Political Lobbying and Media Relations (PLMR), recently became the first communications agency to sign-up to two Scottish government initiatives aimed at promoting equality and diversity in business – the Partnership for Change and the Scottish Business Pledge.

PLMR Scotland’s Senior Manager, Michael-John de la Haye, says the public relations and public affairs agency is committed to providing equal opportunities:

“One of the key elements of the Partnership for Change is a call for businesses in Scotland to establish a 50/50 gender divide in boardrooms by 2020. Signing-up didn’t require a wholesale change in corporate policy for us – there is already an equal divide between men and women on our board.

“As well as diversity in the boardroom, we also wholly endorse the other components of the Partnership, which promote equality across ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and religion.

We understand how integral equality and diversity are to Scotland’s success now and in the future. We firmly believe in creating a culture where everyone has the opportunity to thrive – regardless of your background. The Partnership for Change is a network of organisations and individuals, which support this principle and share a common ambition to improve diversity on boards and in senior leadership, and as such we are proud to be a part of it.

Another forward-thinking initiative we were delighted to join recently is the Scottish Business Pledge.  This has nine action points – such as paying the living wage and not offering zero-hours contracts – which identify progressive businesses, which are striving to create a fairer and stronger commitment.

We made this commitment voluntarily as we firmly believe in its principles and we are delighted to see that large organisations like Microsoft and Virgin have also signed up.

Here at PLMR we would like to call on all of our peers in the Chamber of Commerce to encourage other local business to sign up. Doing so shows that Edinburgh is leading by example – promoting equality and diversity across the city, the county and the nation.