17507: On Elephants In The Room At BP.

This BP employee training video empowers people to speak up against disrespectful and/or abusive behavior in the workplace.

 

Okay, but based on historical accusations, maybe the visual metaphor should’ve been a White elephant in the room.

17279: RIF FYI WTF.

 

Advertising Age published timely—albeit useless—content featuring advice for people experiencing layoffs.

 

The uselessness derives from the source of the counsel: industry recruiters.

 

Upon submitting the drivel, the headhunters undoubtedly ghosted the Ad Age reporter.

 

But seriously, recruiting for White advertising agencies is a role that could easily be replaced by AI—and is increasingly shifted in-house alongside HR duties.

 

Independent recruiters are amazingly unfamiliar with the industry—and typically ignorant about the true specifications for roles. Contrary to self-promotional hype, these commission-seeking bottom feeders indiscriminately throw candidates at agencies.

 

On second thought, “indiscriminately” might be the wrong word; in their heyday, industry recruiters were prime culprits and collaborators in stymieing DEIBA+ progress via discriminatory practices.

 

What you need to know if you’ve just been laid off

 

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

 

Omnicom’s massive restructuring following its acquisition of Interpublic Group of Cos., including the dismantling of three storied creative agency brands, leaves thousands of people without jobs.

 

Chairman and CEO John Wren told Ad Age that Omnicom expects to have 105,000 employees worldwide post-merger. That’s a decline of about 23,200 employees from 128,200, the combined headcount of Omnicom and IPG at the end of 2024.

 

The layoffs have shaken the industry, with many ad professionals reacting to the restructuring online and commenting on the toll the cuts will take. These job losses add to many that have already been happening across the industry for the past few years, and come as fears mount about AI’s ability to replace even more jobs.

 

“We are in the midst of a perfect storm where there is a triumvirate of economic instability, significant agency consolidation and the rise of AI,” said Jay Haines, founding partner of Grace Blue, which is part of Sinecure, a collection of talent firms specializing in scalable recruiting solutions and executive search. “Each of those would individually be enough to cause significant disruption, but together they have had the huge impact we are seeing today.”

 

Serena Wolf, founder of recruiting firm Wolf Creative Co., said she hasn’t witnessed this many layoffs since the first year of COVID, referring to the period of pandemic-related lockdowns between March and December of 2020.

 

Tony Stanol, president of Global Recruiters of Sarasota, said the amount of layoffs resulting from one merger is dramatic but not entirely surprising.

 

“It’s not shocking given the industry’s over-hiring during pandemic-era growth,” he said. “I’m seeing many more talented people coming at me for help than during the COVID layoffs and furloughs.”

 

It’s a scary time for many industry professionals who are affected. They’re going to have to figure out how to communicate that they have been laid off, decide how to best protect themselves and their interests as companies make sweeping cuts, and learn how to go about landing their next job in a tough hiring market.

 

Below is advice from industry recruiters on those considerations and more.

 

After being laid off, first, take a breath

 

“I know it’s scary, but good people land,” Stanol said. “Your skills, relationships and track record didn’t disappear overnight. Take a breath, regroup and remember: This moment doesn’t define your career, what you do next does.”

 

Recruiters who spoke with Ad Age said if you’ve been laid off, you may feel the need to jump into job hunting, especially amid the current rocky hiring landscape but that it’s important to take a minute to pause and really consider the next best move for your career.

 

Just don’t take too long, they added.

 

“Take 48 hours to decompress, assess your financial runway and get clear on the type of role and environment you want next,” Stanol said. “Once your head is level, tighten your narrative. Hiring leaders want clarity.”

 

Lawyer up and negotiate

 

Anyone impacted by a layoff should ask for a severance package, and lawyers can help.

 

“Regardless of your level, it is always worth speaking with a labor lawyer to review the proposed severance [and/or] separation agreement,” said Sasha Martens, president of industry recruiting firm Sasha the Mensch. “The best time to negotiate is early, so take the time to think through what you would want to ask for. It is important to be realistic as well, since each organization is different and the reality is that advertising agencies’ severance packages are not as generous as those of other Fortune 500 brands.”

 

Stanol noted that you only need to hire an employment attorney for an hour to have it be worthwhile.

