What Will It Take for Agencies to Retain Diverse Talent?

Before a campaign goes live, Whtwrks' incoming president Tamara Zachery and her teammates do a “gut check,” allowing people to be honest and share thoughts and concerns they have with the look and feel of creative—even if it’s uncomfortable. Although the agency hasn’t had any internal diversity issues in the time that Zachery has been there, she said Whtwrks has a “cultural responsibility” to its clients and employees. “Everybody has to have a deep understanding of issues [relating to everyone], particularly in multicultural audiences,” Zachery told Adweek. “We spend a lot of time giving people the space and honoring their voice, to talk about things in the news, or what we're seeing or how we're feeling.” Inside the War for Talent: What Holding Companies Are Doing to Attract Job Seekers Confronting social issues Like many agencies last summer, Universal McCann immediately reacted to George Floyd’s murder and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests across the globe. The agency gave employees a day off, emphasizing that non-Black employees use that time to educate themselves on what was happening, and for people within the Black community to support their mental health. But when eight people—including six Asian women—were shot and killed at three massage parlors in Atlanta in March, several UM employees reached out to then-head of diversity Jeff Marshall to ask what the agency was doing to address the rise of racist attacks against people in the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Marshall, who was recently elevated to chief diversity officer within the C-suite, recalls this experience being a vital example of how UM employees “feel empowered enough” to speak up to leadership because they know it’ll open up a line of communication, allowing management to ask, “What do you think our next step might be?” “We just try to make sure we know what our blind spots are and how to cover them,” Marshall said, acknowledging his own and how he wants to improve that. Meanwhile at AMP Agency, newly appointed president Michael Mish said it created a DEI space for employees in Q4 of 2019. First came a DEI board of advisors headed by parent company Advantage Solutions, and then the formation of employee resource groups (ERGs) for women, working parents and others for members of the Black, Latinx, Asian and LGBTQ+ communities. The agency also developed a training program to tackle unconscious bias across all levels. Independent Agencies Preach Flexibility and Transparency to Lure Top Talent One example of how AMP has seen the impact of its DEI efforts was when a Cinco de Mayo campaign for some CPG brands—some of which are in the Hispanic food space—was deemed inappropriate. Members of the board and ERGs had a “difficult conversation” with executive leaders about the stereotypical advertising often associated with the Mexican holiday. As a result, the creative was quickly changed within 24 hours. “We're really proud of the progress—we're not perfect by any means—but I've seen us be able to actually change advertising campaigns on the fly because an ERG flagged content that wasn't appropriate,” Mish said. “We’ve been able to create this review group within these ERGs to help us just be better at marketing and advertising.” Overall, Simon Fenwick, executive vice president, talent, equity and inclusion at the 4A’s, has found that amid the pandemic and DEI conversations, it’s likely that diverse talent will stick around “organizations that really listen to their employees” by building a vision and mission around them and their values. Investing in long-term career growth Diverse agency talent exists at holding companies and independent agencies, but not a lot, according to data from the 4A’s 2020 diversity survey. The organization had 165 agencies representing more than 40,000 employees across the U.S. participate. The survey broke down the workforce as: 70.5% white10.8% Asian8.7% Hispanic/Latinx5.8% Black4.2% identified as "Other" And when it came to tenure, 52% had less than 2 years of experience, while 28% had more than 4 years of experience. At IPG’s Elephant, CEO Eric Moore said the agency looked at its internal processes and found that providing mentorship for employees on a personal level would be effective. Moore emphasized that “when someone feels like they are stagnating or there’s no path for them,” there will be retention issues. Moore added that Elephant wants to create “a culture of inclusivity” that means identifying diverse talent and their strengths to ensure that they move up and progress in their careers within the next 2 to 3 years. “If that doesn’t change, we have work to do because those folks now with us should be progressing in their career and should be taking on more leadership roles,” he said. “[Otherwise] we’re just filling those middle and junior roles versus growing that talent into leaders.” UM plans to take more of an “upskill” route to find ways that people who have made career changes amid the pandemic are able to apply their skills to something they’re passionate about. Marshall also said the agency wants to think “about an employee’s career trajectory in a more thoughtful way.” “When employees know for a fact that you care about their career that you're more invested in their career, they work harder for you,” he told Adweek, “and they enjoy working for your company and it gives them more incentive to stay connected to your company.” Zachery at Whtwrks has a similar idea of cultivating long-term career growth, wanting to “give everyone a space to feel like they’ve grown” with the agency. “I talk to people about what they really want to do with their life,” she said. “If they tell me honestly they're on a two-year plan to get to X job at X company, let me figure out how I can support you to do that because there's nothing worse than people being here that don't want to be here and I want to help people grow and I want people to be able to leave and say they [had] a good experience here.” Advice to industry peers Marshall notes that many in the agency world are “reluctant to change” because focusing on a client has traditionally been a tried-and-true means of getting things done—but some attitudes are changing within around retaining diverse talent. While Mish advises “less talk, more action” for his industry peers, others like Fenwick simply say that “diversity isn’t enough.” “If you're going to retain diverse talent, you've really got to think about it not just about representation,” he said. “It's about cultivating that sense of belonging, and the only way you can get to belonging is by making sure you’re clear and equitable, that everyone's voices are heard and that you as a leader are standing up at the tough times to support those populations.” To Survive A Competitive Talent Market, Agencies Must Rewrite Recruitment Rules

The Future of Agencies

What Will It Take for Agencies to Retain Diverse Talent?

For starters, they have to acknowledge cultural blind spots

Tiffany Moustakas

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Tiffany Moustakas