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Media the Telegraph Diversity & Inclusion

Telegraph Media Group chief promises to improve diversity and solve pay gap within company

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By Stephen Lepitak, -

November 2, 2017 | 3 min read

Recently installed Telegraph Media Group chief executive Nick Hugh has vowed to improve the pay gap and diversity numbers within the company under his leadership.

Nick Hugh telegraph

Nick Hugh, chief executive of Telegraph Media Group

Speaking at Bloomfest, the first day-long event held by the female business membership organization, Bloom in London, the former Yahoo executive who joined in June was questioned about the company’s policies when it came to female staff.

He admitted that there was work to be done, although added the caveat that it was still early days under his stewardship, but promised improvement.

On salaries, he would not be drawn on payment details, claiming that it was something he believed he should disclose to employees in the first instance, despite presenter Harriet Minter claiming that it was every female’s professional duty to talk about their salary openly, in order to make others aware of a disparity with male colleagues at the same level of employment.

He admitted that the company needed to be ‘modernized’ when it came to its diversity figures too.

“What I am making sure of is that there is change and I will explain to people how we change and why we change and show real evidence of that,” he promised the room, although later he added that it wouldn’t happen overnight.

Later, during a discussion over the recent sexual harassment revelations on behavior of men in Hollywood and Westminster, which according to many in the room was also a pertinent issue within the media and advertising sectors, Hugh offered his view: “Every company is going to need to have a process than enables anonymity. We are in an unprecedented time. Even if these actions happened in the past, then the perpetrators still need to be held responsible for their actions.”

His words went down well with the many women listening in the audience who later questioned the panel, which also included journalist Emma Sexton and Rachel Forde, chief executive of Spark Founder UK.

Another conclusion reached by the panel was that there would be a changing nature to working hours and employment, which came from Sexton’s assessment that more workers were going freelance and taking lower wages in order to work less hours and enjoy their work/life balance more.

Media the Telegraph Diversity & Inclusion

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