The Hindu Business Line : Hop, skip and jump

Are the young and the restless of the advertising world blazing through too many agencies too fast? It’s an old debate that refuses to settle one way or the other. But the industry seems to have come to terms with an attrition rate that is seem ingly quite high.

It is one of the most pressing issues, agrees Madhukar Kamath, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mudra Communications, though it’s not endemic to agencies, he points out. “In fact, I’d hazard a guess that it is one of the highest priority issues discussed in board rooms across businesses in India.” According to Prasoon Joshi, Regional Creative Director for South and South-East Asia, McCann Erickson, the trend reflects the kind of opportunities the economy is throwing up today. “The only difference is that we are a people business, and we get talked about more than others,” he says. Colvyn J. Harris, CEO, JWT India, says talent is at the centre of his company, and the agency will do all it takes to retain the best. Only those marked out as stars that will be pampered. “We do lose people but that’s planned attrition if you want to call it that. And that kind of churn is good, it throws out the old and brings in new energy.”

According to Sapna Srivastava, JWT’s Senior Vice-President (Talent and Training), the agency spent 2,400 training days last year, averaging 4.5 per employee, keeping the staff ‘engaged’ – that could mean workshops in Bangkok, Colombo and Pattaya, buying them entry into exclusive and intimate conferences and adding value to both their professional and personal lives.

“Creative people tend to be restless,” says Ashish Khazanchi, Executive Creative Director, Rediffusion DY&R, Mumbai, joking that the issue is probably older than his little-over-a-decade advertising career. However, he does notice an impatience, particularly among the younger talent. “If they haven’t done great work for a week they start to complain of stagnation, of not being appreciated.”

Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT India

It is such intangibles like motivation, appreciation, and exciting role models that employees seem to be craving, rather than just fat paychecks. “It’s very important that you have bosses and people who can have this understanding or judgement of good ideas. And it doesn’t have to be yours,” says Tulika Seth, Creative Supervisor at TBWA whose outdoor work won her a gold at the recent awards festival conducted by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI).

Advertising is largely personality-driven work so many young talents will grab the chance to work with people they look up to, says a creative group head who has changed four agencies in five years. But, of course, money is a factor. “Job security is no longer a big word, that mindset has changed. It’s all about now, and how much you can make of that ‘now’,” says Joshi. Rediff’s Khazanchi believes the industry should rethink its pay scales given that even BPOs outdo them at entry levels.

Prasoon Joshi, Regional Creative Director for South and South-East Asia, McCann Erickson India

However, others argue that the issue tends to be exaggerated only because starting salaries have not moved for years. Kamath says agencies such as his own (Mudra) and Leo Burnett have corrected that to some extent and suggests annual pay reviews that take not just other agencies but also competing industries to which advertising is losing some of its talent into account.

The fact that there is shortage of talent, particularly at the middle level, is well known, and there is just one solution, says McCann’s Joshi — entrusting youngsters with more responsibility. “If he is young and ambitious, he will also be more willing to burn more midnight oil,” he says. “I became Creative Director at 27 and I’d like to believe I haven’t done too badly,” he says.

“If you compare advertising to the BPO and call centre industry - over 50 to 60 per cent attrition - we are better off. What attrition is acceptable to the industry and how are agencies geared to meet this benchmark - that should be the focus of our thinking,” says Kamath. Mudra has a team whose responsibility is finding, growing and retaining talent. Laying out clear career graphs for employees is also advised. “The industry needs to build its brand so that more and more youngsters are attracted to it. It should also think about giving something back - contributing to graduate training courses,” says Kamath, citing the highly rated Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad, as an example. Kamath and the entire Mumbai branch of the agency are just back from a workshop/reward trip in Indonesia.

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