 

A good severance package should be realistic and typically start at one to two weeks of pay for every year you’ve worked, according to some recruiters. Haines said your severance negotiations “should be based on facts and data,” meaning the years you served the company and the contributions you made.

 

You can also ask your former employer for confirmation or a letter stating that your layoff “was not performance-related,” Martens added.

 

Wolf said you can ask your next employer, when signing an offer letter, for severance of three to 12 months, as well, should you be laid off again (depending on your level).

 

How to announce you’ve been laid off

 

There is going to be a flood of announcements on LinkedIn from professionals who have been laid off, all hitting at once, due to the scale of the deal-related cuts.

 

Wolf advised professionals to pause and post their announcements in mid-January when hiring should ramp up, noting that hiring slows down at the end of December. Holding companies usually carry out most staff cuts in the fourth quarter, when they’re scrambling to meet margins.

 

Martens added that you may not want to rush to publicly announce that you are unemployed, and you might not have to if you do get severance.

 

“If you are on severance with your current employer, then you are being paid by them, and there are obligations for both parties, meaning you don’t need to change your status immediately,” he said. “Fair or unfair, your value as an employed person is always higher than that of someone out looking for work.”

 

When you do make a public announcement, Stanol said that you should “skip the vague ‘open to work’ halo above your LinkedIn portrait.” Instead, “be specific” about what you do, where you add value and what you’re after, he said.

 

Haines said that it’s important to set the right tone.

 

“The tone should be realistic about recognizing what has happened, with a recognition that it’s part of the broader instability of the industry, as opposed to anything that relates to you as an individual,” Haines said. “Alongside that should be a message of gratitude and humility about all that you have achieved to date, and your excitement to bring all the skills you have developed and experience you have gained to your next role. It’s also helpful to have a call to action around your desire to connect with your community at large.”

 

Connect with your network

 

Reaching out to your network will be crucial as well. But determining who to approach first takes some consideration.

 

Stanol said there’s a formula for that.

 

“Start with warm allies: Former bosses, peers, clients and recruiters who already trust your work,” he said. “They’re approachable, credible and they’ll go to bat for you. Then move to second-degree contacts at the companies and categories still hiring.”

 

Martens agreed, saying it’s first worth reaching out to “long-time industry contacts, people you have relationships with. Reach out to people that you may know who could use your work and talent in a full-time capacity, or could bring you in on a project.”

 

How to search for your next job

 

Some recruiters said it may take six months to a year to find a job in the current market. But Wolf said she’s seen some executives land on their feet “within a few short weeks/months.” She advises people to be open to freelance opportunities, not just full-time positions.

 

It all comes down to identifying what your next career move could be, including whether you want to go the route of entrepreneurship and start your own agency, as many former holding company executives have done, or maybe even switch industries, the recruiters said.

 

“Treat looking for a job like a job,” Haines said. “Action is the enemy of anxiety.”

 

Haines said Grace Blue advises the executives it works with to follow what it calls the “five box strategy” when it comes to searching for their next job.

 

The strategy involves identifying “five potential routes forward,” Haines said. “Think widely. Those five boxes might look like: Technology, entertainment, the Boston and Texas markets and PE-backed ventures. Having established that, you should then go through each potential box, one by one, working out who you might know in that space.”

 

Haines said you should tackle “one box each week and identify the first 10 people on your list in that space. Let’s say the first box is technology. You should then craft a note to each of those 10 people explaining that, having gained valuable experience through the course of your career, you are now thinking about what might come next and that the technology space is of particular interest.”

 

While you’re searching, Haines suggests mastering new skills and partaking in online education courses on AI, machine learning or LLMs—all of which will be critical to landing a more future-proof job in the industry.

 

Don’t take it personally

 

One point many recruiters drove home was that if you have been laid off, do not take it personally.

 

“It’s important to remind yourself that it’s not personal,” Wolf said. “You are not alone.”

 

Stay positive and use the time between jobs for a reset, Haines said. “It is an opportunity to define the rest of your career. It is an invaluable moment to take in all the information available and embark on a program of education that your previous role would never have allowed for. This is the moment to get yourself set for the next 10 years.”

