PR Council States Support for Equal Pay, Harassment-Free Workplaces

Just in time for Tuesday’s Equal Pay Day, the PR Council issued statements last week promoting pay equity and declaring “zero tolerance” for discrimination and harassment in the public relations field.

The statement on pay equity  (opens in a new tab) called for “member agencies to adopt policies that ensure fair pay for all PR professionals and to utilize consistent criteria when determining initial and subsequent compensation decisions.”

“Consistent review of compensation will not only narrow the gender pay gap, but also boost productivity and benefit our members and their employees,” added the statement, signed off on by the council’s board of directors.

Simultaneously, the group released a “zero-tolerance statement”  (opens in a new tab) on workplace discrimination and harassment. The council included a version for its members to sign, which states, “We expressly affirm our commitment to zero tolerance for any form of harassment or discrimination in our company’s workplace and any work-related situations.”

The statements come as the PR profession is facing ethics issues on several fronts. Last year, a prominent British public relations firm, Bell Pottinger, shut down  (opens in a new tab) after a campaign it ran in South Africa stirred up racial tensions. The downfall of the firm, as well as recent news stories about the U.K.-based data firm Cambridge Analytica, have led some in the field to push for stronger ethical standards.

Last year, Edelman CEO Richard Edelman called on the industry to beef up its ethics standards—a proposal that the PR Council and other groups supported  (opens in a new tab).

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