Publicis, in this year's AFR Best Places to Work list for the media and marketing industry, was the only large company to make it into the top 10.
The advertising group came in sixth. Last week AdNew spoke to three independent agencies which made it into the top five.
Pauly Grant, chief talent officer of Publicis Groupe ANZ:
What makes Publicis one of the best places to work in the media and marketing industry?
Publicis Groupe has humanity at its heart. This is led from our global headquarters, right thought to local market leaders and cultures. We lead with this human lens and respond to our people’s Life Experience (LX), not just Employee Experience (EX). We continually evolve and explore what our people are looking for and what future people practices will help create the best place to work.
This includes creating more inclusive paid leave policies, such as supporting people through gender affirmation, IVF and miscarriage leave, and more. Along with Publicis Liberte, our long-standing approach to flexible working, and our ‘Wholeself’ program, which is focused on the wellbeing of our people, emotionally, physically and financially.
This has included the powerful ‘Thrive’ program in partnership with Meta and EnergX, aimed at supporting wellness, reducing burnout and energising our staff; as well as significant changes to our Mental Health Policy, such as changing Sick Leave to Wellbeing leave, recognising that wellbeing encompasses mental, emotional and physical health; and creating new Time in Lieu guidelines.
Our cutting-edge AI-powered global platform, Marcel, has seen us house our local L&D program, which has opened up fresh content and knowledge hubs to suit people’s desire to learn and grow. Also on Marcel is the ‘Growth Dashboard, which is based on people’s current skills and the career they want - providing them with inspiration, learning courses and connection to Publicis people around. Globally last year, we also announced our Work Your World initiative, which gives our people the opportunity to work from any Publicis office around the world for up to six weeks every year.
Our transparent, open culture sees the CEO of Publicis Groupe ANZ Michael Rebelo, our CFO and myself run quarterly live video Townhalls and Q&As with our 1,600 staff across ANZ. It is an opportunity for us to share business updates, celebrate wins and facilitate connection. Everyone has the opportunity to send in any burning questions or submit them live during the session.
During these Townhalls, we run live surveys to get a read on how our people are feeling and what they want. Our agency brand CEOs are extremely connected and this culture is emulated throughout the Groupe; all operating with people first, open communication and humanity at the heart. These are some of the approaches and programs that has contribute to Publicis Groupe and its agencies being named the top 10 Best Places to Work.
Was Publicis surprised they made it into the top 10 or was this a goal the company was actively working towards?
First and foremost, our goal is to create an inclusive, high-performing culture that recognises our people’s personal priorities and purpose. We have focused on creating positive organisational change over the past couple of years by implementing approaches, policies and practices that support our people, clients and business.
We are in a good place and we felt it was important to enter the AFR Best Places to Work award to create a sense of pride for our people, recognition of our progressive people strategy, and a great way to attract talent from inside and outside of our industry. We never assumed we will be a finalist but hoped for a great result. We are confident our people approach is future-focused; however you can never be sure how that will stand against other organisations.
It was fantastic to receive this acknowledgment for all our people, leaders and People & Culture team.
What internal initiatives helped Publicis make it into the top 10?
There are a variety of initiatives centred around our people strategy of ‘Growth Magic and Connection’, and our connected business. We are very proud to share that Publicis Groupe obtained a score of 8.5 in the AFR survey, compared to a 6.2 average score for other entrants of 500+ employees.
As the only large organisation (500+ employees) in the top 10, what advantages does Publicis possess in the media and marketing world over some of the smaller agencies?
This was a real achievement for us, as there are many more challenges in creating a best place to work that supports a 1,600 strong workforce. When we talk about Publicis Groupe, we use the analogy of the Groupe being the ‘city’, and our agency brands as people’s ‘home’. Any great city has a great culture, connectedness, pride, inclusivity and belonging, smart spending and an engaging environment.
We lead with a clear focus on our people by providing a solid foundation of learning, benefits, flexible working and policies. These require resource and a substantial investment of time and money to establish. This is what we strive for at Publicis, to ensure that everyone regardless of the agency they work in has access to an inclusive environment, wellbeing tools, progressive people policies and programs and the opportunity to grow and thrive. We are able to put resource and investment behind key people initiatives, technology and connect people across our Groupe organisation to many opportunities.
This is not always possible in smaller agencies.
We have a People & Culture team of 36 people, which represents the value and focus we place on our workforce. When you come into a Publicis agency, you don’t come into just a job, you open the door to a career which can span across many agencies and disciplines. We have many examples of people moving from performance marketing to creative, or from administration to PR as an example. The opportunities are endless.
After being named #6 on the list, what’s next for Publicis?
We never sit still. We are always evolving and looking at what is on the horizon and in the future from a people point of view.
Our programs evolve based on people and business needs. We look to satisfy our people first and truly change our organisation, not just introducing initiatives - but applying a change management process to create a positive organisational change.
This is a journey that never stops. It’s exciting and extremely rewarding to have the absolute support of our global leadership; empowering us as a market to continue on this path.
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