There is no denying that the last two years have been a roller coaster. And if we particularly talk about our industry it has been tough for agencies, employees (new or old) and clients. It has been tough mentally, to be creative, to be positive, productive and this list could go on... But through it all this industry has pushed to deliver great work that we should all be proud of.
Last month, we went to our young talent, young leaders below 30 or as we call them our 'Future Heads' A.K.A Future Leaders to ask them how they've felt over the last two and how they feel about the 'New Normal 2.0'.
From obstacles to opportunities, challenges to changes, be it about getting back into the office or attending in-person events. We wanted to understand their feelings, hear their opinions and brilliant ideas so that we can prepare better. Plan better. Know what the Future Leaders of this industry need from IAPI as they get back into the new routine for 2022 with regards to new restrictions, hybrid working set ups, and much more.
We sent out an anonymous Sentiment Survey to the Future Heads, that closed on the 16th of March. From this survey we received insights which in our opinion are invaluable for leaders, employers, HR managers and to understand what the general feeling is amongst young talent.
Advertising is traditionally a young industry with over 45% of our IAPI members’ employees being 30 years old or under. So to provide representation to these future leaders we set up a committee called Future Heads with a focus on ensuring that those who recently started their career in this industry have a voice - and that those voices gets heard.
Our Future Heads committee is made up of a group of passionate people dedicated to developing young creative talent and also in retaining them which is vital to futureproof ourselves and the industry.
Through the Future Heads Initiative our objectives are to:
- Help & support industry initiatives so that we can help attract new talent
- Help and support career change programmes, attracting experienced hires to our industry
- Support peers within our industry, focusing on the wellbeing of our industry, to help retain and grow, setting the foundations for the future of our industry.
The survey was completed by future heads in the Creative, Media, Full service, PR and Experiential agencies with a varied level of experience. 60% of respondents were middle-management or above. However, the other 40% of respondents have less than 2 years experience in the industry meaning that all of their working lives in advertising has occurred during Covid.
With all that's happened over the last few years from the career point of view the negative impact has been mainly to Maintaining Relationships, Finding Creative Inspiration and Career Progression. 41% cite Maintaining Relationships with Colleagues as the most difficult thing to do and the biggest negative impact in the last few years.
One of our respondents stated "it's been difficult to build relationships internally and externally. Internally that would help further my career/to see what others are doing and what you can possibly be upskilling in. External because its so hard to build a relationship on Zoom esp when all the cameras are off and people are in back to back calls - only time for agenda items no casual chat."
However, on the flip side, many feel very comfortable with working from home and welcome a future Hybrid Model. The survey showed that 82.20% of respondents would most prefer a Hybrid Work from Home mode (with the freedom to choose their own in-office days not mandated by management) however, currently only 37.39% have a hybrid model and 54.34% work from home with only 7.63% working full-time in the office at this point in time.
'I feel that although COVID came with it's challenges, it has also presented plenty of new opportunities. We are now able to work more flexibly and connect with other creatives and colleagues world wide. It has brought a variety of diverse possibilities and I'm excited to see what the implementation of hybrid working looks like long term', was what one of the Future Heads had to say in the survey.
While there have been some ups/downs over the last two years. Overall the respondents feel more positive than negative towards the industry and 60% would recommend a role within the advertising/creative communications industry to someone right now. With 80.5% proud of the work they’ve done for themselves and their clients during covid. And as we exit the pandemic 83.76% feel Very Optimistic or Somewhat Optimistic about their careers.
In the survey, we also saw that 84% of respondents feel Very Safe/Somewhat Safe about attending events in-person and the in person events they missed most was Social Gatherings of Colleagues at 70.69% . With that in mind, don't forget the Cannes Young Lions Winners Showcase party next Thursday 28 April in Whelans.
And finally, in the events that IAPI host we saw that 37.29% would like more Training/ Workshops events while 33.90% want us to host more talks with Guest Speakers.