 

And, despite some areas of the industry looking bleak right now, Martens said there is still a lot to be hopeful for in advertising’s future.

 

“What you are seeing is a new ecosystem of growing, nimble agencies and networks,” he said. “There are so many new networks and players entering the industry that weren’t there before. This is not just many new independents, but new networks and investors. The divide between the agency and the client side has long been broken, which offers more opportunities.”

17265: Black Women Friday.

 

The Associated Press reported on the disproportionate unemployment challenges experienced by US Black women.

 

Can’t help but wonder how worse things are for all the Dawn Chambers in Adland, who have historically been underutilized, underpaid, and underrepresented—a situation compounded by the anti-DEIBA+ vibe impacting the industry and society at large.

 

 

As Black women face unemployment challenges, a roundtable of policymakers searches for solutions

 

By Matt Brown

 

In a packed room at library in a downtown Boston, Rep. Ayanna Pressley posed a blunt question: Why are Black women, who have some of the highest labor force participation rates in the country, now seeing their unemployment rise faster than most other groups?

The replies Monday from policymakers, academics, business owners and community organizers laid out how economic headwinds facing Black women may indicate a troubling shift for the economy at large.

 

The unemployment rate for Black women increased from 6.7% to 7.5% between August and September this year, the most recent month for available data because of the federal government shutdown.

 

That compares with a 3.2% to 3.4% increase for white women over the same period. And it extended a year-long trend of the Black women’s unemployment rate increasing at a time of broad economic uncertainty.

 

Many roundtable attendees view those numbers as both an affront and a warning about the uneven pressures on Black women.

 

“Everyone is missing out when we’re pushed out of the workforce,” said Pressley, a progressive Democrat. “That is something that I worry about now, that you have all these women with specific expertise and specializations that we’re being deprived of.”

 

And when Black women do have work, she said they tend to be “woefully underemployed.”

 

Black women had the highest labor force participation rate of any female demographic in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, yet their unemployment rate remains higher than other demographics of women.

 

Historically, their unemployment rate has trended slightly above the national average, widening during periods of slowed economic growth or recession. Black Americans are overrepresented in industries like retail, health and social services, and government administration, according to a 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey.

 

“Black women are at the center of the Venn diagram that is our society,” said Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, a PhD candidate in public policy and economics at the Harvard Kennedy School.

 

She pointed to April as the month when Black women’s unemployment began to diverge more sharply from other groups. A policy agenda that ignores the causes, she said, could harm the broader economy.

 

Roundtable participants cited many long-standing structural inequities but attributed most of the latest divergence to recent federal actions. They blamed the Trump administration’s downsizing of the Minority Business Development Agency and the cancellation of some federal contracts with non-profits and small businesses, saying those actions disproportionately impacted Black women. Others said tariff policies and mass federal layoffs also contributed to the strain.

 

The administration’s opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives was repeatedly mentioned by participants as a cause for a more hostile environment for Black women to find employment, customers or government contracting.

 

There is no concrete data on how many Black federal workers were laid off, fired or otherwise dismissed as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts through the federal government.

 

The attendees discussed a wide range of potential solutions to the unemployment rate for Black women, including using state budgets to bolster business development for Black women, expanding microloans to different communities, increasing government resources for contracting, requiring greater transparency on corporate hiring practices and encouraging state and federal officials to enforce anti-discrimination policies.

 

“I feel like I was just at church,” said Ruthzee Louijeune, the Boston City Council president, as the meeting wrapped up. She encouraged attendees to keep up their efforts, and she defended DEI policies as essential to a healthy workforce and political system. Without broad-based efforts, the Democrat said, the country’s business and political leadership would be “abnormal” and weakened.

 

“Any space that does not look like our country and like our cities is not normal,” she said, “and not the city or country we are trying to build.”

17126: More Mad Men Misconduct.

 

Digiday Media’s WorkLife reported on a study showing workplace misconduct claims—for discrimination, harassment, and retaliation—reached the highest rate ever last year.

 

Not sure how the data specifically applies to Adland. Then again, the research reflects what happens at awards shows like Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, where such charges appeared to dramatically increase—and were compounded by acts of blatant cheating.

