Published May 2021

A joint commitment to Diversity and Inclusion from FleishmanHillard UK          

FleishmanHillard UK and D&I: Our commitment

At FleishmanHillard, we have a long and proud history of fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion. Alfred Fleishman, one of our agency’s founders, was active in bringing underrepresented groups together for dialogue and community. His influence endures to this day and, earlier this year, we named Adrianne C Smith to lead our DE&I strategy as our Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, building on our ambition to be the most inclusive agency in the industry.

We know it’s a big, and sometimes daunting, goal but we’re ready for the challenge.

We have a passionate and skilled team that’s working on internal campaigns around ethnic minority representation, hidden disabilities, mental health, attracting and retaining colleagues from a broader socio-economic background, and setting in place expectations for how we treat each other.

We believe the strongest and most enduring relationships are built on mutual trust, honesty and respect. As a new client, we’ll invest in our relationship with you, take the time to understand your needs, partner to deliver real value, and support you with the finest expertise from across our global network.

As your chosen communications partner, this is our promise to you:

Our ways of working

• We’ll take the time to understand your organisation’s goals and culture, as well as industry and business, to ensure we get off to a strong start.

• We’ll ensure that the right team, with the appropriate experience and skill set, will work on your business.

• From the start, we’ll build the best ways of working to deliver high quality, with strong foundational processes that keep us squarely focused on reaching your goals.

• With clear shared expectations around working practices, deliverables, deadlines and costs, we commit to deal with issues or problems in a timely manner and collaboratively.

Our people

• You will benefit from our most experienced minds, with access to our Special Advisors when they can add real value – spanning media training and reputation management to measurement and social and digital counsel. This gives you access to broad and specialised capabilities; challenges our collective thinking; and provides creativity, fresh approaches to ensure strong strategic counsel.

• Offering our counsel around the clock, we know that there will be periods when stress and long hours are inevitable. For the wellbeing of both teams and clients alike, we will work with you to avoid this wherever possible through good planning.

• Like our clients, many FH colleagues juggle caring responsibilities, family commitments and hobbies alongside their day job. Where team members are working flexible hours or shorter weeks, we will keep you informed and ensure that, where necessary, your work is covered when they are not available.

Our commitment to quality

• Our creativity will be anchored in data and insights to guarantee highly focused campaigns that effect real change with your target audiences.

• We will maintain the highest ethical standards in our client work and as an employer and commit to re-evaluating regularly as the environment changes.

• Finally, we will make our senior leadership available to you, regardless of the size of your brief.

Good relationships need to be nurtured on both sides. It’s why, as we make our commitment to you, we also share our expectations of you, as our client.

A collaborative and respectful partnership

• We work at our best when we have the information and resources we need. We ask that you share the materials and knowledge that we need to meet your expectations.

• We encourage you to share honest, constructive and respectful feedback, both through official review processes and informally in our day-to-day work, to build an authentic partnership.

• We ask that you be mindful of team members’ personal lives and commitments which may, on occasion, prevent them from attending client calls or meetings. In such cases, we will ensure adequate team cover is in place to minimise any disruption to you.

• Across the agency, team members have a broad range of faiths, and none. Many religions have specific days or periods that require additional observances for their followers. We do our very best to accommodate such requests and ask for your understanding.

• We value a culture where all individuals can contribute their full potential. This means having team members from varied backgrounds, with diverse experiences and skill sets. We ask that you embrace these differences and welcome the value of different perspectives.

Your role in D&I 

• We ask that you be conscious of the words you use. The words we use can make others feel included, welcomed and part of our community. Or they can exclude, upset and reinforce stereotypes. Being thoughtful about how we communicate contributes to a more diverse, inclusive and, ultimately, richer environment.

• We ask that you consider the role that you can play to help make your own workplace more diverse and inclusive. Talk to us – we’d be delighted to hear your thoughts and share our ideas as we continue on this journey together.

• We invite you to challenge us on our DE&I achievements. We want to be held accountable for what we have pledged so we welcome your questions – and your ideas for how we can be better.

Learn more about our agency-wide commitment to D&I and the steps we have taken here.