Over the last couple of years, businesses in every industry have struggled to find and retain top talent. While job candidates used to be the ones facing competition for roles from other applicants, it seems the tables have turned. Now, businesses are competing for the best candidates.
In an employee’s job market such as this, it’s more important than ever for agencies to create enticing workplaces that appeal to the high-performing professionals they want to attract. Here, 12 members of Forbes Agency Council discuss what they have planned this year to make their agencies more interesting places to work.
Forbes Agency Council members discuss how to make agencies more interesting places to work in 2022.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Host Biannual All-Hands Trips
As a growing agency, our culture is everything. While we have been able to maintain it through the pandemic with virtual events, we are now taking advantage of the opportunity to safely get back together in person. We encourage staff to come to our office in New York City two days a week, and we host biannual all-hands meetings where we get all of our national staff together. Our entire company went to Miami in March. – Tucker Matheson, Markacy
2. Build Relationships On Zoom Calls
With continued remote work likely, we are working to build real relationships by finding common interests on a dedicated weekly Zoom call. It’s fun at the time and creates a following. We’re finding that many new hires need the means to connect in this virtual world. These intentional gatherings have accelerated the normal process for us until we are all in an office together more. – John Davies, Davies Public Affairs
3. Integrate Culture-Reinforcing Rituals And Customize Benefits
We’re integrating rituals that reinforce our culture, brand and principles. This includes “Staff Camp,” an in-person meeting designed around our company values, “Music Club” and virtual happy hours. We’re also customizing benefits that represent our values in creative ways, such as our “Travel Pizza,” where we have pizza delivered to a team member’s family when they have to travel for work. – Ted Vaughn, Historic
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4. Invest More In Individual Free Time
We are investing less in company culture and more in individual free time. Everyone is so collectively drained from the impact of the last couple of years, employees want more time off to do things that make them happy that have nothing to do with work. And that’s totally okay. – Kelly Samuel, Snack Toronto
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5. Refocus On Employee Enrichment
We are refocusing our agency work to be more collaborative and focused on employee enrichment and engagement. Bells and whistles can be fun for new hires, but once you have a solid understanding of your “work family,” you need to focus on their advancement and success. – Christopher Tompkins, The Go! Agency
6. Lean Into A Rotational Hybrid Work Model
We’re leaning into a hybrid work model, where employees will rotate in and out of the office. We saw our staff was able to work from home and increase productivity, so why not move forward with what’s working? This new agency environment is going to include additional programming efforts focused on building a cohesive, connected work environment as a supplement for less time spent physically together. – Josh Perlstein, Response Media
7. Identify The Unique Needs Of Your Teammates
This year, we’ll focus both on reimagining our company culture and identifying the unique needs of our teammates. Our agency is made up of a variety of different personalities—some thrive when working remotely, while others enjoy the office experience; some love team activities, while others prefer spending their free time away from work. We want to create a work experience tailored to everyone’s needs. – Dejan Popovic, PopArt Studio
8. Emphasize Lifestyle Desires And Individual Goals
Our agency was built on emphasizing lifestyle desires. We offer beverages and meal prep tailored to our employees. We plan a team-building day once a month where we focus on our individual goals and team activities that are selected by the employees themselves. We’ve created key performance indicators to measure the success and happiness of each department to ensure continued growth and interest in the job itself. – Logan Rae, Argon Agency
9. ‘Niche Down’ To Fewer Services And Specific Types Of Clients
We want to “niche down” (I know, very trendy) to fewer services for very specific types of clients, and we want to offer service guarantees to them. We figured out that everyone loves getting good results for clients, and the best way to do that is to get clients who can get revenue. To do that, we have invested heavily in repeatable processes that every team member loves executing. – Jayant Chaudhary, JLB USA
10. Spice Things Up With Virtual Game Shows
Offering a flexible schedule to our workforce has always been a key motivational tool, and it’s been more prominent than ever with the rise of hybrid workplaces. This year, we plan to spice things up with virtual game shows and contests as icebreaker activities. It will be a huge upgrade from the “fun fact about me” sessions we used to have to kickstart meetings. – Candice Georgiadis, Digital Agency, Inc
11. Double Down On Social Time Spent Together
In a virtual new normal, we’re doubling down on social time spent together when we do meet. This means getting together for activities that include everything from indoor skydiving to family barbecues to annual retreats to make sure that even though we’re working remotely, we still develop a bond when we gather socially. When you like the people you work with, you all come together. – Christopher Carr, Farotech
12. Implement Technologies For Seamless Collaboration
Collaboration is always a key in creative agencies; it’s also the only way to build strong teams that share ideas and skills while working on a common goal. With hybrid work in place, we are implementing technologies to allow for seamless collaboration by equipping conference rooms and huddle rooms with interactive whiteboards connected to Zoom Rooms and immersive audio input and output. – Goran Paun, ArtVersion
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Author: Expert Panel®, Forbes Councils Member
