GroupM network among first 67 companies to be awarded the IPA’s People First Promise badge of honour accreditation

London, 13^th May 2024 — GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, today announces the GroupM U.K. network has been awarded the first-ever IPA People First Promise badge of honour, with GroupM, EssenceMediacom, EssenceMediacomX, Wavemaker and Mindshare all receiving this accolade.

Launched by IPA President and GroupM UK & EMEA CEO, Josh Krichefski, the People First Promise and accompanying Adland Wellbeing Lab demonstrates the advertising industry’s commitment to putting health and wellbeing at the forefront of businesses and awards agencies with a proven outstanding duty of care to their people in three areas; empower, support and prevent.

‘Empower’ relates to empowering and educating individuals in the workplace to find their resilience and be in tune with their own mental health, ‘Support’ centres around what the business does to help its people – particularly those struggling with mental health problems. Finally, ‘Prevent’ holds senior leaders accountable for ensuring reliable processes, checks and action plans are in place and monitored regularly.

Initiatives highlighted in the GroupM submissions included:

• The range of inclusive policies available to employees (menopause support, health and wellbeing policy, stress policy)
• Dedicated support for employees returning to work who have had an extended leave of absence due to parental or adoption leave, caring responsibilities, illness or anything else
• The investment in Mental Health Allies across the group, allowing people to speak to someone in confidence whenever they need
• Dedicated training for line managers through the award-winning Learning and Effectiveness teams, with over 2000 total courses available on the in-house GroupM University platform

Josh Krichefski, GroupM UK & EMEA CEO, and IPA President, commented: “Much of the inspiration for the People First Promise came from my time spent at GroupM, seeing the brilliant work we have done in the Mental Health space across the board. I am incredibly proud that we’ve achieved this badge of honour as a network and hope this will inspire many other businesses – within our industry and beyond – to sign up and pledge their public commitment to their make mental health a business priority.”

Krichefski continues: “By supporting and empowering our people, I truly believe our people and our businesses will thrive now and in the future.”

The People First Promise badge of honour accredits businesses for two years, with the inaugural award being valid until 2026.

###