Nearly a dozen ad agencies reached an agreement with New York City's Human Rights Commission to set numerical goals for increasing black representation on their creative and managerial staffs and to
report on their progress each year. The commission has the authority to fine companies up to $250,000 or to sue them, but officials said they believed the threat of pressure from agency clients, like
Pepsi and Citigroup, was a more effective stick in bringing corporate leaders to the negotiating table. An inquiry by the commission found that the hiring of black workers at agencies had improved
little in 40 years. Of 8,000 employees working for 16 agencies the commission examined, about 22 percent make more than $100,000 a year--but only 2.5 percent of those are black. The companies also
have agreed to set up diversity boards and to link progress on the issue to their managers' compensation. Agencies owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies and the WPP Group have signed the pact.
Omnicom, which owns agencies such as BBDO, DDB and Merkley, says it is pursuing its own strategy for diversifying its work force, and it is not a party to the deal.
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