Churn is a by-product of not putting people first. Focusing on how we can create better experiences for people will help us to manage the churn issue and retain great talent in our industry.
At Mediabrands, to better understand the experiences people are looking for, we start with listening. Through listening we know that one size does not fit all, and have introduced a number initiatives to uncover and address the needs of people in our industry.
The first part of our listening initiative is a fortnightly pulse survey that asks our people for feedback around themes that are important to them including leadership, career progression and happiness. The anonymity of this tool, allows our people to have a voice and demonstrates our commitment to care for them.
The second part of our initiative is a Peoples’ Board made up of elected representatives from each area of our business. This board helps to further connect our people with the executive board and direction, and empowers our teams to design solutions to the themes gathered in these pulse surveys. This approach capitalises on the creative and 'intrepreneurial' brainpower that already exists within our network.
Three themes have emerged from this process that would enhance future experiences of people in our industry. First, people want more time back; second they want opportunities for career progression and third, opportunities for mobility.
Giving time back
Time is the only non-renewable resource and the highest valued non-cash benefit. This is a key opportunity to create experiences that will keep people engaged and happy.
Facilitating career progression
Currently, the average tenure of a person in a role is around 3.4 years, so providing opportunities for career advancement internally enables people to build their skill sets both upwards and outwards.
Providing mobility options
We have become more expansive in our career outlooks and we are looking for more diversity in our roles, so it has become more and more important to support internal career opportunities in other sectors of our business. In doing this we provide people with an opportunity to expand their skill sets and gain diversity in their roles whilst staying in the network.
We have a way to go, but if we keep listening to our people we increase opportunities for great talent to build diverse, meaningful careers within our industry.
To view current career opportunities available at IPG Mediabrands, please click here
By Brooke Antman, talent specialist at IPG Mediabrands