With International Woman’s Day approaching this week it was heartening to see several PR firms being recognized for progressive policies toward women. In particular FleishmanHillard made the top 10 of the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) list of Best Companies for Executive Women for the third consecutive year. It was also the company’s ninth year on the list.
At FleishmanHillard, 66% of its employees are women, and they are 53% of senior managers. Women hold half the roles in the C-suite and more than half the regional leadership positions (57%). Eight of 15 seats on the company’s leadership cabinet are women. 46% of its top 10% earners are women; 59% of its board members are women and 65% of employees earning promotions to the manager level and higher are women. Nearly half of FleishmanHillard’s global practice and sector groups have women overseeing them.
Also on the NAFE list is Edelman, its fifth year being honored and its second year in a row. Women are 71% of Edelman’s employees and 41% of its global senior leaders (up from 33% in 2011). 66% of Edelman’s U.S. managers are women and 73% of U.S. management promotions go to women. 44% of its corporate executives are women.
As we know, PR is a strong field for women. 72% of those who responded to our PR News Salary Survey 2018 (see page 1 story) are women. Unfortunately, the survey also shows women are paid less than men and have fewer representatives in the boardroom. This tracks closely with some of the NAFE data seen here. The bottom chart seems more optimistic than the top, where even NAFE companies barely made progress.
