While headlines point to a disconnect between employee demands and workplace policies, AdNews investigates how agency land is keeping up with flexible working to ensure both management and staff are happy.
According to SEEK, “work from home” was the top search term on its platform during the June 2022 quarter, even replacing specific job titles and locations.
Additional data suggests that 61% of workers would be willing to take a pay cut to maintain remote working status, with more than half (54%) of workers expecting a hybrid model of working in 2022.
Amanda Chisholm, principal consultant at Kaizen Recruitment, said: “Hybrid work is becoming more of an expectation than a request.
“Employees also expect flexibility in terms of the hours they need to log on because that’s generally what they’ve experienced while working from home during the pandemic.”
Workplace flexibility refers to more than work-life balance as employers must give staff the ability to choose when they work, and with such a shallow talent pool, employers must keep up with industry expectations to sustain any hope to fill position shortages.
Michelle Hampton, managing partner at independent marketing agency WiredCo, told AdNews: “What we’re currently hearing from our team is that flexibility and support are two really strong themes.
“But flexibility to them isn’t just having the choice to work from home or not - it’s much broader than that.
“They want (and need) the flexibility to make sure they’re looking after themselves, because when our team is looked after, they are the best versions of themselves and that includes doing their best work.”
But while the demand for remote working is clear, employers across the country are failing to promote their remote work policies as according to SEEK data less than 5 percent of employers include “work from home” in their job ads.
Therefore, AdNews asked five agencies to share their flexible working policies to start the foundations of an industry standard.
WiredCo offers everyday start/finish flexibility, WFH on Wed-Thurs, a Monday Funday policy where staff can start mornings when they want on Monday and a F**k yeah Friday policy where staff can knock off whenever they want after finishing their priorities on Friday.
Julie Dormand, managing partner at creative agency, The Works, part of Capgemini: “The Works encourages staff to be in the office at least two days a week, and flexi working allows you to work your set hours, at times that suit you opposed to the set 9-5pm.”
However setting schedules of WFH is a big obstacle for the industry as according to the 2022 Australian Talent Insights report by recruiter Aquent, 51% of staff want two days a week in the office, whilst half of C-Suite respondents believe that being in the office three or four days a week is the ideal model for hybrid working.
As a result, the larger agencies avoid numbering WFH and office days, to instead promote fluid flexibility based on individual preferences.
Ferrah Dagli, chief people officer, dentsu ANZ: “At dentsu we offer flexibility in the way we work and we don’t expect employees to be present at the office during what are traditionally known as core business hours.
“The aim is for our offices to be a place where experiences happen and our people come together to collaborate and solve complex problems for our clients.
“Therefore, dentsu teams are encouraged to find the balance of choosing a work location that allows them to bring their best selves to work through borderless teaming.”
According to GroupM’s employee value proposition: “Strive is our overarching approach to work … which gives you the flexibility to come into the office for the cultural moments that matter and build connections, to be clear on the collaboration moments that are needed, while being available for your life commitments.
“We’ve developed guidelines based on trust, mutual respect and equitable benefit for everyone. Every GroupM employee will have a personal strive flex plan to help you live your life, while still delivering amazing work for our clients and our team.
“We have consciously walked away from rigid guidelines and worked to make this much more individual, more reflective of how we want to work and the ebb and flow of our work.”
Similarly, Publicis Groupe’s flexible working framework called Publicis Liberté which has been in place since 2019 uses six flexible working behaviours to guide staff when working with their teams and managers including:
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Set your boundaries
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Trust one another
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Focus on outputs
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We are all different
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Communicate effectively
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Use tech to your advantage
“Through Liberté, Publicis is focused on finding ways to help our people to fit work into their lives, and not the other way round. Liberté forms the foundation of our people approach, ensuring that we are supporting a happy, healthy and productive workforce,” Publicis said.
Not only do the COVID-19 lockdowns continue to trigger the rise of domestic flexible working practices many months after the elimination of government mandates which made hybrid work neccessary, agencies continue to encourage international work initiatives.
Publicis Groupe's global mobility program offers eligible employees the opportunity to transfer from one agency to another within the Publicis Groupe, anywhere in the world.
Publicis Groupe unveiled work your world in December 2021, that enables team members to work from the city or country of their choosing for up to 6 weeks every calendar year.
And to make the opportunity even more accessible, Publicis launched the home-swap-home benefit allowing Publicis employees to stay at a colleague’s place.
On the independent agency spectrum, international work flexibility is also achievable with WiredCo’s wired connect program allowing employees to work anywhere in the world.
And The Works’ reunited program which allows staff to extend a holiday and work from anywhere in the world two weeks of the year as a “response to our lives through Covid and for our diverse people from many countries to be able to see their family more,” Dormand said.
At dentsu, “our international mobility policy supports international moves in line with business needs - types of international work at dentsu includes both permanent moves to fill a vacancy and short-term assignments to support client work.
“Our people do have the opportunity to work remotely overseas for a period while maintaining their current roles in line with our be the best you policy, however we support these requests on a case-by-case basis, where local laws permit.”
As a post-lockdown initiative GroupM gives staff the freedom to travel, both internationally and domestically for an extended time between Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 using a combination of annual leave and the ability to work remotely to support staff reconnecting with family and desire to reconnect.
Scott Laird, chief people officer, GroupM told AdNews: “It’s an understanding that flexibility and work life balance is different for everyone and it’s really about empowering our people to create a personal flex plan that is aligned with what we need to deliver for clients, alongside their personal commitments.
“Likewise, flexible public holidays won’t make a person choose one employer over another – but it will show them that their employer cares about their values and moments of significance.”
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