Last year, an average of more than 3.95 million workers quit their jobs each month, the highest average on record, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s more than 45 million jobs. While certain businesses have been more impacted than others, the advertising and marketing industries have been highly affected by this broad trend. As a result, attracting and maintaining talent at all levels has become a key concern for marketers and their brands, .
We had a chance to sit down with the founder of double e public relations, Eric Eddy, to chat about what a good public relations strategy can do for your agency from an HR POV.
Your agency mainly works with clients in the advertising and marketing industries. How has the great resignation impacted your clients?
I recently spoke with an agency president who stated the last two years have been unlike anything he's seen in his 30 years in the industry; he said people are leaving in droves, many swearing never to return.He told me that they’ve had prospects cancel scheduled interviews and staff poached for client-side possibilities or by ad tech vendors—not just rival agencies. Large holding corporations that provide 100 percent remote employment and pay people in flyover country coastal incomes are offering a lot of competition as well. The majority of my clients have told me it’s a knife struggle for talent that has put the candidate and the employee in a position they've never been before.
How can different departments in struggling agencies work together to help retain and attract talent?
Human resources departments are working hard on the issue now more than ever, looking for new methods to attract employees during this difficult time. That's where public relations and communications may help. HR departments may benefit from creative use of public relations strategies and abilities in their efforts to identify new applicants as well as persuade those who are considering leaving to stay.
What direction should agencies be taking their PR strategies in in order to get these desired results?
If you're looking for creatives, you’re going to need a PR strategy that uses traditional ad trade publications like Ad Age and Adweek, as well as publications that creatives read such as Brand New—UnderConsideration, Communications Arts, AIGA's Eye on Design blog, and a few others that your PR colleagues can help you identify.Request that your PR staff create and distribute articles about how your companies are fostering talent by creating policies and initiatives that assist people advance in their careers. Here's a good example of how Wpromote, a fast-growing digital marketing business located in California, does it.
Work with your PR professionals to identify people within the agency who are good candidates for personality profile articles in trade outlets. This is a perfect way to boost morale among internal employees and showcase to outsiders that you are willing to let all levels of employees shine in the spotlight—not just the CEO.
Put effort into discovering staff within the agency who might be excellent for personality profile pieces in trade publications. This is an excellent method to raise internal employee morale while also demonstrating to outsiders that you are prepared to allow all levels of employees shine, not just the CEO.
Enter your staff in the major trade publications' personal accomplishment awards and lists, such as Ad Age's "40 Under 40" and "Women to Watch." This demonstrates that your agency is eager to assist its staff in enhancing their professional reputations.
Is there anything Agency executives can do to help in these PR efforts?
Agency CEOs should use their PR teams’ help to establish ties with the ad trade press and invite reporters to lunches and dinners to discuss the agency's culture. With luck, the reporter will write a profile of the CEO that contains comments and basic information about why the company is a fantastic place to work.
Create unique initiatives for your employees to demonstrate that your company is serious about cultivating a culture that actively promotes employee growth and progress. An excellent example of this is Publicis' "Work Your World" project, which allows agency workers to work from another city where the company has an office for up to six weeks each year. When the initiative was unveiled in December, it attracted a lot of press.
Effective public relations is, at its core, a fantastic storytelling device that can help an agency attract attention from outside its doors while keeping people on the inside happy.
