34 roles ‘at risk’ of redundancy as Publicis Groupe exhausts other cost-cutting options
Publicis Groupe has admitted that 34 roles “in a small number of our agencies” are “at risk” of being made redundant as the holding group grapples with the impact of COVID-19 on media budgets and, therefore, revenue.
Since the middle of March, Publicis has “exhausted all cost-containment measures before considering making any roles redundant”, it said in a statement. “Through all these measures, we have made sure our employees at the entry and mid-level have been protected.”
Publicis is not alone in grappling with COVID-19’s economic impacts
The company added that it has “held the line on making redundancies for as long as possible”, and saved an estimated 80 jobs through a number of cost-saving measures, including restricting expenses and variable costs, asking staff to take annual leave, and a voluntary salary reduction from CEOs, managing directors, leadership teams, and senior staff.
It also pointed out that 34 possible redundancies constitutes 2% of its 1,570-strong workforce across Australia and New Zealand.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic putting our people first has been our guiding philosophy; ensuring their safety and well-being, and protecting as many jobs as possible so that our team is in the best shape possible to help our clients through their recovery,” said Publicis Groupe’s regional chief executive, Michael Rebelo.
Some of those impacted by redundancies have been successfully redeployed to other agencies within the holding group, the company noted, and it continues to look for redeployment options for other affected staff.
Rebelo
For those unable to be redeployed, Publicis said its talent acquisition team has developed a redundancy support program, which includes information on financial support and money management, new career pathways, and mental health support services. Retrenched employees can ask an HR representative for advice on where to look for another job, have access to industry contacts and online training modules, and information on preparing for job interviews.
Imogen Hewitt, the chief executive officer of Spark Foundry, a Publicis Groupe media agency, told Mumbrella recently that the hardest part of her job has been “the very genuine responsibility that I feel for our people”.
“It is about their health and their safety, and it’s about their jobs. And that has been the most emotionally taxing part of this whole thing,” she said.
“There are brilliant people that work for this organisation and navigating this in a way that makes sure that we deliver the best possible outcome for them is the thing that has really been quite gut-wrenching.”
Ad spend funnelled through media agencies plummeted by 40% in May, justifying the industry’s continued implementation of cost-cutting strategies to protect revenues and workforces. The market is on track to lose $700m worth of spend in just three months, from April to June.
WPP AUNZ introduced a “menu” of voluntary pay cut options for its staff, and has made some redundancies. IPG Mediabrands has implemented a 10% reduction in hours and pay until the end of the year, and admitted to a small number of redundancies. And Omnicom Media Group has also resorted to stand downs and redundancies, as it expects revenue impacts to worsen across the year.
Brittney Rigby was Mumbrella's deputy managing editor - news and analysis. She left Mumbrella in April 2021.
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Does 34 roles mean 34 jobs ?
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Why couldn’t che do any of this
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It is worth noting that Publicis have actually been quite good throughout this whole thing. The communication has been regular and detailed, and all decisions have been made with a seemingly equal concern for people and profit.
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A Publicis redundancy sounds better than the way we were treated by CHEP. They turfed people as soon as COVID hit and provided no resources, support or communication beyond the legal redundancy payment. Publicis at least attempted to not throw you out into a nightmare job market. Sorry all the same and best of luck to those affected.
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Will be interesting to see which multinational agency model performs better in the new post COVID world. Omnicom and IPG let their agency brands lead and have not built large centralised functions. Whereas Publicis and WPP have gone the other way touting their “power of one” approaches and built up large centralised functions.
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Every agency is doing what it can to save jobs. Pay reductions, employee care, annual leave reduction programs have been in place across every agency since the start of covid. The number of jobs losses has little to do with these measures but by the roster of clients in an agency, and how deeply they cut spend. Well done to Publicis for holding off as long as they can. There’s been lots of job losses so far across the board, and more to come.
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I think you’ll find che did, and is doing, all of these things
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You cant possibly be in a position to make this sweeping statement. It seems, for example, the CHE did a horrible job; group call sacking everyone at once.
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Can confirm they did not.
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I think we already know the answer to that. Omnicom have let thier brands be and they are easily the strongest. Check DDB vs Publicis. Or match up Mediacom Vs OMD. As branding businesses WPP and Publicis have not done a great job of managing their own. Even they would admit that.
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Well Marty, whoever you are? Why do ‘we’ know the answer to that when ‘we’ don’t know who you are? As a result how are ‘we’ supposed to value your observation, or worse what appears to be an opinion…we all know in the business about what we all say about opinions…they are like the end of the rectum… everybody has one.
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So Publicis is probably 20 different businesses in Australia and New Zealand and they make 34 redundancies in July across all of these, roughly less than 2 people per business. Some others make 35 in March from a single agency….
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