Return to the office or what?

Almost a year to the day that I sent her to work from home, my Finance Manager, Rita, asked me if she should return to the office full time. Being based in Sydney, we had returned to the office on a casual basis at the start of the year, but still had allowed everyone to work from home and come into the office as required or desired. Some people had chosen to work from home, others came in a couple of days a week.

I asked Rita if she was keeping up with the workload and if working from home two to three days a week suited her. She said it did, so I told her we should keep the arrangements as they stand for now, unless she drops the ball. She looked at me quizzically and asked, “What ball?” It is an idiom,  I explained and told her we would keep things as they are.

But it is easier for us, as the team is relatively small (less than twenty) and we are all experienced practitioners, so no need for on-the-job training.

But for agencies and many marketers, the return to work will be an important stage in the recovery from this global pandemic. With the roll-out of the various vaccines around the world, organizations are looking to return to the office.

David Angell, who recently returned to TrinityP3 after a two-year stint in Singapore as Regional Chief Operating Officer for Havas, wrote a piece in the local trade media, AdNews on this very topic last month. You can read his observations and insights here.

But this week, I have noticed an increased number of articles and opinion pieces appearing in the trade media, particularly in the USA and UK, regarding plans for the return to the office and the ways the various agency groups and holding companies are making plans for what has been called the new normal.

So, here is what made me go WOW! this week in Managing Marketing.

ARE JABS MANDATORY TO GET BACK TO THE OFFICE?

The rollout of coronavirus vaccines around the world has given marketing businesses a shot of optimism that their teams may soon be back in offices that have largely lain dormant for the last year. But the return of staff – some having been inoculated, some not – could potentially pose an HR headache for employers and workers alike.

Can (and should) workplaces be encouraging or insisting that employees are vaccinated before they return? Could being vaccinated against Covid-19 become a company policy? Find the answers here.

CLIENTS LIKE TARGET SWITCH TO HYBRID REMOTE AND ON-SITE WORK MODEL

In another sign of changing times, department store chain Target told employees yesterday that it is switching to a hybrid remote and on-site work model.

Melissa Kremer, Target’s chief human resources officer, told its global headquarters team members that the retailer is shuttering its offices at the City Center building, which represents nearly 1 million square feet, in downtown Minneapolis.

Those who work in the facility, which numbers some 3,500, will continue to have a home base at one of Target’s other headquarter buildings, she said. Here are the details.

OMNICOM CEO JOHN WREN ON RETURN TO WORK ONE YEAR ON

Last Thursday, Omnicom chairman, CEO John Wren sent a holding company-wide memo to employees at Omnicom and its agencies, commemorating the one-year anniversary of Omnicom’s moving to remote work on March 15, 2020, and inviting employee participation on how to approach a gradual return to office work.

Wren opened the memo by noting the anniversary and commenting on how at the time he couldn’t have imagined that the move to remote work due to the pandemic would last for a full year and expressing hope for the future with the rollout of vaccines. Read more on his approach here.

WHAT THE MARKETING INDUSTRY LOST AND GAINED IN THE PANDEMIC

In a single day, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 virus a global pandemic, the NBA suspended its season, the White House suspended nearly all flights from Europe and Tom Hanks announced he’d contracted the virus while filming in Australia. There were only 647 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the U.S. on this day one year ago. One year later, we’ve seen 360 million people infected and 2.6 million dead worldwide.

Adweek had already begun tracking cancellations and suspensions in the advertising, marketing, technology and media industries. We updated that list until mid-April when it became clear the pandemic would be with us far longer than anyone anticipated.

There is additional data that has marked this past year tied more directly to marketing, media and tech. Adweek editors and reporters share their insights to look at how much has changed.

Read the whole article here.

Here are some of the highlights.

·      The year-to-year advertising revenue losses for the four media company behemoths—Disney, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia—was a combined $4.69 billion. 

