The many and the one are what make us strong
We want to live in a world where everyone is treated with equal respect. Where everyone has the same opportunities for growth and wellbeing regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality, points of view, past experience, skills and abilities.
We know we’re far from there yet. Getting to great won’t happen overnight, neither in the workplace nor in the world at large, but it starts here, and at Manyone we’re committed to be a force for positive change.
If we’re not part of the solution, we’re part of the problem.
Our 10 principles for how to secure a diverse and inclusive workplace at Manyone:
We see our differences as our collective power.
We know that to build a better tomorrow, we can’t be afraid to confront our weaknesses today.
We work actively towards gender and culture-balanced ownership and management locally and globally.
We know that great ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, and in any way if you create the right space.
We acknowledge that everyone has biases and address them when hiring, promoting, and working together.
We don’t accept discriminatory behavior and have no tolerance for it.
Feeling safe and sound in the workplace is a right, not a privilege.
We want everyone to be able to speak truth to power without fear.
We never accept abusive behavior from anyone working at Manyone, whether they’re management, employees, or contractors.
We are ready to walk away if we experience any kind of abusive behavior from clients or business partners.
Many and One report
300+
people
14
locations across the globe
41
nationalities
Below is our third annual Many and One report.
With this report, we continue our commitment to transparency. Here, we present data on the evolving diversity and inclusion landscape at Manyone.
Progress over perfection
We delve deeper into our progress, identify areas for improvement, and outline the changes we commit to implementing.
We know that to build a better tomorrow, we can’t be afraid to confront our weaknesses today. This report does precisely that.
Generations
We may be getting older, but age brings wisdom, right? Our team spans multiple generations, with Millennials leading the way.
The average age at Manyone is 39. Most of us grew up rewinding VHS tapes, saving files on floppy disks, and hearing the dial-up tone before going online.
Age representation
14% Gen Z
1995-2009
61% Gen Y
1981-1994
24% Gen X
1965-1980
1% Boomers
1944-1964
Internationality
We are a global company with Nordic roots. But how global are we anyway?
We started in Denmark five years ago and now have 41 nationalities representing six continents.
Danish citizens still comprise the largest group of employees, but today, most Manyones are non-Danish. The percentage of non-Danes is lower in 2024 than in 2023 (44%).
From Arabic and Hungarian to Korean and Urdu, we speak 30 languages, but our company-wide language is English.
37%
Denmark
32%
EU/EFTA
15%
Non EU/EFTA
6%
Americas
5%
UK
3%
Asia
1%
Middle East
0.5%
Africa
0.5%
Oceania
What's next?
Our Nordic roots are part of who we are as a company, but as we grow, we aim to be 'global first' and internationally diverse.
We will continue to expand our brand to attract talent outside of the Nordic countries.
Gender representation
Almost as many women as men work at Manyone. Unfortunately, we are (still) skewed towards men in Director, Partner, and other leadership positions.
However, the balance is more equal than in previous years:
Director level:
Female 41% (2024) vs. 29% (2023)
Partners:
Female 35% (2024) vs. 34% (2023)
Global management:
Female 35% (2024) vs. 31% (2023)
Board of Directors:
Female 20% (2024) vs. 11% (2023)
The reason for the unequal distribution on the Partner level, in Global Management, and on the Board is still the same as in previous years: Two out of three of the teams we acquired had an all-male or male-majority ownership. This translates into many male Partners at Manyone today.
Manyone's Board of Directors mainly consists of our major shareholders, which are all men.
Gender representation overall
49.2%
Female
49.6%
Male
0.8%
Non-binary
0.4%
Undisclosed
Gender distribution per level
What's next?
Gender representation at Manyone’s Director level and above mirrors the broader trends in the creative consultancy industry. It’s not an excuse – it’s a challenge we’re committed to addressing.
As a continuous target, we're working towards more equal gender representation in hiring and promoting at the Director level and above.
Pay transparency
For the second year, we share information on our mean hourly pay* across genders. This allows us to calculate the gender pay gap, which shows the difference between women's and men’s average pay at Manyone.
