Commentary
How Agencies & Brands Can Retain More Women In The Workforce
- by Stacey Martin , Op-Ed Contributor, April 3, 2023
In the general market and as we are recruiting, we hear from people who want employers who invest in their careers and support them both personally and professionally.
Advertising and marketing is an industry that demands a lot of our people. We want people to grow with our business, which means we have to be intentional in how we support early career development, working parents, paid time off, and career growth planning.
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Focusing on investing in our people and putting them first, so they can in turn focus on how we deliver for our customers, has led us to achieve higher retention rates and net promoter scores than the industry at large (88%).
There are several tactics that agencies and brands can leverage to support working women:
Focus on mental wellness. The past several years have been especially difficult as employees navigate an evolving new normal. We as an industry need to prioritize mental wellness and recognize the important role it plays within the workforce. This starts by listening to employees and identifying the best ways to support them.
Parental leave for all parents. Allowing all parents to contribute to their work and family lives helps women transition in their lives and build their careers. We expanded our leave for all new parents - mothers, fathers, adoptive, foster - alleviating the burden that is often put on women to prioritize family and their partners to be the “breadwinner.” We also believe agencies must turn off Slack and email during parental leave so parents can focus on what’s important, and we provide flexible return options to help those who go on leave ease back into the business.
Support women who want options. Last year we introduced company funded lifestyle spending accounts that can be used for anything from gym memberships to grabbing dinner for your family if a meeting runs over. This gives everyone a little something extra in their everyday lives. We also introduced fertility and adoption benefits to support our employees in deciding when and how they build a family. Additionally, we have created a handful of part-time roles, allowing us to retain great talent that has needed to pull back from the business.
Create opportunities for women to find a sense of community. Fostering a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity needs to be foundational to any business that wants to champion women. For us, a big part of this has been introducing employee resource groups for women, working parents, young professionals, mental wellness, faith & culture, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and more, to allow people to be their full selves at work, to connect with their peers and have safe space for conversations that impact them at work and in their personal lives. These employee-led groups empower people to find community, and to influence the larger company and how it supports the needs of our different constituencies.
Listen and communicate. We survey employees quarterly, to actively gauge where we can do better and take action on their feedback. We also try to remain as transparent as possible about our financials, strategy, objectives and the decisions we are making as a business, because we want to empower our employees with the why and what means for them.
