The unveiling of the 2024 AIM/PAR Workplace Diversity Study highlights the annual Diversity Week of gatherings recognizing diversity and inclusion efforts within the media and entertainment industries. 

The week of events begins October 21 with the WICT Network Leadership Conference, followed by the October 22 NAMIC Conference and the October 23 Kaitz Dinner, now under the auspices of the NCTA Educational Foundation (formerly the Walter Kaitz Foundation).

WICT and NAMIC will once again team to offer the latest AIM/PAR Workplace Survey, a biennial report on the current state of ethnic and gender diversity within the media and entertainment industry. Industry executives hope the new survey will surpass the results from the 2022 report, which showed major gains for women in the workforce but a decline in the share of people of color employed compared to 2019. (The 2022 survey was delayed a year due to the pandemic.)

“It’s going to be fascinating to see how the industry fared in terms of women and people of color,” WICT Network president and CEO Maria E. Brennan said. “Depending on what kind of company you keep there’s either a stronger commitment than ever to diversity, or one that looks at DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) as some sort of entitlement program where it personifies the complete misunderstanding of what diversity and inclusion means for everyone across the board.”

NAMIC president Shuanise Washington also hopes this year’s survey will show an improvement. “Those companies who are absolutely committed to diversity see an ROI (return on investment) in terms of better outcomes and better business results, as well as positive work environments and work cultures in those companies,” she said. “Those efforts hopefully will continue to grow despite the tangential conversations that will be taking place to some degree.” 

WICT, NAMIC Set To Gather

The two-day WICT Network Leadership Conference & Touchstones Luncheon kicks off Diversity Week October 21 under the theme “Fuel­ing Your Power and Purpose,” and will focus on the leadership qualities and the importance of fostering an inclusive workforce culture.

The Touchstones Luncheon will honor its 2024 Women of the Year winners Amy Blair, Liberty Global chief people officer; Johnita Due, CNN Worldwide executive VP, integrity and inclusion; and Sandy Howe, ATX Networks board director. The organization will also honor three Women to Watch during the luncheon: Charter Communications head of operations, sales and marketing Julie Unruh; AMC Networks executive VP, linear and streaming products Courtney Thomasma; and Amazon Web Services Global director of solutions architecture for media & entertainment, games and sports Steph Lone. 

MSNBC president Rashida Jones is honorary chair of the NAMIC Conference, set for October 22-23. “We are honored to have Rashida Jones as this year’s honorary chair,” Washington said. “Her leadership and vision are transforming the media landscape, setting new standards for excellence and inclusion.”

Essence Ventures CEO Caroline Wanga will keynote NAMIC’s 38th annual conference. Washington said the conference’s theme, “Diverse Voices! Defining the Future …,” will focus not only on empowering diverse voices not only within the industry, but exploring potential partnerships with tangential companies.

“This year’s conference embodies a pivotal moment of change and progress as we navigate and shape the future of our industry together, ” Washington added. 

“Do Good. Be Better. Impact Tomorrow.” is the theme for the October 23 Kaitz Dinner diversity fundraising event. The dinner is the first since the Walter Kaitz Foundation was fully integrated into the NCTA Education Foundation in May. The NCTA Education Foundation is dedicated to leveraging the industry’s positive impact on communities, NCTA said. 

The NCTA Education Foundation will continue the former Kaitz Foundation’s grant-making programs and support for legacy industry organizations and efforts, according to NCTA. 

The Kaitz Dinner will honor two ChangeMakers “who have made a significant impact and resonance around diversity and inclusion in our industry over the last year,” said the organization. Comcast NBCUniversal is the Ambassador Sponsor, with Charter Communications the Champion Sponsor. 

Last year’s 40th anniversary Kaitz fundraising dinner raised more than $1.1 million toward the media and connectivity industry’s DEI efforts. 

The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) and Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) will launch its joint AIM/PAR Workforce Diversity Survey in November, with plans to release the findings during Diversity Week 2022.

The two-year joint workforce survey, which focuses on the current state of ethnic and gender diversity within the media and entertainment industry, was delayed from going out to industry companies earlier this year due to the pandemic, according to NAMIC and WICT officials. 

The 2019 AIM/PAR survey saw an increase in representation of people of color and women in executive and senior-level management positions by 3% and 2%, respectively, compared to the 2017 survey. Also, hiring rates for people of color exceeded the rate for white people by roughly 15% compared with the last survey, while hiring rates for women exceeded the rate of men by nine percentage points.

Read Also: WICT, NAMIC Surveys: Women, People of Color Increase Representation at Senior, Executive and Board Levels 

Leading up to the survey launch, NAMIC, WICT and the Walter Kaitz Foundation will kick off the Commit to be Counted campaign to garner awareness and a commitment from survey-eligible companies. The campaign will reinforce the value of participation in the survey and demonstrate how the data is a critical tool for the industry to improve its efforts to create inclusive workplaces, said the companies. 

The cable and communications industry has made major strides in the hiring of women and people of color, but the industry is struggling with retaining women and people of color at the same pace as men and whites, according to industry diversity employment studies from NAMIC and WICT.

The results of the biennial study — revealed this morning at a Town Hall meeting in conjunction with the WICT Leadership Conference and the NAMIC Conference — offered offered encouraging news on hiring and promotion of people of color and women compared to the last conducted reports in 2017.

