In an era when workers are mobile, with plenty of other job offers calling, agency culture has become increasingly important for retention. Employees who feel they can express themselves, achieve work-life balance and see future career opportunities are less likely to jump ship. And with agency hiring back on the rise after dipping in 2020, many new workers need to be introduced to the organization, often remotely.
“One of the biggest things that we've talked about throughout the year is the importance of really clarifying our culture, making it more intentional at a time when there's so much flux and change,” said Global Chief Operating Officer Neal Arthur. “It's so important that we felt like we needed somebody who could really own that and make sure that we are clarifying that we're teaching it, we're making it accessible for everybody to be an equal part.”
Notably, this is not a DE&I-focused role, and Wieden+Kennedy has not created a chief diversity officer role, choosing instead to task all members of the leadership team with the responsibility to improve diversity. “That's just not something that we want to silo. That's something that we want to all share,” Arthur said.
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Tedeschi joins after eight years at R/GA, where most recently she was global executive director of culture and operations, a role created last year. Her background is in production, and she held multiple roles at adam&eveDDB before joining R/GA, where she began the transition to operations.
“I've always been told, ‘You’re a great people person and you create great relationships,’ but I'm also an operator. My job is to get shit done,” Tedeschi said, “take something that's on paper, in theory, or an idea or thought and make it a reality. Having a human lens to how we operate and working at the intersection of people and operations has been just a natural follow through.”
