{"id":228448,"date":"2022-06-09T13:36:16","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T11:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=116896"},"modified":"2022-06-09T13:36:16","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T11:36:16","slug":"diversity-equality-inclusion-what-they-mean-for-fcb-joburg-hellocomputer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/diversity-equality-inclusion-what-they-mean-for-fcb-joburg-hellocomputer\/","title":{"rendered":"Diversity, Equality &amp; Inclusion: What they mean for FCB Joburg &amp; Hellocomputer"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\n<aside id=\"republication_tracker_tool-2\" class=\"republication_tracker_tool clearfix\">\n<h5 class=\"adtitle\">Republish for Free<\/h5>\n<div class=\"license\">\n<p><button name=\"Republish This Story\" id=\"cc-btn\" class=\"republication-tracker-tool-button\">Republish This Story<\/button><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"license\" rel=\"noreferrer license noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/diversity-equality-inclusion-what-they-mean-for-fcb-joburg-hellocomputer.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/diversity-equality-inclusion-what-they-mean-for-fcb-joburg-hellocomputer.png\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"message\">\n<p>Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>This year\u2019s edition of the Disability Career Expo attracted 1300 learners with disabilities, as well as educators, entrepreneurs, corporate organisations and NGOs. Included in this number were FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer, the only marketing and advertising organisations to participate in the two-day event in May. We asked Joey Khuvutlu, MD of the FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer group, and Melanie Sarjoo, its Head of Human Resources, to explain their involvement and expand on the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion within the group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQuite simply,\u201d responded Khuvutlu, \u201cwe attended the Disability Career Expo with one goal in mind \u2013 to encourage young learners with disabilities to consider a career in advertising.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd there are several reasons why we did this. Firstly, as fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, friends and colleagues, we know \u2013 we live and breathe \u2013 the truth that meaningful diversity, equity and inclusion must include all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSecond, as marketers and advertising professionals, we believe a diversity of lived experiences makes the currency of our industry \u2013 creativity \u2013 far, far richer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen, as realists, we acknowledge that \u2018disabled\u2019 or differently-abled people are not adequately represented in our popular culture and society. There are many challenges they face, and here lies a tremendous opportunity for authentic brands to make a difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinally, as problem solvers, we know that, to connect the dots, we need people in our industry with lived experience. In a country as diverse as ours it is critical that our team reflects that diversity to enable us to create work that resonates with all South Africans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Khuvutlu pointed out that diversity is part of FCB\u2019s DNA and the key ingredient that has enabled it to create the most loved ad of the last three decades, create the most loved ad of the last 15 years and create the most loved campaign in Millward Brown history.<\/p>\n<p>He, however, praised Sarjoo for her initiative in bringing the Expo to the agencies\u2019 attention and for advocating they do more to extend the breadth of their diversity, equity and inclusion activities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMelanie has first-hand experience of the challenges facing persons with disabilities,\u201d he said. \u201cAs mother to a young teenager with mild cerebral palsy, she has challenged their exclusion from mainstream society for over 12 years, at one stage starting and managing a foundation advocating inclusive education. We are very grateful for her passion and willingness to help us do better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Sarjoo interjected to add that she is not the only employee in the agency group with family members living with disabilities. This, plus the group\u2019s track record of embracing change and leading from the front to redress inequity in the industry and in its workforce, has engendered a positive and open culture. For example, it was the first in the industry to conclude a broad-based empowerment partner (2003) and is today 51% Black owned and 43% Black female owned.<\/p>\n<p>According to Khuvutlu, FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer approach diversity on three levels \u2013 workforce, workplace and creative work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor workforce, we actively strive to reflect the diversity of South Africa\u2019s population, across all levels including leadership. One of the actions we have taken on this front is to take steps to identify disabled learners who would qualify to join our programme. We are also ensuring that leadership adopts innovative ways to foster and retain talent.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, as a group our employment equity new hires target is set at a minimum 70% PDI (Previously Disadvantaged Individuals) for senior management level and 90% of new hires at top level management must be previously disadvantaged individuals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the workplace we seek to create a healthy and vibrant environment that is inclusive and engaged, actively rooting out bias and oppression in any form. Here, we are committed to open and honest conversations as a group and in 2021 we embarked on a White Allyship Initiative which flipped the script on engaging our white employees to learn and own how they show up transformed in addressing their own biases, ideas or thinking towards racism and white privilege.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhich then takes us to creative work where our aim is to create culturally-competent work and solutions for our clients. This is achieved through our tools such as \u2018The WOW\u2019, or \u2018Watch Out Words\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe WOW was created to help develop cultural competence and mitigate the negative impacts of unconscious bias in our work. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&amp;I) issues are easier to discuss when you have the right terminology and context for the conversation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe WOW takes the form of living dictionary that is educational and assists our teams understand words and concepts like appropriation, objectification and marginalisation. This gives them the ability to accurately debate work and helps us identify damaging work early in the creative process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are so many different ways to make a change and an impact,\u201d concluded Sarjoo. \u201cSometimes, it\u2019s looking inward, others outward. And it\u2019s wonderful when we can partner with like-minded clients to make the proverbial difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a society, an industry and an agency group, we have a long way to go until we can claim to have achieved satisfactory diversity, equity and inclusion. But I am so proud that we are actively engaged on all levels throughout our business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mypr.co.za\/contact\/featured\/\">CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"post-views-icon dashicons dashicons-chart-bar\"><\/span> <span class=\"post-views-label\">Press Release Views:<\/span> <span class=\"post-views-count\">112<\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-pagination pagination\">Pages: <span class=\"post-page-numbers current\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>1<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/diversity-equality-inclusion-what-they-mean-for-fcb-joburg-hellocomputer\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>2<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\">Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republish for Free Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. This year\u2019s edition of the Disability Career Expo attracted 1300 learners with disabilities, as well as educators, entrepreneurs, corporate organisations and NGOs. Included in this number were FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer, the only marketing and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":228449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3332,9021],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-228448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-johannesburg-south-africa","8":"category-mypr","9":"tag-mypr","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/diversity-equality-inclusion-what-they-mean-for-fcb-joburg-hellocomputer.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}