Engagement Down in the Ad Agency World
You hear about ad agencies being a place full of creatives and creative workspaces for some organizations. A recent article from Advertising Age suggests that employee engagement within many agencies is actually down.
In an article published March 8th a bottom line statement noted that agencies in general don't do a good job of communicating, training or motivating employees. As Andrew Bennet stated within that article:
"We are a people-focused industry but we don't embrace that with our employees."
The ad world is an industry almost famous for its turnover rate. Though these organizations push the fact that talent is the number one asset, it seems to be a mentality not held well for many agencies. In a 4A's and Arnold survey, 90% of the employees within those agencies felt that they had to train themselves in what they do from day-to-day. They didn't feel motivated or very engaged by their upper management.
"The average Starbucks barista gets more training than the average communications employee," Benett said.
Employee turnover is a costly business endeavor. No matter what industry you are in, employee communication is a crucial part of business success. In the article, Bennet is quoted as saying how revenue is taking a priority over people for many agencies in the biz.
If you put the people first, the revenue will follow suit. Not having to front the costly recruiting and re-training will cut costs significantly for any organization. Engagement is a crucial component for a company bottom line.
What do you all think?