Digiday Media’s WorkLife published a lengthy report featuring Adland responses to the WPP RTO policy. The Drum and Campaign did likewise, with the latter presenting pushback from WPP CEO Mark Read.
Seems the associated acronyms have new meanings.
WFH = Whine From Home.
RTO = Return To Oligarchy.
WPP = White People Prison.
‘Yeah, I think we’re eff’d’: The debate over WPP’s RTO mandate highlights a stark industry divide
By Tony Case
When WPP announced last week that it would require its 114,000 employees to return to the office four days per week come April, the global advertising giant sparked more than just water-cooler chatter.
The policy — the strictest RTO edict yet among the agency holding companies — has resulted in intense debate about the future of work in the advertising industry, pointing to a stark divide between how large, corporate-owned agencies and privately held shops approach workplace flexibility in a post-pandemic world.
“We need as many working models as agency cultures,” said Ivan Kayser, CEO of Stagwell’s Redscout, whose work arrangement Kayser describes as “remote first but not remote only” and “a continuous work in progress.” At the end of the day, he thinks the WPP decision makes sense. “Its strength is in its size, and I can understand that leadership felt that size could be unlocked best in person,” he said. “For the rest of the industry, I believe it is a reminder to focus on who you are. There will not be one right model of work for all the different types of agencies.”
Evan Levy, CEO of agency Fitzco, which requires employees to be in the office two days per week, believes the WPP move will embolden other companies to follow suit, further underscoring the differences between the large, corporate-owned agencies and the indies. “This will become a new, formidable issue that separates progressive, flexible agencies — private, independent — from corporate, controlling ones,” he said. “Why choose the latter if all else — salary, benefits, opportunity — is relatively equal?”
Even with the growing number of employers and government figures embracing RTO, for many WPP employees the announcement that they would transition from a hybrid arrangement — one that has had staffers trekking to the office as little as one day per week — came as a jolt.
As one WPP employee who requested anonymity put it, the company “completely blindsided their employees with this announcement,” which was followed by “a complete lack of communication, mixed messages and vagueness about their new policies. It’s left many people in the dark about if they have a job in the next couple months and what should be their next steps.”
Another WPP employee summed up the general mood around the new policy. “Yeah, I think we’re eff’d.” Another, when asked whether they would consider commuting to the office four days a week, responded: “I would do just about anything else.” Still another revealed that they have had positive conversations with recruiters from other agencies since the news broke.
Sources inside the company also complain that, in the memo, news about the RTO was buried in a larger update on the company’s goals, with little explanation or guidance for those affected. Management at the local level seem in some cases to be in the dark as well. One employee related that when they asked their manager about specific policy details, they replied, “I’m not HR.”
In the memo, which was obtained by WorkLife, WPP CEO Mark Read came off as anything but vague, stating: “I believe that we do our best work when we are together in person.” He stressed that the change “doesn’t mean we’re going back to the old ways of doing things,” commenting that the company intends to “keep that spirit of flexibility and trust” that was established during the pandemic. Some roles that have always been remote will continue to be, he emphasized.
Read’s reassurances apparently did little to placate everybody. A Change.org petition calling for WPP to revoke its mandate has notched more than 15,000 signatures — and unleashed yet another barrage of reactions ranging from the lugubrious to the irate. Here’s how one commenter on the site characterized the fallout: “Forcing individuals to return to an office when the rest of their team are in other offices/remote locations does nothing for camaraderie or productivity. Rather, it decreases morale, creates resentment and increases stress by eating away at our personal lives.”
‘It won’t be popular with everyone’
A WPP spokesperson provided this statement in response to the reaction to its new policy: “We believe this is the right policy for the long-term interests of the company as a whole, knowing that it won’t be popular with everyone. And we will take the time to implement it in a collaborative and pragmatic way with our teams.”
Meanwhile, a WPP insider emphasized that, despite the perception that the RTO policy was handed down from Read, it was actually discussed and ultimately agreed upon by the heads of all its agencies. What’s more, the WPP board signed off on it.
Ellen Faulkner, CEO of the agency Lewis, points to the typical sensitivities around communications during such a transition. “Change is never easy, and announcing it can be equally challenging,” she said, adding that the most effective strategy is conveying empathy with the rank and file. “People generally want to do the right thing, but their initial reactions to change often stem from a place of personal concern,” she said.
Christine Armstrong, who runs workplace consultancy Armstrong & Partners, said WPP employees she’s been in touch with are “horrified” by the mandate. “It feels old-school management irrational. A lot of them are saying they don’t even have [enough office] space, even if they were to really enforce this,” she said. “And then I think there’s a lot of agencies around the edges that are just rolling their eyes and going, ‘Yeah, another memo from headquarters. Shrug. Carry on.’”
Armstrong noted a recent survey of more than 3,800 workers in the U.S. by the online resume service LiveCareer revealing that 4 in 10 would rather leave their partner than return to the office. “That’s how much people care about this — and this is the issue you want to pick a fight on?” she said.
Regardless of what WPP or any other single company does about RTO, views about remote-versus-in-person arrangements in the ad business span the spectrum.
On one side is Sebastian Ellis, founder of agency Ellis Digital, who supports a return to the office. The remote work policy it converted to during the pandemic left much to be desired, as he sees it. “We lacked the buzz and also our productivity and creativity suffered — hence why we went back to being in the office as soon as the restrictions lifted,” he said. On the other is Veronica Clerkin, co-founder of agency AMZG, who quotes Spotify’s CHRO Katarina Berg: “You can’t spend a lot of time hiring grown-ups and then treat them like children.” AMZG offers fully remote options with no pressure to come into the office.
