When interviewing creatives recently, Neale Horrigan, executive creative director at London agency Elvis found something surprising. “We’d just won three Cannes Lions and we thought that if we waved those around, creative recruits would come flocking. But instead, they wanted to ask questions about flexible working and parental leave. That is a first.”

See all the winners of Ad Age's 2021 Small Agency Awards here.

Elvis, like many other U.K. and U.S. agencies, is busy hiring at a time when advertising employees are quitting the industry in droves.  Agencies are desperately trying to retain and hire talent as business bounces back post-pandemic. And for the first time, having clear policies on issues that affect family life is increasingly not just important but necessary in what agencies are calling the “war for talent.” The likes of Publicis, Adam&Eve/DDB, Lucky Generals, Havas and others have all introduced these over the past few months, together with media owner Channel 4, which introduced a miscarriage policy in April and a menopause policy in 2019. 

Competitive advantage

What were once seen as progressive perks can now give agencies a competitive advantage when it comes to hiring the best talent.  “People in the market for jobs are genuinely getting two to four offers at one time, so these 'softer' benefit packages are becoming the differentiator in many way,” says Helen Kimber, managing director of London talent recruitment company The Longhouse. “The family side of it is key. Even more interesting is that people are asking about these policies before they even apply for a job. That’s something I’ve never seen before.”

“We are hiring like crazy at the moment, and these policies are making a huge difference,” confirms Annette King, CEO of Publicis Groupe U.K. In July, the agency group announced a new raft of measures that includes paid time off for adoption, surrogacy, fertility issues, pregnancy loss and more as well enhanced packages for maternity and parental leave. Earlier this year it introduced a menopause policy.

While the flexible working issue has been on the table for some time, policies on women’s health–from time off for fertility treatment, after a miscarriage, or for those affected by the menopause–are increasingly taking center stage this year. As health issues like this are more frequently addressed by celebrities (like Chrissy Teigen, Meghan Markle and U.K. TV presenter Davina McCall), and become the focus of creative campaigns like Libresse's #WombStories, more agencies are making it clear that they will support families at these stages of life.

Lucky Generals was one of the first U.K. agencies to instigate a policy around women experiencing miscarriage, in April 2020. The agency, majority-owned by Omnicom’s TBWA, also offers a range of other family benefits; in addition to a menopause policy and enhanced return-to-work policies, it allows fathers to work shorter hours in the weeks following paternity leave while others can base their work around school hours. It’s also looking at a formal policy for parents experiencing premature birth, something which has been introduced by companies in Australia.

Managing Director Cressida Holmes-Smith says that now, in the hiring process, it’s seeing not only parents but younger women asking about these policies. “People have seen us talking about the miscarriage policy and think that it is a signal that the agency culture is forward-thinking.”

Clear communication

Holmes-Smith is one of a number of senior leaders who say that it’s important not just to have these policies, but to make sure they are clearly communicated and “lived by.” 

“Often pregnancy, adoption and fertility policies are hidden and you have to physically ask for them, and people don’t want to ask those questions,” says Paula Cunnington, chief talent officer at Publicis Groupe U.K. “We are making sure that these policies are readily available for everyone so they can make considered choices about where their life journey is going to over the next few years.”

Omnicom's Adam&Eve/DDB formalized its policies on areas such as menopause, miscarriage and fertility treatment in May; its benefits include a paid-for menopause consultation with a specialist doctor. It's putting the information out there more clearly “to give people permission without them having to ask," says Deputy Managing Director Jemima Monies; previously, she says, people might well have been given time off for these things but would have to approach HR. 

See all the winners of Ad Age's 2021 Small Agency Awards here.

While many of the policies focus on women’s health, Melissa Robertson, CEO of sports marketing agency Dark Horses, is keen to point out that they don’t just affect women. “When Channel 4 launched their menopause policy, I heard people saying  “Isn’t it great, ‘they launched a menopause policy for women,” says Robertson. “That really triggered me, because I don’t think people are understanding the real why. You need a menopause policy not just to recruit women, but to help people understand how they can be helpful in retaining a whole level of women who might otherwise leave the workforce.”

Citing a Bloomberg 2019 report that estimates 900,000 women in the U.K. leave their jobs each year due to menopause symptoms, Robertson has just published what she calls an “open source” menopause policy—one that can be downloaded and used by multiple agencies as well as her own.

Part of that is a detailed document explaining what exactly happens in the menopause and what symptoms it can cause, from the common down to the unusual. Robertson, who is on a mission to explain after suffering from menopausal symptoms herself, says some women have already contacted her, having realized just by reading the document that they are having less commonly discussed issues—like extreme itchiness or experiencing numbness in fingers.

But it's not only women who need to read it.  "It's something that everyone of every gender and every level needs to read," she believes. Next, she wants to address issues around menstruation and problematic periods. "If the average boss is a middle-aged man, it's still very difficult to bring up that conversation."

Training managers of every level in agencies to understand the issues is "imperative," says Publicis’ Cunnington, particularly with an area such as menopause which is still little-discussed outside of those going through it. “It’s really important that we teach managers how to talk to those going through it, and even how to talk to partners of women going through it."

COVID-19 'watershed'

While many of these agencies say they were formulating these policies pre-pandemic, one thing is certain; COVID-19 has accelerated the rate of change as employees have reassessed their working lives and prioritized family issues. 

“COVID has been a real watershed for all agencies and their hiring and talent and retention policies,” says Jane Rankin, founder of recruitment firm Jane Rankin Search. “Going back even three years ago, I don’t think it would have crossed a woman’s mind to ask what allowances were made for menopause, for instance, when negotiating salary and package. What I’m observing is that it’s all up for grabs, and senior candidates just now expect that there will be a conversation about flexibility.” 

Former agency exec Vonnie Alexander, who now works as a coach and consultant to managers in the industry, agrees that COVID has been the game-changer. “So many of these requests for flexible work used to be turned down, but now there is no reason to do that because we know it can work. The genie can’t go back in the bottle.”

Alexander believes that some managers are also now more aware of supporting people through different stages of their career: “There are times in people’s lives when they need more support, and I’ve heard more enlightened leaders talking about having better, longer-term relationships with employees.”

Publicis’ King says that some of what the agency has done has come as a result of her talking daily with employees during lockdown periods. “We’ve been listening to people so much more as a result of the pandemic,” she says. “It gave people a forum to say what was on their mind. And of course the balancing of personal and work life has come to the fore."

But while senior female leaders such as King know this approach helps them to retain and hire staff, the end goal is that such benefits should be normalized across the advertising world.  “For us at the moment, it is a competitive advantage," admits King. "But nothing would make us happier than for this to be adopted by the whole industry.”

See all the winners of Ad Age's 2021 Small Agency Awards here.

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