Credit: Jiwon Kang via Unsplash
Former IPG staff have taken to social media to complain about pay and conditions following the takeover by Omnicom.
The takeover, which was finalised in November last year, created the world’s biggest global advertising group with 100,000 people and revenue of $25.6 billion.
In the process, thousands of jobs have been lost as the most senior executives share a reported $US80 million bonus, including $US49 million to former IPG chief executive Philippe Krakowsky.
At the same time, the company is cutting hard, pursuing synergies of more than $US750 million.
The posts on Reddit suggest a big surge in departures, saturating an already candidate-rich job market.
The complaints are mainly from the US about the benefits lost, and the pain of reorganisation, moving from IPG to Omnicom.
In Australia, minimum benefits such as superannuation, redundancy payments, annual leave and long service are protected by law.
However, there’s been a string of high profile executives being shown the door, including Mark Coad and Leigh Terry.
One common complaint among ex IPG staff in the US is that the 401K pension scheme wasn’t as good at Omnicom as that at IPG.
“Everything I was promised when I signed my offer letter is gone,” one former IPG staffer writes on a Reddit thread. “The pay also sucks.”
The poster asks: Is it too soon to start looking for new jobs?
“I hate working for such a huge holding company with shitty policies. I work for a cool account and I like my team, but at this point I just need a better opportunity.”
Other posters recommend running to a new job.
“No need to torture yourself,” one said. “The rest of the industry is well aware of what's been going on.”
Another: “You can say that you are leaving for good and fair reasons earlier than you intended when you signed on due to revoked promises.”
Some urged those seeking new jobs to stay a while but many said sticking out wasn’t an option.
“I know a lot of people will tell you ‘“stay a year’ or ‘it’ll look bad,’ but honestly when benefits are being taken away, pay is low, and your quality of life is already taking a hit, that advice stops making sense,” one wrote.
Another said: “Find a job before you make the jump. But also be smart and play the long game and ensure your next move is the right one that you will want to stay in for a while. As an industry vet, I have seen these shakeups and know right now you feel everything in your work environment is heightened and urgent and terrible. But with time, the fall out from the merger will settle out and good people will be promoted given so much movement.
“You are right to be concerned about IPGs benefits but you are also getting good experience and learning especially if you are on a good account which could set you up for a great long career.”
However, waiting it out might not be the best strategy.
“There might be another huge wave of redundancies within the year, maybe not from Omnicom but from WPP, that will saturate the market even further, meaning the places that are left ‘outside’ the HoldCo (or EvilCorps) territory will shorten up,” another advised.
“I’m at OMC and I am seeing a lot of director level people leaving my shop. Each month there’s an email announcing five to six people leaving, consistently.
“This means that clients will become more nervous, a lot of them will start smelling blood and behave like the sharks they are, demanding more control over the processes and more stuff ‘for free’ because the account team has dropped the ball several times.
“It’s carnage. Even if you’re a junior and you get promoted they’ll throw you in the trenches without the adequate experience or support. I’ve seen people’s mental health deteriorate so badly within a year.”
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