Increasing attrition rates in the advertising industry prompt agencies to look into their people polices and work culture.
TEN years ago, if you had wanted to do something offbeat, unconventional and creative, the obvious choice would have been advertising. The glamour associated with the industry would have been such a strong pull that compensation and remuneration would have hardly mattered.
As Kalpana Rao, Training Director, Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), puts it, "I joined advertising only because I wanted to be there."
But ten years down the line, the advertising industry, despite its growth and specialisation, seems to be lacking individuals with passion for their profession.
The industry witnessed an all-time high attrition rate of nearly 35 per cent last year. What's more, people did not join rival agencies, but moved to new fields such as telecom, financial services, outsourcing and media.
According to industry players, although the attrition rates are not as alarming as those in the IT sector, it is cause for concern. John Goodman, CEO, O&M, says, "The single biggest problem is that of poaching of our people by clients, often in the financial services sector. Since we have a very good reputation, our people are often their first targets."
Nirvik Singh, President (South East Asia), Grey Global Group, says high attrition rates are a grave concern for the industry. "Whenever a company wants to enter the marketing services industry, they end up poaching talent from the ad industry as our people are well trained to handle the kind of pressures one encounters in this sector."
Sapna Srivastav, HR Head, JWT, admits that JWT witnessed a high attrition rate last year. "The year 2005 saw a comparatively high churn in JWT because we focussed aggressively on our core disciplines — servicing, planning and creative, and implemented performance-driven employment and evaluation. This enabled us to bring in new talent and add different skills. When recruiting new talent, we look for future-focussed skills."
Industry observers attribute attrition to the multiple avenues that are open to advertising talent and the low compensation packages most agencies offer. Says Nita Joshi, Director of placement company K&J Enterprises, "Most sunrise sectors such as telecom and financial services have been able to attract more talent as the growth in these sectors is faster and they also offer 20-30 per cent higher salaries than the advertising industry."
Rao of O&M says attrition is something the industry has to live with. "Most youngsters today join a particular industry not because they are passionate about it, but because they want to gain experience and move on later. The attitude of youngsters has changed."
"Therefore, one has to be careful while recruiting. Agencies have to talk to candidates in detail, especially at the entry level, as they are often confused. That is one reason we prefer to recruit summer trainees, as they would have had a feel of our organisation," she adds.
Agreeing with Rao, Savitha Mathai, HR Head, FCB Ulka, says attrition is a natural phenomenon and is here to stay. More than retaining talent, the real challenge is in getting the right talent, says Mathai. "Agencies have to be focused about their human capital planning."
Mathai says the problem of retention is more acute in middle management, as, after having spent five-six years in the industry, people tend to become restless and are on the lookout for other avenues.
On whether advertising industry salaries are actually low, Goodman of O&M says, "I think the pay scales are reasonable and rising all the time. The issue is one of desperate new entries to the Indian market who will pay silly money to try and break in."
Tarun Rai, Vice-President and General Manager, JWT, says that while a plethora of opportunities lure advertising professionals, the churn of accounts has also contributed to the high attrition rates. "Nowadays, it is pitch season the whole year. An agency wins an account and there is a requirement for people. So you contact a head-hunter. And this goes on 12 months in a year."
Rai also points out that shortage of trained manpower has added to the crisis. "We never had too many institutes for advertising professionals and that has not changed. As far as the business schools are concerned, a combination of more opportunities and higher salaries on offer has made it difficult for us to recruit."
Focus on training
As people retention is increasingly becoming a challenge, agencies are becoming more and more HR-focused, and training programmes are being looked at as an important retention tool. In fact, agencies such as O&M are investing close to 1.5 per cent of their turnover in training.
"We are taking every step possible to make a career at Ogilvy so interesting, enjoyable and rewarding that nobody would ever want to leave," says Goodman.
Investment in training is vital, agrees Srivastava of JWT. "We as employers have to invest in our people and ensure that their learning curve is always up. If the staff knows that the agency takes keen interest in their personal and professional development, then there is no reason why they would not stay with us long enough for mutual ROI."
"I have always maintained that opportunity, investment and growth are very important in retaining people. Money, of course, is important, but we do overestimate its importance. If we can provide enough opportunities to our people to realise their potential, invest in them through training to develop their skill-sets and chart their career paths, we will be able to do a better job of retaining our people," says Rai of JWT.
It is culture that matters
However, Singh of Grey is not too sure whether training could be used as a tool to retain people. "It is a tool to make people better. People stay in a company because of its culture, the clients they work with and also the work environment."
Nitin Bhagwat, Executive Director, Interface, also believes that using training as a carrot to hold people will not help. "The glue would be the culture of a company. People have to believe that their company is a winner company. Only few quit a company because of money. Most of them do so because they are unhappy." However, Singh believes quality demands good money. "The industry is aware of it, and salaries revisions are being looked at," he says.
Mathai of FCB and Rao of O&M say talent crunch is definitely here to stay, and that the onus is on the agencies to offer a culture that will hold back people.
