The Marketing Week Podcast: Marketing’s social class problem and creating a positive team culture

In this episode of The Marketing Week Podcast, hosts Charlotte Rogers, Lucy Tesseras and Molly Innes are joined by Sarah Atkinson, CEO of the Social Mobility Foundation, to talk about the marketing industry’s problem with socio-economic diversity.

Each year, the foundation releases the Employer Index, which ranks UK companies on the actions they are taking to open up opportunities to people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

Alongside Atkinson, we talk about the challenges faced by industries like tech in achieving true social mobility, the hidden barriers preventing people from lower soci-economic backgrounds from embarking on a career in marketing, and how businesses can take proactive steps to ensure employees are supported and encouraged to progress when in role.

We also discuss WeAreHere, a new collective connecting underrepresented young people with opportunities in marketing, spearheaded by GiffGaff CEO Ash Schofield, former Waitrose customer director, Martin George, and creative agency AnalogFolk.

Plus, after being given exclusive access to attend Specsavers’ annual internal marketing festival, a gathering of the brand’s senior marketing leaders from across the globe, we talk about the importance of collaboration and sharing best practice, as well as how to cultivate a positive work culture.