Here, we specifically focus on the pay gap and not the topic of equal pay, i.e., whether women and men at Manyone earn equal pay for the same or similar work. However, our current data does not reveal systemic gender discrimination in pay.
We know that not everyone identifies as gender binary, but for now, we are using the most commonly used way of calculating and reporting the data, which is binary.
* Hourly pay includes full-time equivalent base salary and additional pay components and benefits (pension contribution, PTO allowance, etc.). Bonuses or benefits-in-kind are not included. The calculation is based on data from November 2024, and the methods used for calculating the exact values might be revised by 2025 as we refine and dig deeper into our data.
Gender pay gap
The overall pay gap is 15% in favor of men when we look across all employees, all roles, and all levels of experience in all countries for each of our seven employee levels.
At Manyone, more men in higher-paying roles widen the pay gap. This is mainly due to men's prevalence in global leadership and ownership positions. Our pay quartiles clearly show this.
Pay quartiles
Compared to women, there are more than twice the number of men in the upper quartile (43 men versus 20 women), and the men in this quartile receive higher salaries as more of them hold higher positions for longer tenures. On the other hand, if we examine the upper- and lower-middle quartiles, we see similar salaries regardless of gender. In the lower quartile, where there are more women than men, there is a pay gap in favor of men. One reason could be that more women are entering the Junior level where salaries are lower.
What's next?
The overall pay gap in 2024 remains almost unchanged from 2023 (14% favoring men). However, the pay gap in the upper quartile has decreased from 11% to 7%, indicating that more women hold positions at Director level and up than in 2023.
In the coming year, we will continue to track the pay gap to ensure that women are fairly compensated at all levels.
Psychological safety and belonging
Every year, we conduct a company-wide, autonomous survey about psychological safety and belonging at Manyone. In addition to answering yes/no questions, everyone can add comments, feedback, and concerns. The survey results are shared in detail with the global and local management teams, allowing them to take action.
The data reveals how comfortable employees feel expressing themselves, sharing concerns, and being their authentic selves at work. At the same time, it highlights the factors that strengthen or hinder a true sense of belonging within teams and the broader Manyone.
2024 was a challenging financial year, with many organizational changes, including new leadership structures, a new regional setup, new teams, and layoffs. This year, we saw an employee turnover of 23% – the most significant since 2019.
We believe the results below should be considered in that light.
"Are you comfortable being yourself at work?"
99% yes
Authenticity and inclusion at work
Nearly all employees (99%) feel comfortable being themselves at work, with 90% believing their unique backgrounds are respected. However, some still express concerns about whether these differences are valued or merely acknowledged.
Openness to ideas
77% of respondents feel the business is open to innovation, though barriers remain, particularly at management levels.
While 87% feel safe expressing opinions within their teams, feedback to leadership remains challenging for some.
As a company that claims to shape everything that's next, we must address why 13% do not feel comfortable enough proposing new ideas.
In 2025, we're launching an internal, CEO-led Changemaker Program to further fuel our culture of involvement and innovation.
"Are you comfortable with the tone in the workplace?"
95.4% yes
4.6% no
Safe reporting procedures have been in place since 2020, allowing all employees to report culture concerns. In 2025, we will review the reporting procedures and ensure everyone knows what to do.
Belonging and collaboration
Employees report a stronger sense of belonging within their teams than across the broader organization.
As a company built on cross-team collaboration, we constantly strive to overcome the cross-team divide. Although it might be one of the most complex structures to develop and nurture, we believe it gives our clients access to the best possible teams according to their business needs and challenges. Also, working at Manyone becomes more interesting, professionally challenging, and fun with this structure.
What's next?
Despite 2024 being a financially challenging year for Manyone and much of our industry, we’re proud of the progress we’ve made in strengthening our workplace and company culture.
In 2025, we commit to addressing the concerns outlined above while continuing to understand better the many nuances of psychological safety and belonging in the workplace.
Key focus areas include increasing leadership diversity, strengthening cross-team collaboration, and enhancing the visibility and impact of our culture communities. We’ll also prioritize bridging the gap between what we say and what we do, working towards alignment at every level.