TEN years ago, if you had wanted to do something offbeat, unconventional and creative, the obvious choice would have been advertising. The glamour associated with the industry would have been such a strong pull that compensation and remuneration would have hardly mattered.
As Kalpana Rao, Training Director, Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), puts it, "I joined advertising only because I wanted to be there."
But ten years down the line, the advertising industry, despite its growth and specialisation, seems to be lacking individuals with passion for their profession.
The industry witnessed an all-time high attrition rate of nearly 35 per cent last year. What's more, people did not join rival agencies, but moved to new fields such as telecom, financial services, outsourcing and media.
According to industry players, although the attrition rates are not as alarming as those in the IT sector, it is cause for concern. John Goodman, CEO, O&M, says, "The single biggest problem is that of poaching of our people by clients, often in the financial services sector. Since we have a very good reputation, our people are often their first targets."
Nirvik Singh, President (South East Asia), Grey Global Group, says high attrition rates are a grave concern for the industry. "Whenever a company wants to enter the marketing services industry, they end up poaching talent from the ad industry as our people are well trained to handle the kind of pressures one encounters in this sector."
Sapna Srivastav, HR Head, JWT, admits that JWT witnessed a high attrition rate last year. "The year 2005 saw a comparatively high churn in JWT because we focussed aggressively on our core disciplines — servicing, planning and creative, and implemented performance-driven employment and evaluation. This enabled us to bring in new talent and add different skills. When recruiting new talent, we look for future-focussed skills."
Industry observers attribute attrition to the multiple avenues that are open to advertising talent and the low compensation packages most agencies offer. Says Nita Joshi, Director of placement company K&J Enterprises, "Most sunrise sectors such as telecom and financial services have been able to attract more talent as the growth in these sectors is faster and they also offer 20-30 per cent higher salaries than the advertising industry."
Rao of O&M says attrition is something the industry has to live with. "Most youngsters today join a particular industry not because they are passionate about it, but because they want to gain experience and move on later. The attitude of youngsters has changed."
"Therefore, one has to be careful while recruiting. Agencies have to talk to candidates in detail, especially at the entry level, as they are often confused. That is one reason we prefer to recruit summer trainees, as they would have had a feel of our organisation," she adds.
Agreeing with Rao, Savitha Mathai, HR Head, FCB Ulka, says attrition is a natural phenomenon and is here to stay. More than retaining talent, the real challenge is in getting the right talent, says Mathai. "Agencies have to be focused about their human capital planning."
Mathai says the problem of retention is more acute in middle management, as, after having spent five-six years in the industry, people tend to become restless and are on the lookout for other avenues.
On whether advertising industry salaries are actually low, Goodman of O&M says, "I think the pay scales are reasonable and rising all the time. The issue is one of desperate new entries to the Indian market who will pay silly money to try and break in."
Tarun Rai, Vice-President and General Manager, JWT, says that while a plethora of opportunities lure advertising professionals, the churn of accounts has also contributed to the high attrition rates. "Nowadays, it is pitch season the whole year. An agency wins an account and there is a requirement for people. So you contact a head-hunter. And this goes on 12 months in a year."
Rai also points out that shortage of trained manpower has added to the crisis. "We never had too many institutes for advertising professionals and that has not changed. As far as the business schools are concerned, a combination of more opportunities and higher salaries on offer has made it difficult for us to recruit."
Focus on training
As people retention is increasingly becoming a challenge, agencies are becoming more and more HR-focused, and training programmes are being looked at as an important retention tool. In fact, agencies such as O&M are investing close to 1.5 per cent of their turnover in training.
"We are taking every step possible to make a career at Ogilvy so interesting, enjoyable and rewarding that nobody would ever want to leave," says Goodman.
Investment in training is vital, agrees Srivastava of JWT. "We as employers have to invest in our people and ensure that their learning curve is always up. If the staff knows that the agency takes keen interest in their personal and professional development, then there is no reason why they would not stay with us long enough for mutual ROI."
"I have always maintained that opportunity, investment and growth are very important in retaining people. Money, of course, is important, but we do overestimate its importance. If we can provide enough opportunities to our people to realise their potential, invest in them through training to develop their skill-sets and chart their career paths, we will be able to do a better job of retaining our people," says Rai of JWT.
It is culture that matters
However, Singh of Grey is not too sure whether training could be used as a tool to retain people. "It is a tool to make people better. People stay in a company because of its culture, the clients they work with and also the work environment."
Nitin Bhagwat, Executive Director, Interface, also believes that using training as a carrot to hold people will not help. "The glue would be the culture of a company. People have to believe that their company is a winner company. Only few quit a company because of money. Most of them do so because they are unhappy." However, Singh believes quality demands good money. "The industry is aware of it, and salaries revisions are being looked at," he says.
Mathai of FCB and Rao of O&M say talent crunch is definitely here to stay, and that the onus is on the agencies to offer a culture that will hold back people.
No comments:
Post a Comment