Among the companies that participated in both the 2017 and the 2019 surveys, the 2019 AIM/PAR Workforce Survey reported that representation of people of color at executive/senior managers levels increased to 28.4% from 25.1% over the two-year period. In addition, the percentage of people of color at board of director levels increased to 16.8% from 15.3%. Compared to whites, the hiring percentage rate of people of color is 15.4 percentage points higher, said the survey.

Overall, people of color representation within cable industry increased at all levels for both operators and programmers, according to the survey. 

“It’s encouraging to see that people of color are making advancements in the industry,” says NAMIC President and CEO Shuanise Washington.

The survey also reported that female representation at the executive/senior management level increased to 34.9% from 32.7% compared to 2017, as well as at the board of directors level, to 25.2% from 16.8%. The overall promotional rate is higher for women than for men.

“We are grateful that we work in an industry that allows WICT and NAMIC to measure workforce diversity and inclusion,” said WICT President & CEO Maria E. Brennan. “Knowing where women and people of color stand is step-one in ensuring progress. As the survey results show, for women, closing the gaps in hiring and employee retention are central to achieving parity with men.”

The surveys also raised several red flags for the industry. Promotional rates for people of color are lower than whites, and young white professionals under the age of 36 are promoted at more than two times the rate of young professionals of color, according to the survey. For women, the survey reports that the turnover rate for women is 7.3 percentage points higher than for men.

“Clearly more needs to be done, particularly in the area of retaining and promoting people of color,” Washington said. “Companies need to shift from focusing solely on diversity to also focusing on inclusion. That’s where you are going to start to see real progress because diversity without inclusion is not effective in the long term.”

Brennan added that the data will help fortify the industry’s efforts to become more diverse and inclusive. “Like our partners at NAMIC and The Walter Kaitz Foundation, we will use this data to help companies strengthen their practices and policies to improve recruitment and retention of women within their workforce.” 

The AIM/PAR Workforce Survey was administered by research company Mercer and financially supported by The Walter Kaitz Foundation. A total of 21 organizations representing 75.5% of the industry workforce participated in the online survey of cable and communications companies, which employ more than 245,000 people, according to the organizations.

The unveiling of WICT and NAMIC’s biannual diversity employment survey for the cable industry highlights the industry’s annual Diversity Week festivities kicking off today (Sept. 25).

The week’s festivities — which will include Women in Cable Telecommunications’ daylong Leadership Conference and Touchstones Luncheon today, the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications’ s 31st Annual Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the annual Walter Kaitz Foundation fundraising dinner Wednesday evening — will be highlighted by a Tuesday morning Town Hall announcing the results of WICT’s PAR Cable Telecommunications Industry Diversity Survey and NAMIC’s AIM (Advancement Investment Measurement) AIM-PAR Workforce Survey. That research is geared to help companies determine the factors that influence the industry’s ability to recruit, retain and advance its workforce.

Related:NAMIC’s Annual Awards Now a Rite of Fall

Diversity advocates are hoping to build on results in the last report in 2015 that indicated modest increases for females and people of color in executives and senior-level managers, but declines in the number of full time female employees and promotion rates for people of color compared to the 2013 NAMIC AIM report.

Other key Diversity Week events include:

WICT Leadership Conference
Journalist and author Katie Couric will open the annual WICT Leadership Conference, which will feature as its theme “Level Up. Focus Forward,” WICT president and CEO Maria Brennan said.

“We’ve seen so much of the industry evolving over the last two or three years, and part of that evolution is ensuring that the women inside of our universe remain focused,” Brennan said. “We want to make sure women continue to advance, that they are leveling up and they are focusing forward for the good of themselves as well as the good of their organization and the industry.”

Actress, producer and director Trudie Styler will deliver keynote remarks at the organization’s Touchstones Luncheon, which will honor the 2017 Women of the Year, BBC America president and general manager Sarah Barnett and Comcast executive vice president and chief communications officer D’Arcy Rudnay.

Gretchen Carlson, the TV journalist and women’s empowerment advocate, will open the second day of the conference with a keynote based on her new book, Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back. The conference will conclude with the WICT’s “Pearls of Wisdom” series of mini-keynotes.

31st Annual NAMIC Conference
The theme for NAMIC’s annual conference is “Diversity at the Speed of Change,” which reflects and captures the rapid innovation and change that has been going on in the cable business, according to NAMIC president Eglon Simons.

“While we look at all the different changes and things that are going on within the industry, we can talk about diversity, advocacy and inclusion because that never goes away,” he said. “The conference brings a confluence of people — young and old — that must have their appetites and their knowledge expanded.”

Veteran journalist John Quiñones, host of What Would You Do?, will serve as the keynote speaker for the two-day conference, which will be highlighted by an impressive roster of industry business leaders and experts.

The conference will culminate with NAMIC Awards Luncheon, which will feature the organization’s 2017 Next Generation Leaders Awards. Also during the luncheon NAMIC will honor U.S. Tennis Association CEO and president Katrina Adams with the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Achievement Award.

The Walter Kaitz Foundation Dinner
The 34th annual Walter Kaitz Foundation Dinner, which helps fund diversity-themed programs and organizations within the cable industry, will look to best last year’s fundraising mark of more than $1.7 million. To keep things lively, the dinner will feature appearances by Sean “P Diddy” Combs and Insecure co-star Yvonne Orji, according to foundation officials.

HBO will be honored as the foundation’s Diversity Champion, an award given to organizations that act as catalysts for diversity throughout the cable industry.

Girls Who Code will receive the Diversity Advocate Award, presented to an organization outside of the cable industry that has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to diversity.