MediaPost reported WPP will mandate four days in the office per week, including two Fridays per month.
This points to yet another DEIBA+-related issue in Adland. Apologies in advance for the winding dissertation.
White advertising agencies boast about being data-driven powerhouses. White holding companies battle in the Data Wars. Data-backed decisions deliver success. Proprietary data. Data, data, data.
And yet.
White companies—including WPP—push RTO policies by declaring bullshit such as, “I believe that we do our best work when we are together in person.”
There is plenty of data, however, indicating employees prefer to work from home—and many resign over RTO demands.
And there is no data to support people do their best work when they are physically united.
On the flipside, there is abundant data to prove enterprises embracing DEIBA+ are more profitable, pleasing, and prosperous.
In short, White advertising agencies and White holding companies ignore the data to advance RTO—and to abandon DEIBA+.
WTF.
WPP To Implement 4 Day In-The-Office Workweek
By Steve McClellan
WPP has advised its employees of a new office attendance policy that will take effect in April that includes the requirement that staffers work in the office for a minimum of four days per week on average, including two Fridays a month. The policy is being imposed globally.
Employees will have one flexible workday per week, with specific arrangements to be worked out with managers.
There will be exceptions to be determined by way of a formal approval process.
The April timeframe is designed to give workers time to make needed adjustments and for agencies to prepare their workspaces.
The news was delivered via a memo from WPP CEO Mark Read.
“While industry mergers and jostling for status may distract our competitors, focus will be paramount for us in 2025,” Read wrote. “We have the opportunity to stand out by being more obsessed than ever with serving our clients. In every single decision we make, we should ask ourselves “how will this help us do even better work for our clients?” Those companies who embrace this philosophy will be those who emerge on top.”
As for the new work-in-office policy, Read explained, “I believe that we do our best work when we are together in person. It’s easier to learn from each other, it’s a better way to mentor colleagues starting out in the industry, and it helps us win pitches as a truly integrated team. The data from across WPP agencies shows that higher levels of office attendance are associated with stronger employee engagement, improved client survey scores and better financial performance. More of our clients are moving in this direction and expecting it of the teams who work with them.”
And not just clients. Publicis Groupe imposed a new global back-to-office policy that took effect at the start of 2024, albeit mandating three days a week in the office, with some other differences as well.
Read also touched on priorities for 2025. “Demand from clients for creative ideas, effective media plans, brilliant PR campaigns and outstanding design remains constant, but the way in which we deliver our work is changing faster than I have ever seen,” he wrote. “That’s why technology, data and AI are at the heart of our plans for the future, and why adoption of our AI-driven marketing operating system WPP Open has grown so quickly. Keeping up that momentum is another key objective for 2025.”
The company disclosed last year that it would invest more than $300 million annually in AI for the next several years.
“WPP Open helped us win a number of 2024’s biggest reviews and we are going to increase our investment in Open this year to build on the success it has brought us. It will be central to how we bring an integrated, AI-enabled offer to market, with the goal of producing better results for clients and winning more than our fair share of pitches in the year ahead.”
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