Data summary

Key data

Basic Group info

Basic Group info
  Units 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
Number of countries   112 112 112 111 110
Number of offices   3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000
Benchmarks            
FTSE4Good   Member Member member member member
CDP   B A- 97B 98 B 95 B

Economic

Economic data
  Units 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
Billings £m 55,563 55,245 47,632 46,186  46,209
Revenue £m 15,265 14,389 12,235 11,529 11,019
Headline PBIT £m 2,267 2,160 1,774 1,681  1,662
Market capitalisation at year-end £m 17,030 23,260 20,237 18,140  18,613
Staff costs £m 8,319 7,785 6,653 6,440  6,477
Taxation £m 197 339 248 300  284

Client work

Client work data
  Units 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
Revenue from clients who engaged with us on sustainability £bn 2.11 1.64 1.29 1.35 1.26
As a % of total revenue % 13.8 11.4 10.6 11.2 10.6

Employment

Employment data
  Units 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
Headcount            
Excluding employees from associate companies   134,413 134,341 128,000 124,000 119,000
Including employees from associate companies   202,841 198,144 190,000 179,000 175,000
Age            
19 or under % 1 0 0 0 1
20-29 % 35 36 36 36 36
30-39 % 37 37 37 38 37
40-49 % 18 18 18 18 18
50-59 % 7 7 7 7 7
60 and over spot % 2 2 2 1 1
Gender            
WPP Board % female 25 29 29 24 29
Executive leaders % female 35 34 33 31 32
Senior managers % female 49 48 47 46 47
All staff % female 54 54 54 54 54
Ethnicity in the UK and US            
Executive leaders % minority 16 16 13 11 10
Senior managers % minority 21 21 20 19 18
All staff % minority 28 28 26 26 25
Training £m 44.9 45.1 41.1 38.2 40.0
Paid internships and apprenticeships   7,888 6,413 5,378 - -
Days lost due to sickness per employee   3.4 3.2 3.0 3.2 3.5

Environment

Environment data
  Units 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
Carbon footprint*            
Total CO2e emissions tonnes 229,414 249,782 264,774 281,390 279,859
Scope 1 emissions from stationary fuel combustion tonnes 7,648 7,851 8,135 9,748 11,305
Scope 2 emissions from purchased electricity tonnes 100,361 115,021 123,218 138,348 136,171
Scope 2 emissions from heat & steam tonnes 1,963 1,884 - -  - 
Scope 3 emissions from business air travel tonnes 89,518 92,445 98,885 96,590 95,879
Scope 3 emissions from other estimated impacts tonnes 29,924 32,581 34,536 36,703 36,503
Total CO2e emissions per employee tonnes/FTE 1.71 1.86 2.07 2.28 2.35
Total CO2e emissions per £m revenue tonnes/£m 15.03 17.36 21.64 24.41 25.40
Office energy use            
Total energy use megawatt hours 329,878 339,037 354,018 359,620 380,906
Direct energy use (natural gas and heating oil) megawatt hours 36,415 37,174 38,287 44,847 52,532
Indirect energy use (purchased electricity) megawatt hours 293,463 301,863 315,731 314,773 328,374
Energy use per employee kilowatt hours/FTE 2,454 2,524 2,763 2,909 3,198
% of electricity from renewable sources % 26 22 21 14 15
Business air travel            
Total business air travel million miles 549 571 588 560 538
Long haul million miles 282 297 316 306 303
Medium haul million miles 206 213 215 200 171
Short haul million miles 61 60 58 54 64
Business air travel per employee miles/FTE 4,086 4,249 4,591 4,532 4,519
Paper†            
Total paper purchased tonnes 3,597 4,460 4,897 5,101 6,584
Paper purchased with recycled content or FSC/PEFC Certified % 23 23 31 28 24
Waste and Recycling            
Total non-recycled waste tonnes 4,892 4,111 3,059 -   -  
Breakdown by category:            
Incineration (energy recovered) % 13 16 22 -   -  
Incineration (non-energy recovered) % 20 17 9 -   -  
Landfill % 61 62 64 -   -  
Unknown % 6 5 5 -   -  
Total waste recycled tonnes 5,804 6,122 5,713 5,416 5,106
Breakdown by category:            
Paper and cardboard % 77 73 71 73 81
IT waste % 2 2 2 3 3
Other waste recycled % 21 25 27 24 16

Social investment

Social investment data
  Units 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
* Renewable electricity rated at zero emissions.
† In 2015, we had to estimate our paper consumption. From 2016 onwards we were able to use actual data.
Charitable donations £m 7.7 7.0 5.9 4.8 4.9
Arts % 3 4 4 9 6
Education % 19 21 23 22 20
Environment % 1 1 1 2 2
Health % 15 20 23 22 21
Human Rights % 11 8 8 4 0
Local community % 51 46 41 40 21
Probono £m 12.7 12.5 13.5 17.0 14.7
Arts % 6 8 5 6 4
Education % 21 21 13 17 14
Environment % 2 7 5 5 6
Health % 16 24 37 39 29
Human Rights % 13 7 5 2 0
Local community % 42 33 36 31 20
Free media space £m 29.0 22.8 20.7 25.1 19.8
Total social investment (excl. free media) £m 20.4 19.5 19.4 21.8 19.6
As a proportion of revenue % 0.13 0.14 0.16 0.19 0.18
As a proportion of profit before tax % 0.97 1.03 1.30 1.51 1.51
Total social investment (incl. free media) £m 49.4 42.3 40.2 46.9 39.4