Sticking with hybrid — for now
Between the extremes, many agencies have landed on successful hybrid models and intend to stick with them — for the time being anyway.
Joe Maglio, CEO of the agencies McKinney and Barbarian and president of their parent company Cheil North America, said its current setup of three days in the office, two remote “gives us the best of both worlds.”
He stressed that in-person collaboration, learning and development, and creative inspiration are crucial to the agencies’ success. “It’s not just about client meetings or strategy briefs, it’s about impromptu, unscheduled conversations that spark an idea or team building and mentorship opportunities that can’t fully be achieved without an in-person component to our work week,” Maglio added.
John Montgomery, founder and CEO of agency Big Com, noted that ad agencies have always operated differently from other businesses, being “always on by nature, managing media campaigns around the clock and responding to PR needs at a moment’s notice. The key is finding the right balance between flexibility and accountability … The creative nature of our work means we’ve never been particularly rigid in our approach to where and how work gets done. What matters most is the quality of the output and maintaining strong client relationships, regardless of where our teams are physically located.”
Justin Roberts, who heads the Culture and Inclusion Center of Excellence at Kepler, said his agency carefully planned its transition from two to three days in person — a hybrid model it has retained. “We tried to understand what a better balance for us was, in terms of still providing a great service for clients, but also not losing some of the magic that can be had when you’re seeing people in person,” he said.
For their part, the holding companies have leaned toward a return to the office akin to WPP. Omnicom has what a spokesperson characterized as a “flexible, hybrid working model” that asks staff to come to the office at least three days per week, a policy that took effect nearly three years ago. Havas also requires three days in person, as does Publicis, which made headlines for laying off workers who didn’t comply. Meanwhile, IPG (engaged in a merger with Omnicom) lets its agencies set their own work models, as does Stagwell.
Unhappy campers, a talent bonanza
Among some indie agencies, WPP’s mandate and those of other corporate owners are seen as a rich opportunity for cultivating talent. “The abundance of unhappy talent in our industry will continue to call upon independent agencies who are making great creative work while operating within the autonomy of their own decision-making power,” explained Haley Hunter, founder and COO of agency Party Land, noting the agency’s 90% talent retention rate.
Likewise, Talia Arnold, managing director at Exverus Media, touts her shop’s successful, flexible approach. It requires its LA-based staff to come into the office one day per week, while employees who are based elsewhere remain remote. They make the arrangement work via weekly all-hands video meetups, Slack and project management software.
Still, the reality is that for some WPP employees, the mandate presents serious practical challenges, even though the company stressed in the memo that accommodations would be made where needed. One insider related how the new policy would result in a two-hour commute each way, upending their childcare arrangements. “This is not just a policy update — this is peoples’ livelihoods,” they said. “I don’t pay my bills with ‘creative collaboration’ and ‘in-person synergy.’”
Aleena Mazhar Kuzma, senior vp and partner at agency FUSE, argues that mandating such rigid RTO requirements is simply outdated. “We’ve proven that people in our industry can create great work with flexible working environments,” she said. “We need to create organizations where people get excited to come into the office to connect, collaborate and build culture — and that can happen in a hybrid environment, where the office has a role, while maintaining flexibility.”
Tom Laranjo, group CEO at agency Total Media, emphasizes the importance of balancing different needs. “In agencies, creativity and collaboration thrive on in-person interactions, but we’ve found that flexibility enhances inclusivity and talent retention,” he said. Unlike other sectors, advertising prioritizes creating an environment “where staff feel both supported and inspired.”
Robin Skidmore, global CEO of agency Journey Further, stresses the importance of “trust-based flexibility,” or empowering the agency’s teams to work in ways that suit them. It’s an approach the 8-year-old agency has had since it started, helping deliver a staff retention rate of 96%.
Emily Stutzman, CEO of agency Happylucky, sees WPP’s move as symptomatic of deeper industry issues. “Creative people have long been drawn to the advertising industry for its counter-culture ethos, its vibrant culture, its celebration of individuality and its collaborative spirit…” she pointed out. “The very fact that some executive they’ve never met sitting in their penthouse office has to tell them how and where they do their best work feels condescending to a workforce that learned how to thrive in a WFH reality.”
Others express an alternative view of the state of advertising work. In his Substack piece on the WPP policy, workplace expert Bruce Daisley notes that, “unlike tech (Amazon) and finance (JPMorgan Chase), media jobs aren’t aspirational career destinations anymore,” pointing out that advertising roles, “once gloriously paid,” now often involve “squinting into spreadsheets all day earning salaries that are often substantially lower than the clients and media owners they deal with.” He closes with: “Good luck to WPP. Like Amazon, they look set to discover that you can’t build the future by just asking to turn the clock back to 2019.”
Elliot Ward, founder of agency Excite OOH, cuts to the heart of the matter: “Let’s be honest about what’s driving these blanket return-to-office mandates. It’s not about productivity — it’s about justifying expensive real estate investments.”
As the ad industry continues to sort out how and where it’s going to work day to day, the success of the various workplace models may ultimately be determined by their ability to attract and retain talent — an urgent concern for agencies that find themselves in a brain drain, locked in a competition with Silicon Valley and Wall Street for the best and brightest.
As Fredrik Thomassen, founder and CEO of creative services company Superside, put it, “WPP’s move will limit their access to diverse creative perspectives. Exceptional talent exists across the globe, not just in proximity to physical office locations.”
For the moment, it remains to be seen whether WPP’s gamble on RTO will inspire other agencies to fall in line or spawn a talent exodus to employers where looser work setups and Zoom calls still rule.
