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Penguin Random House UK shows progress in ESG report but lags behind in socio-economic diversity
Penguin Random House (PRH) UK has published its first ever Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Report, revealing major progress as well as an intention to “double-down” its efforts around socio-economic diversity which is lagging behind other demographics.
The research combines progress on diversity and inclusion, pay gap and sustainability into one comprehensive report for the first time, representing its 2,000-strong workforce as well its authors and illustrators.
On representation of new hires, colleagues and senior leaders, the publisher revealed progress on its goal for new hires to represent UK society by the end of 2023. While it met or exceeded the UK benchmark for ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and gender, it failed to meet the socio-economic level.
“Socio-economic diversity of new hires, colleagues and senior leaders is our most significant area for improvement,” the report reads. “Parental occupation data shows that 20.4% of new hires, 22.8% of colleagues, and 11.6% of senior leaders come from a lower socio-economic background, compared to 39% of UK society.” Currently PRH UK is also behind UK publishing in general on this measure, according to data from Publishers Association (PA).
Based on parental occupation data, 20% of the company’s acquired authors, illustrators and contributors were from lower socio-economic backgrounds, compared to 39% of UK society.
The company said in the 42-page report: “Looking forward, we will double-down our efforts to increase socio-economic diversity in both groups and continue our efforts to increase the diversity of our senior leadership population, which aims to reflect UK society by the end of 2026.”
The company also wants to boost its representation of Black and Asian talent. “Whilst we have tracked ahead of the overall UK benchmark for ethnicity since 2020, Black and Asian authors, illustrators and contributors are under-represented by 1.4% and 0.8%, respectively,” the report said. “Moving forward, we will continue to take action that supports specific communities of writers of colour, as well as working towards the overall ethnicity goal.”
In regards to gender, there has been a slight increase in representation of female colleagues in new hires, senior leadership and across the organisation compared to 2022. This means the proportion of women in its workforce remains significantly greater than the UK benchmark. This over-representation of women is reflected in the wider publishing industry (and shown in PA’s data). PRH UK said it is “thoughtful about how best to address this imbalance, particularly at early career levels”. Additionally, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic mean pay gaps decreased.
In sustainability, PRH UK achieved a 3% decrease in carbon emissions compared to 2022, and 9% compared to its baseline year of 2018. “This is predominantly down to the Sustainability Production Toolkit which empowers colleagues to make more sustainable decisions at every stage of the book design process, and phasing out papers with a high-carbon footprint in favour of paper from mills that have a lower-carbon footprint,” the company said.
On trans representation, an increase in the number of colleagues disclosing they are trans means that the company can now report on this data externally; previously protocols meant it was not possible to report on. In total 0.5% of colleagues are trans and this figure is in line with the UK society benchmark.
A spokesperson for PRH UK told The Bookseller: "We are really pleased with the progress that has been made this year. In all areas we are moving towards achieving our long-term goals and the report demonstrates in more detail our recent impact. We are firmly on our journey as a responsible company, however we are not complacent and will continue working towards making PRH a diverse, inclusive and sustainable employer and publisher."
The spokesperson added on socio-economic efforts: "Improving socio-economic diversity is an industry-wide issue that a lot of publishers are working on, just as we are. Steps we have already taken include restricting internship eligibility to candidates from working class or lower socio-economic backgrounds; building our employer brand; and being intentional about where we advertise roles in order to reach the widest possible candidate base.
"From 2018 to 2021 we were ranked in the Social Mobility Employer Index’s list of Top 50 employers taking action to improve social mobility and, as part of this, have acted upon their recommendations for further improvement."
The company also recently researched the barriers facing colleagues from lower socio-economic backgrounds, which included engaging with Common Ground, its network for working class and lower socio-economic colleagues.
New actions committed to in the resulting plan include ring-fencing spots on the Creative Leadership Development Programme for colleagues from under-represented backgrounds—including lower socio-economic backgrounds, offering tailored support for colleagues from lower socio-economic backgrounds taking part in its Editorial Development Programme and building an internal pool of career coaches, with a priority focus on support under-represented colleagues.
To read the report in full, visit this link.
