Attrition, Talent & Transformation in the Digital Industry: The Elephant in the Room

Prakash Patel, CEO of Prezence, looks at attrition, talent and transformation — the “elephant in the room” — in the marketing industry in this first of a two-part series.

With the emergence of new technologies and mediums, old business models may be defunct. But I can assure you that the old business working ethos is still desperately needed if businesses are to survive in today’s hectic world.

They say ad years are like dog years. I say in digital, it’s that to the power of two.

In a career spanning three decades, I have worked full time for only six established companies (including my own company). That basically averages four years per company.

This would have been unthinkable to my father, for whom a job was a job for life. I remember him asking me why I was leaving a perfectly good job, and me responding that it was to ‘pursue a new challenge or opportunity’. We could only make peace by agreeing to disagree.

I guess the same can be true of today’s young working generation, for whom the average time spent at a company is about 1.5 years. To this new generation, anything more than that is a lifetime.

They say ad years are like dog years. I say in digital, it’s that to the power of two.

Don’t get me wrong or think I’m being naïve. It’s great when people move on to pursue new challenges and greater opportunities, or move on when things haven’t worked out. Having said that, the true reasons for this employee churn in the industry aren’t those.

The true reasons are frightening, costly, and challenging.

Without prejudice or disrespect to anyone, we are creating an industry of mediocrity if nothing more than an online profile could lead to somebody being seen as an amazing person who has achieved much in little time.

I ask myself: “Is it the culture? Is it the work? Is it the leadership? Is it even me? Or, perhaps, is it just the new way I need to accept, like my father had to, with my generation?”

This alarming attrition rate is something others and I have never witnessed before. Although it’s making a few astute head-hunters very rich, I feel it’s holding back our potential as an industry. And although we don’t discuss it in public, I’m going to lay it bare.

In spite of the many great things we at my agency do for our team: paying well, treating employees fairly, encouraging innovation, having company-sponsored lunches twice a week, and allocating the last Friday of each month to invite guest speakers to inspire and mingle with – last year we had an attrition rate that ran into double digits.

By the way, these are perks most players in the industry provide to their teams. The question then remains: Why the attrition rate?

This isn’t a problem that only we’re facing. I’ve spoken to lots of senior leaders in advertising, locally and overseas, and one of the biggest challenges leaders face in any organisation, let alone advertising and in particular digital, is one of staff attrition.

There you go. I’ve said it again, “ATTRITION”. Doesn’t pointing out the elephant in the room make us feel better?

I remember reading an article by Herman Manson about Saving NATIVE which looked at the process and evolution NATIVE went through during its establishment. Manson highlighted the issue of attrition. Another article, this time by Alistair Mokoena, also picked up on this.

They aren’t alone, and neither am I – it’s an industry phenomenon that we need to face up to and tackle.

The repercussions this situation holds for agencies individually, and for the industry at large, cannot be underestimated.

Potentially mediocre workforce

Without prejudice or disrespect to anyone, we are creating an industry of mediocrity if nothing more than an online profile could lead to somebody being seen as an amazing person who has achieved much in little time.

Personally, one thing I loved about my background is the solid training we got.

More like an apprentice, we worked our way up within an organisation and in doing so were mentored and taught the basics, from writing briefs through to running brainstorming sessions and basic business etiquette, giving us the foundation we needed to succeed and ultimately build a solid career based on solid experiences.

In today’s industry with its high employee turnover, it frightens me that people aren’t facing up to challenges or learning how to deal with those challenges anymore. To say nothing of learning the basics. In some cases, they’re just running with no feet on the ground or wanting everything now!

In today’s industry with its high employee turnover, it frightens me that people aren’t facing up to challenges or learning how to deal with those challenges anymore. To say nothing of learning the basics. In some cases, they’re just running with no feet on the ground or wanting everything now! Admittedly, sometimes it is time to move on, but please be patient when you are starting out in your career.

I hear so many people talk about being a strategist after only being in the industry for a year. For me it was the years working on brands that gave me the insight and understanding of what brand values meant, and what drove the brand platform. If you aren’t spending the time working with a brand, then I feel you may be missing a huge opportunity in learning how to strategise.

What I am suggesting is that patience and building a career has to be the main aim, rather than just chasing the money. Facing and overcoming challenges early in a career will only put you in a better position later on when you’re the mentor or manager – a rewarding privilege.

No references

Out of all the people I have seen leave (and for valid reasons), none of their prospective new employers has called for a reference. This is frightening. Surely if the person you are about to employ is worth it, then contacting his or her previous employee is just basic human capital practice?

LinkedIn surveys and references may look good, but what’s wrong with the traditional ways of obtaining references? Recently I was requested to provide references for virtual colleagues on LinkedIn, yet I had no clue whether the person was good at their day job. How can I grade someone I had never worked with? Don’t believe everything you read online.

Here are a few facts about where we as an industry stand today.

Fact 1:

There is a huge shortage of talent in our industry. There are more jobs than people. So what are we doing? Head-hunters scroll LinkedIn profiles, use PNET and find staff, recommend staff and all it does is circulate the attrition from one agency to another.

In short, it’s all poach, poach, poach.

Fact 2:

A talent in today’s digital space can become a “guru” in less than a few years – whether he’s a bad egg or not. And that goes for anyone from account executive to the head of an agency’s digital division.

In the past, if I reviewed a potential candidate for employment, someone moving jobs every year wasn’t given a second look. In today’s workforce, it’s a common trend.

So do I say no, or do I partake in this orgy of recruitment? I must admit I have changed some of my old ways. When employees want to leave, I do ask about the reasons why. If the reasons are good, there’s nothing I can do to make them stay, and I won’t be selfish in trying to keep them if they are offered a really good opportunity. I would encourage and really wish them well.

But it’s not all bad news. Tomorrow  I want to explore how this elephant in the industry could be an opportunity.

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