2022 - The Year of the Worker

As some of you may know I’ve spent a healthy chunk of 2021 trying to work out what direction to go (harder than it sounds) after selling SearchStar (now Adapt) & exiting in Dec 2020..?

While exploring ideas and options with my network of contacts I've asked them how they are doing and what's happening in their business?

When those conversations have been with marketing agencies the absolute standout pain point has been the shortage of skilled team members...almost everyone has asked me if I know any good PPCers, Programmatic Specialists, Technical SEOers, E-Commerce Managers, Account Directors etc.?

The shortage of skilled digital people isn't new but Covid (and to a lesser extent Brexit) has massively accelerated it. Historically, inertia and risk aversion generally discouraged team members from leaving when most knew that good external options were available...with a booming job market and WFH fraying the employer/employee ties, jumping ship has become ever simpler & more attractive.?

So whilst digital businesses and their agencies are booming the teams to do the work have disappeared AKA “The Great Resignation”. I know of multiple agencies whose fees are healthily up YoY yet are running on fewer staff with the remaining team members nearing breaking point.

Yet this isn’t a universal picture. I’ve also spoken with a few happy agencies whose staff are not resigning, who are able to recruit and who are receiving unsolicited applications from skilled staff actively seeking to work there.?

So what am I seeing as the difference between these “Employer of Choice” agencies and the struggling employers?

The difference seems to be a deep and genuine respect for their staff. The thriving agencies have long recognized that their team is their greatest asset...not their clients or their balance sheet...and they’ve worked consistently to build and protect that strategic asset.

A few observations:

• The thriving agencies are run by people who understand the army dictum that the needs of your troops always come before those of the officers...bosses have to behave as though they are the least valuable person in the organisation. The best manager I ever had was Jason Theodore at MediaCom back in c. 1996. I never understood how he got his own work done when he had so much time to help train the junior execs (myself, Paul Coffey and Steve Chambers) within his team..thank you Jason.
• They are run by people who understand that when you hire someone you are in effect taking on a second family...you are responsible and you need to look after pretty much their every need. If hiring isn't taken massively seriously, with these quasi-parental responsibilities understood, inevitably the recruit won't work out.
• They understand that when you hire someone, at whatever level, the employee has typically only bought into you for 12-18 months. Team members actively deciding to stay longer typically doesn't come from free food or ping pong tables...they stay committed because you’ve offered them significant career / professional development. The brilliant Rosie Horsfall told me on her exit that she’d intended to only stay 6 months at SearchStar (using us as a stepping stone to London) but had loved it and ended up staying over 2 years...huge compliment.
• They don’t buy into the self-fulfilling prophecy that it's hardly worth training staff up as the new generation are always skipping off to the next job. Agencies that give up on meaningful career development become low morale sweatshops and word gets out. Direct applications dry up, the recruiters make excuses about lack of talent in the market and the team start to leave...a people problem becomes a crisis.

Employers reading this should ask themselves if they are running a brilliant place to work that people would be mad to leave? Is their agency the greatest choice in the area/vertical for a clever ambitious trainee? Can they offer a talented Account Director significant career progression and work/life balance? Is it a workplace that a real go-getter would feel comfortable dedicating +3 years of their career to?

If you aren't answering positively then chances are you are complaining to me about not being able to hire good staff. Stop complaining and make your team your #1 priority.

One of my favourite maxims has always been “Look after the team and they’ll look after the clients with the money looking after itself”. That order for 2022: #1 People #2 Clients #3 Money. If you need any help or want to discuss any of this please don't be shy - get in touch.

P.S. Credit for the article title to The Economist for their slightly more scholarly and less anecdotal observations on 2022 being The Year of the Worker https://www.economist.com/the-world-ahead/2021/11/08/why-2022-will-be-the-year-of-the-worker