·      As millions turned to trusted media brands for news and information, subscription-based publishing companies grew revenue by 16% in 2020,

·      The two largest U.S.-based advertising agency holding companies, Omnicom and IPG, cut approximately 2.7 million square feet of office space.

·      From March 2020 through February 2021, both in-store and online sales of consumer-packaged goods (CPG) were up 14% compared to the previous 12-month period.

·      On Jan 1, 2021, Amazon’s stock was 74% higher than on Jan. 1, 2020. 

·      In the U.S., there were 8,741 store closures by major retailers in 2020, equivalent to more than 138.5 million square feet of retail space.

·      Ecommerce sales at U.S. retailers hit $861.1 billion last year, marking a year over year increase of 44%. 

·      Between March 2020 and January 2021, restaurant and foodservice sales were down $255 billion from expected levels. 

·      For the first week of March 2020, Nielsen found that Americans spent a combined 116.4 billion minutes watching TV from streaming services. By the first week of March 2021, that figure jumped to 134.5 billion minutes. 

LESSONS FROM INDIA’S GRADUAL RETURN TO THE OFFICE

With vaccination efforts gathering pace and spring around the corner, conversations are turning again to the return to the office. In India, with cases falling and lockdowns in many states easing, the end of Covid-19 in the country may be in sight. But how will agencies go about resuming office life for good?

The Drum posed this question to chief executives of three of India’s leading network agencies – Ogilvy, BBDO and Havas – and had them share their perspective on life beyond the pandemic. The solutions they’ve hit upon today may well be the best practice of tomorrow. Read their answers here.

MARKETING PROVES ITS METTLE DURING PANDEMIC AND JOB GROWTH FOLLOWS

The 26th edition of The CMO Survey, which surveyed 356 marketing leaders, offers an overview of gains and losses and provides timely predictions for the year.

Companies reported that 8.2% of marketing jobs were lost over the last year (February 2020 to February 2021). These numbers are similar to the 9.0% loss reported in the June 2020 CMO Survey, indicating job losses did not worsen over the last six months. Of these losses, 28.1% were senior manager roles.

The hardest-hit sectors were B2C services (-12.3%), with consumer services (-18.7%) and communications/media (-15.5%) reporting the greatest losses. Last June, the largest portion of marketers (24.0%) anticipated that these lost jobs would “never return.” This number has decreased to 13.1%, indicating more optimism. Likewise, while only 19.9% expected jobs to return “1-2 years from now” in June, that number has increased to 40.2%, again indicating more job optimism. Read more in this here.

ON THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL CREATIVE WORK?

Is the office dead? Are people leaving big cities permanently? Are our employees lonely? Is it possible to execute large-scale creative work entirely remotely?

While designers reported client communication improved dramatically as everyone got used to working remotely during the pandemic, we also know that collaborating on complex work such as software development has been a struggle. Balancing the amazing remote creative connections with the complexities of building a technical product is a unique challenge.

We don’t know what remote work is like in a normal world, where childcare is always available, the kids are all at school and we’ve had time to prepare a dedicated workspace in our homes. The emotional, economic and personal stressors of 2020 will not underpin how we experience remote work forever, and the biggest challenge as a business leader is working out how to make decisions for the future, not just the now. Read more on this approach here.

WILL MENTORING MAKE UP FOR THE WFH ISOLATION

One of the biggest issues facing companies during the pandemic was the loss of informal staff development through working side-by-side and the loss of connection between teams during this time. One of the many solutions, and one that we have supported, is the role of mentoring. During the height of the pandemic, we piloted a Marketing Mentor program for Australia and NZ marketing professionals. The lessons from this pilot have been incorporated into our new Marketing Mentor program, which is live here.

Currently, we are looking for more mentors and those looking for mentors to join the program. If you or someone you know of work within any aspect of marketing would be interested in participating in an industry-based mentoring program please either click here on this link or share the link with your friends and colleagues.

As always, if any of this has piqued your curiosity or you simply want a more confidential discussion on any topic and the marketing implications and advertising opportunities let me know.

And, as always… Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay sane.

Cheers

Darren