 

In short, Adland probably raises the bar—and deserves titanium trophies—for workplace misconduct.

 

Employers hit with exploding misconduct claims–and do a terrible job managing them

 

By Tony Case

 

Reports of workplace misconduct have hit unprecedented levels over the past decade, even as most organizations are flying blind when it comes to data that could help them manage the problem.

 

Fresh research from HR Acuity reveals that discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims last year reached the highest rate ever recorded by the researchers: 14.7 incidents per 1,000 employees, vs. 11.9 in 2023. The most recent study tracked 284 organizations and 8.7 million employees globally. This is the ninth straight year HR Acuity has issued the report.

 

“Navigating today’s complex workplace dynamics with rising misconduct claims, mounting regulatory pressures and legal risks demands more than intuition. Data and insights are no longer optional,” said Deb Muller, founder and CEO of HR Acuity.

 

Employment law attorneys are witnessing this surge firsthand. “There is no question that during the last five years, the tensions between employees and employers have grown to unprecedented levels,” said Mark Kluger, a partner at the New Jersey employment law firm Kluger Healey. Kluger points to a combination of return-to-office (RTO) demands, generational differences regarding work-life balance and an avalanche of employees seeking leaves and accommodations under state and federal laws for anxiety, depression and other behavioral health issues.

 

The legal landscape has become increasingly complex. Kluger notes that employers now regularly face workplace retaliation claims stemming from RTO policies, work-life balance issues and performance management decisions.

 

Acuity HR’s findings come on the heels of the Ames decision (officially known as Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services), the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling clarifying the application of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to employment discrimination claims, particularly those involving “reverse discrimination.” In that case, the court held that majority-group plaintiffs (e.g., straight, white males) are not required to meet a higher evidentiary burden to establish a prima facie case of discrimination.

 

While misconduct claims are skyrocketing, most employers are making critical decisions based on incomplete information, according to the research. Nearly 7 in 10 organizations fail to track how many issues pile up by case, while nearly half are missing substantiation data entirely. That means they’re essentially clueless about investigation outcomes and what those may say about their workplace culture.

 

Furthermore, 7 in 10 employers can’t break down substantiation by issue type, missing the trends that could help them be more proactive regarding claims.

 

Meanwhile, even with all the legal and reputational risks, one-third of organizations don’t require structured investigation procedures. The companies that do have structured processes in place are twice as likely to use AI tools, though nearly half of companies studied don’t use AI for employee relations at all, per the report.

 

The challenge for HR professionals has become navigating what Kluger sees as a legal minefield. He suggests that HR professionals and employment lawyers carefully navigate the expanded definitions of retaliation, new state laws regarding leave, and the overwhelming number of requests for reasonable accommodations and leave while trying to maintain best practices and consistency.

 

With misconduct claims accelerating and regulatory scrutiny intensifying, companies sticking with the status quo could be playing Russian roulette with their reputations, legal exposure and employee trust. As Muller sees it, “In this new era of employee relations, organizations must embrace AI-driven analytics and structured processes to protect their people, safeguard their reputations and empower their teams to thrive with confidence.”

16819: Systemic Racism Playing At Iconic Game Shows?

 

USA TODAY reported on charges of racial discrimination targeting executives at “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” game shows. Expect a “Black Jeopardy!” skit on SNL soon.

 

‘Jeopardy’, ‘Wheel of Fortune’ under fire: Game shows hit with race discrimination claims

 

Two former employees recount a toxic work environment that included racially insensitive jokes, unequal pay and more.

 

Jessica Guynn, Felecia Wellington Radel | USA TODAY

 

Executives at “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” discriminated against people of color then fired them for raising concerns about a toxic work environment where staffers made disparaging remarks about Black contestants, two former employees allege in civil rights complaints obtained by USA TODAY. 

 

The two former Sony Pictures Entertainment workers said they were consistently given fewer opportunities than their white colleagues and were routinely subjected to racially insensitive behavior, including crew members mocking a Black contestant’s natural hairstyle.

 

Shelley Ballance Ellis, 60, said she was the highest-ranking Black production executive on the popular game shows. During her 26-year tenure, she said she was loaded down with extra responsibilities but passed over for promotions. 

