart, Samsung and Revlon, the company is part of Publicis Groupe, the second-largest advertising conglomerate in the world.
Publicis Sapient’s Potential Realized In Diverse Experiences (PRIDE) group spreads awareness for issues facing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) and straight ally community internally and externally through fundraisers, lunch and learn sessions, offsite events and more. According to a release from the firm, Publicis Sapient is proud to endorse an entity that stands for many of its own core values.
Executive Sponsor David Donovan, the firm’s financial services Lead for the Americas, said, "Publicis Sapient is excited to partner with Out Leadership, an organisation that embodies similar core values as us, with a focus around making the workplace a fair and just place for LGBTQ+ people. Within our financial services vertical, we are big believers in diversity of thought, which helps enable greater success with client impact. We are looking forward to the additive knowledge and thinking that this partnership will bring in helping expand our thinking and creation of solutions."
Out Leadership now counts 84 firms as partners, including a number of the world’s largest professional services companies. One partner, Big Four firm EY, recently published a major report for the organisation, a core finding of which was that only 45% of self-identified allies would actively protect their LGBTQ+ colleagues from harassment in the workplace. Rivals KPMG and PwC are also long-time supporters, with the latter having also conducted a study for Out Leadership – on that occasion finding that 60% of respondents say that being out at work has improved their ability to do perform well in their employment.
Another long-term supporter, FTI Consulting, meanwhile regularly assists Out Leadership with its communications. In 2015, this saw Out Leadership and FTI Consulting jointly honoured with a Gold Asia Pacific SABRE award, for the public relations campaign they executed together around the Out on the Street: Asia 2014 LGBT Summit.
