The mental health of ad agency employees is an issue that persists despite all the efforts around flexible working and staff support packages. Calls to ad charity NABS’ helpline were up 22% to 5200 last year.
Initiatives in this area are important not just to encourage the next generation to choose advertising as a career, but also to address the challenges presented by ongoing cutbacks and redundancies, which have firmly shifted the post-covid environment from talent crisis to employers’ market.
Today, the IPA issues 10 “core provisions” so support employees’ mental health and wellbeing, borne out of president (and GroupM CEO) Josh Krichefski’s “People First” agenda. Krichefski’s plan claims to help people “navigate even the most complex workplace scenarios, structures and tense conversations against a volatile and challenging economic and global climate.”
The ten core principles are as follows. There are also detailed case studies from 13 agencies and media owners to serve as inspiration:
- Mental-health support: Employee assistance programmes (EAPs), mental-health first aiders, platforms such as Self Space and Spill that offer therapy sessions and resources.
- Physical wellbeing initiatives: Free or discounted gym memberships, organising fitness classes and promoting activities such as walking meetings and sports teams.
- Inclusive workplace policies: Support diverse needs, including flexible-working arrangements, menopause and menstruation support, and family-friendly policies.
- Employee resource groups (ERGs): Support and networking opportunities for employees from diverse backgrounds.
- Continuous professional development (CPD): Training programmes, certifications and workshops tailored to different career levels and roles.
- Feedback and engagement surveys: Mechanisms to help organisations monitor workplace wellbeing and make necessary adjustments.
- Flexible working and leave policies: Including additional leave options such as sabbaticals and wellbeing days to support work-life balance.
- Support for parents and carers: Flexible working hours, parental leave policies and dedicated support groups.
- Financial wellbeing: Financial advice sessions, budgeting tools and support for managing financial stress.
- Promoting a positive and inclusive culture: Social events, celebrating diversity and ensuring open communication within the organisation.
Krichefski said: “This guide not only celebrates the great work that companies are doing with regard to their people’s mental health and wellbeing, but crucially it provides a useful checklist for those companies who are not as far down the journey and for whom this could provide new and fresh ideas to help them and their people.”
Outvertising has also just released a guide, The Advocacy Playbook, which outlines the business and ethical case for LGBTQ+ inclusion in advertising companies and campaigns. DEI seems to be alive and well in the UK, despite Trump’s best efforts to dismiss it as “dangerous, demeaning and immoral.”