 

Monique Diaz, 48, who is Latina and worked on the shows for 23 years, said she was paid substantially less than a newly hired white colleague. 

 

In April, Ballance Ellis and Diaz were laid off in what the company said was a corporate reorganization. 

 

“The truth is that I and others were targeted by Sony because we opposed discrimination,” Ballance Ellis alleged in her complaint.

 

Sony has not responded to multiple requests for comment from USA TODAY.

 

‘Take an open, honest look’

 

Attorneys Peter Romer-Friedman and Hillary Benham-Baker, who represent Ballance Ellis and Diaz, said Sony violated California civil rights laws. 

 

Complaints filed with the California Civil Rights Department are investigated by the agency, which can sue the company, dismiss the charges or grant workers the right to pursue their own lawsuit.

 

“What happened to Shelley and her colleagues behind the closed doors of production should not happen and it was unlawful under our civil rights laws,” Benham-Baker told USA TODAY. 

 

The allegations against “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune” come amid rising tensions over persistent opportunity gaps for talent from diverse backgrounds in the entertainment industry.

 

When George Floyd was murdered by a white police officer in May 2020, major studios and networks joined in calls for equality, pledging solidarity and millions of dollars. But those commitments have since faded.

 

In an exclusive interview with USA TODAY, Ballance Ellis said marginalized people are often overlooked and undervalued in mainstream Hollywood, where mostly white power brokers decide who gets the job or promotion or what stories are told on screen.

 

Ballance Ellis’ family has deep roots in the entertainment business – her grandfather was an actor and her father a studio executive and her grandparents owned the historic Ebony Showcase Theater in Los Angeles – so she said she felt a responsibility to “use her voice for good” in an industry where few people of color without connections dare speak out.

 

“I hope that this will be an opportunity for any entertainment executive to look at themselves and really, take an open, honest look,” she told USA TODAY.

 

Complaint alleges racially insensitive jokes, halted career ambitions

 

“Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune” are mainstays of American television and major financial contributors to the Sony entertainment ecosystem. 

 

Ballance Ellis led the clearance and licensing department, which obtains legal rights to video clips, artwork, music and other intellectual property featured on the shows, where she said she had a “front-row seat” to racial bias and insensitivity.

 

In her complaint, Ballance Ellis says the company tolerated racially insensitive jokes about Black contestants. 

 

During a “Wheel of Fortune” production meeting in 2020, a Black employee said he overheard colleagues saying a Black woman’s locs hairstyle reminded them of the movie “The Elephant Man,” about a man grotesquely disfigured by a congenital disorder who makes his living as a sideshow attraction in Victorian England.

 

When the show’s director responded that he and the crew members were just joking, Ballance Ellis said in her complaint that she commented: “Which part is funny?” 

 

Ballance Ellis said she also raised concerns about biased “Jeopardy!” clues and advocated for “more inclusive, nuanced clues about people from diverse backgrounds.”

 

For example, in 1999 in the "Black History" category, the clue was: "The black population of these U.S. areas, the destination of ‘white flight,’ doubled in the ‘70s and ‘80s.” The answer was “the suburbs.”

 

“I mean to think that people are moving out of a neighborhood because Black people move in. That is not Black history of anything,” she said. “After that happened, people I knew were offended and in my opinion, rightfully so. I was embarrassed to work somewhere where that happened.”

 

Other actions had a traumatic effect on employees, according to Ballance Ellis. 

In 2017, “Wheel of Fortune” issued an apology after an episode for the show’s “Southern Charm Week” showed hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White in front of a plantation and two slave reenactors in antebellum dress. 

 

But last year, a Black employee was told to create a shot list – a document detailing each shot in a particular scene – of plantation footage the producers were considering for Sajak’s retirement sendoff, according to Ballance Ellis. Objections from staff members were ignored, she said.

 

Ballance Ellis said her own experiences with discrimination at “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune” were painful episodes in a job she otherwise loved. 

 

Even when she was assigned additional responsibilities when three producers left the company, she said she was not considered for promotions.

 

In 2021, after a lengthy search, executive producer Mike Richards was named permanent host, replacing Alex Trebek who died in 2020. But Richards was forced to step down over offensive remarks he made on an earlier podcast and his involvement in past employment discrimination lawsuits while executive producing “The Price Is Right.” 