It’s not easy – no one said it would be. But we’re not here to settle for the status quo.
Culture communities
The culture communities of Manyone are employee-led interest groups that foster diversity and inclusion within our organization. Our first culture community, Pride at Manyone, was launched in 2022. In 2023, we launched our second community: Women at Manyone.
Pride at Manyone connects people to discuss and ideate around Manyone’s activities related to Pride and better representation, but the community also weighs in on and strengthens our DE&I practices overall. Moreover, we hope to signal to outside LGBTQIA+ and minority groups that Manyone is committed to creating an inclusive workplace.
Women at Manyone fosters a workplace that uplifts and empowers women by promoting equal opportunities regardless of gender. We connect to inspire, listen, and learn – all to break down systemic barriers and create a more equal, inclusive, and enlightened culture.
Diversity and belonging initiatives at Manyone since going live:
2024
We launch the Manyone Pulse, a quarterly well-being survey that focuses on the current team vibe and the individual employee's workload, sense of development, and connection to Manyone's purpose
With the Pulse in place, we turn the annual Culture Assessment into a survey about psychological safety and the sense of belonging – the results are shared above
We launch My Manyone Mentor, an internal mentorship program, and connect 30 mentees with mentors in 2024. The program provides professional and personal sparring, also allowing individuals to request having, e.g., a female mentor to ensure representation
The Women at Manyone culture community hosts monthly sessions, establishing a supportive network for our female employees to seek advice and guidance. These sessions feature discussions, talks, and exercises to support knowledge sharing
We reach 41% female representation at the Director level. Up from 29% in 2023
We launch a Women at Manyone letterbox for anonymous requests, which helps guide and prioritize community efforts and initiatives
Pride at Manyone hosts a series of sessions, including “Creating Safer Spaces: The Importance of Pronouns and Trans-Inclusivity in Workplaces.”
We encourage widespread adoption of visible pronouns across email signatures, Slack, and Zoom to foster respect and inclusion
We become part of PRISM, a network of 30+ companies promoting DE&I across industries in Denmark and beyond
We added accessibility information on all of our local office pages
2023
We anonymize unsolicited applications and provide guidelines to prevent unconscious bias in our recruitment processes
We launch a dedicated postbox to guide LGBTQIA+ applicants through the application process
Revised parental leave guidelines (initially only in Denmark) to ensure gender-neutral policies that support all parents in their personal and professional lives
We hold our first Pride event and joined a cross-industry LGBTQIA+ network
We reach a 26% female representation (the aim was 25%) at the Global Managing Partner level
We start Women at Manyone, a Culture Community for women
We track and publish data on our gender pay gap
We launch a neurodiversity design toolkit
2022
The % of female Partners increase from 26% to 36%
The first woman on the Board of Directors and in the Global Management team
Leadership training with a psychological safety focus
The Pride at Manyone culture community launches
We publish the first edition of our diversity and belonging data
2021
We conduct yet another culture assessment. This time, increasing focus on bias involving gender, race, and more
Manyone reaches 200 employees with new locations in Israel, Norway, the US, and Brazil
2020
We conduct our first culture assessment, Manyone's company-wide, culture-focused well-being survey
We launch The Manyone Way, including our diversity and inclusion principles
Despite COVID-19, lock-downs and turbulent times, Manyone crosses the 100-person mark with new teams in Germany and the UK
We collaborate with Emma Holten, Danish feminist activist, author, and gender policy consultant, on developing our diversity and inclusion principles and safe reporting processes
2019
Manyone launches in Copenhagen, Denmark, with the first three companies onboard. Welcome to a new strategic design consultancy on the world stage
We take the first steps toward global expansion with pop-up studios in Helsinki and Rotterdam and a partnership with Boris Design in Hong Kong and Stockholm
Want to know more?
Get in touch if you have any questions about our approach to securing a diverse and inclusive Manyone. Or maybe you have some suggestions about how we might improve? We'd love to hear them.
