Adland Diversity & Inclusion Index 2021: PubMatic

PubMatic took an all-encompassing approach to diversity and inclusion, focusing on anti-racism, gender inclusion, community partnerships and vendor inclusion. Overall, it wanted to foster a more inclusive corporate culture and introduce programmes and educational opportunities that empower its entire workforce to fight racism and inequality. This comprehensive approach won the hearts of judges at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s inaugural Adland Diversity & Inclusion Index.

Commitment to integrity is one of the core values that PubMatic lives out with its workforce daily. It is dedicated to practising high ethical standards and treating others fairly and with respect. PubMatic also believes in the importance of embracing a diversity of ideas and expertise to offer clients and partners creative solutions.

Aimed at having a material impact on its business, PubMatic embarked on an initiative to evaluate and accelerate diversity and inclusion across the organisation last year.  It created councils made up of dedicated employee volunteers within the global PubMatic community to push for anti-racism, communications, community partnerships, gender inclusion, joy in the journey, up the ladder and vendor inclusion.

Each council put together a 12-month strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion plan consisting of five action areas focusing on listening, learning, hiring, socio-economic support and activism. This plan had a global focus and took into consideration regional cultural differences to provide interactive employee experiences that drove continuous support for inclusion throughout PubMatic.

The business also established goals for each part of its plan with an external DEI consultant to gauge success across each action area using data and feedback, including workforce diversity measurement, hiring data and employee surveys.

To put the vision into practice, PubMatic addressed inequality with an 18-month strategic plan to become more diverse and inclusive in its workplace, workforce and marketplace.

It integrated new opportunities to listen, learn and support causes that inspired them as well as an effort to be more purposeful with our vendor selection in support of minority- and women-owned businesses.

Initiatives included an improved hiring strategy with training provided to hiring managers. Its fundamental hiring practices require both the use of inclusive language and an understanding of the value-added proposition that came with having a diverse team. PubMatic also helped underrepresented groups of leaders in the company across several aspects, namely career advancement, interactive learning journeys, encouraging courageous conversations, and listening events, which allowed employees to tell each other about their own experiences with racism and prejudice and react to what was happening in a collective society. The business was wanted to put its support behind minority and female-owned companies and committed several million procurement and marketing dollars to these businesses.

In the area of remuneration, PubMatic remained committed to pay parity between male and female employees and across ethnicities by using external compensation data to ensure that every individual was paid fairly for the experience, skills and education they bring to the organisation.

Meanwhile, PubMatic aims to further unify employees through its Impact Day by doing a one-day public service. Launched this year, PubMatic aims to turn this into an annual event, with employees worldwide participating in volunteer events on the same day. PubMatic’s D&I committee will then collect feedback from employees regarding potential partner organisations afterwards. Aimed at aligning this project with causes that its employees were passionate about, the programme hopes to support the communities in which we live and work.

PubMatic’s efforts received great results. It saw a growth in women employment at all levels in the organisation, particularly in the technology sector. In 2020, women represented 27.3% of its global workforce, up from 24.3% in 2019. When it came to career advancement, PubMatic improved the representation of underrepresented minorities in engineering and leadership roles. Female employees accounted for 22.8% of senior management in 2020, up 1.7 percentage points from 2019, and 17.8% of its global technical teams, up 0.6 percentage points from 2019.

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