 

Amid the public uproar, Ballance Ellis said Sony’s senior leadership mandated diversity and inclusion training. 

 

During a gender-based training session in 2023, Ballance Ellis spoke up about her stunted career ambitions.

 

“I explained that I believe I had faced a glass ceiling at Sony as a Black woman, pushing back on my colleagues’ claim that having white women in leadership meant there was no glass ceiling for people of color or Black women like me,” she said in her complaint.

 

Ballance Ellis said a supervising producer responded: “Shelley thinks she faced a glass ceiling, but that isn’t accurate. The reason that we didn’t promote Shelley is that Shelley is incredibly valuable in the position that she is in.”

 

Earlier this year, Ballance Ellis said she was forced out of the company and her duties were handed to a younger white woman. 

 

“Sony simultaneously ‘reorganized’ the positions from my team of diverse employees (who are over 40 years old) and replaced them with mostly younger white employees,” she said in her complaint.

 

That included Diaz, who joined the clearance and licensing department in 2011. 

 

Diaz told USA TODAY she enjoyed working with her supervisor, Ballance Ellis, and her team, but she grew increasingly troubled by how nonwhite contestants were treated versus white contestants, and how employees’ concerns about racial bias were disregarded. 

 

In 2020, Diaz said she attended a meeting where a production supervisor mocked Black comedian Leslie Jones' request to bring her own hairstylist for her appearance as a celebrity contestant on “Wheel of Fortune.” For years, Black actors have complained they have to either do their own hair or sit through a stylist who does not know how to. 

 

“The bad part is I learned early on that there were different roles for different people and it was disheartening,” Diaz said. 

 

Another employee approached Diaz in 2023 to share that a supervising producer made about Black people’s skin “not aging as rapidly as white people’s skin.”

 

“I felt the environment was very discriminatory,” she said. 

 

Diaz said she learned that firsthand when she found out that she was earning about $50,000 a year less than a new white colleague doing the same work. She said she filed a complaint with human resources but got no response.

 

When Ballance Ellis advocated for an equity pay adjustment, Ballance Ellis said she was asked: “Does she know” she is being paid less? Ballance Ellis said she responded: “We know.” 

 

The supervising producer refused to take action, so Ballance Ellis said she turned to Sony’s chief diversity officer. 

 

Diaz said she got a pay bump but still earned $15,000 less per year than her colleague.

 

“We’re talking about iconic American shows that are supposed to be inclusive and reflect the best of America,” Romer-Friedman said. “Until people like Shelley and Monique can remain and thrive at ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ those shows aren’t going to represent the best of America.”

16784: Systematic Systemic Racism From VML.

 

Take a close look at this actual LinkedIn job listing from White advertising agency VML—it exposes all that is wrong with hiring practices in Adland.

 

The post appears to be a raw template, literally including phrases such as:

 

*Insert Intro paragraph about the role*

 

(PLACEHOLDER)

 

Top 3–5 attributes on scorecard go here

 

First, the job listing underscores that agency talent recruiters are stupid, lazy, or useless—and they’re often all three. In these times of AI, it’s a wonder such roles aren’t replaced by automated technology. It would be so fitting for Artificial Intelligence to handle Artificial Inclusivity.

 

Second, the base salary range is indicated as $60,000–$140,000. That’s quite expansive, and final pay offers—in terms of receiving crumbs versus cold cash—are undoubtedly tiered based on candidates’ gender, race, and ethnicity.

 

Third, the scenario feels like a deceptive stunt routinely executed by White advertising agencies. Specifically, firms will post job listings when no real jobs exist in order to satisfy faux DEIBA+ goals; ie, VML can now report to watchdog entities (eg, the EEOC) that they’ve opened opportunities to applicants of color.

 

Fourth, it’s most outrageous how VML engages in sneaky and systemically racist tactics—aka box-checking bullshit—while positioning itself as pioneering and culturally competent. The pathetic practices are performative, not progressive.

 

Finally, that 38 people applied for the fuzzy position presents a sad statement on the employment situation in Adland—even sadder if the job seekers include minorities.