COMMENT: The return of macho media management
Macho management is back, I’m sorry to say.
And the problem seems to be particularly bad at media companies. Over the last few weeks, I’ve heard example after example of people working for media owners large and small being treated very badly.
I’m not talking about people simply being laid off because of the downturn, but how managers are treating it as a licence to forget all civilised behaviour.
Some examples…
Last week a techie friend of mine started a new job with a media owner. He gave up a steady, but non-permanent gig to take the role. In his first two days, he fixed several mini-crises and got them back on an even keel . That night he received a text message. “wont be needing you”. And that was that.
Perhaps they never intended to give him a long term gig and figured it was a good way of getting an IT consultant on the cheap. Or maybe they didn’t like him or his work. Or perhaps they’ve hit hard times. But the point is, ending the gig by text is not classy.
Or here’s another one. A senior sales person at a largish publisher has taken to holding teleconferences with his interstate staff in the middle of the open plan office, on speaker phone. Which meant that unknown to the poor woman at the other end, details of her chemotherapy and how that is impacting on her performance, are audible to the entire office.
Then of course there’s ACP’s example that leaked out last week. All staff have been ordered to take easter week off so the offices can be shut down. But staff on the weeklies still have to get the mags out – they’ll just have to work harder and later.
And that’s common. I know of another publisher where journalists are expected to do two people’s jobs if they want to keep theirs. For some it means starting at a normal time of day, and leaving at 1 or 2 am, three or four days a week. And the company won’t even pay for taxis to see them safely home.
I hear stories of staff from that organisation sitting crying at their desks in the evening as unrealistic productivity demands are heaped on them.
And elsewhere of managers targeting expensive, older employees with ridiculous criticisms accompanied by formal warnings.
Some of this, I’m sure, is that many companies now consider themselves to be overstaffed. And if you can drive people out of the door, then it is a lot cheaper than making people formally redundant.
Then there’s the fact that everyone has a boss – and the best way to keep your own job is to make sure that the people working for you are hitting their numbers, whatever the cost.
But the morally indefensible part is that some of them are doing it simply because they can. It feels like there is a whole generation of middle managers who resented mollycoddling Gen Y when staff retention was the problem who are now loving the opportunity to teach them about the harsh realities of a tight jobs market.
Right now it feels like being a good employer is a long way down the list of most media companies’ list of priorities. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if union recruitment is doing extremly well right now.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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I am incredibly sad to read that this is happening in organisations as it will take years to re-build loyalty from employees. It sets up such a toxic environment and a culture of misery that in the future companies will need to pay teams of consultants many thousands of dollars to come halfway close to rectifying it.
I remember going to conferences where HR managers from major organisations preached about how well they treated their staff. As the economy went downhill, they were the ones doing mass retrenchments with no counselling or outplacement services. How on earth do you re-establish your name and reputation as an ’employer of choice’ after that type of treatment of staff?
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Agency land is similar. I had severe and permanent headaches for the 3 months before I was finally retrenched. The day I was let go was the (second) happiest of my life.
Life is too short to be made ill by your employer.
Appalling people don’t deserve you.
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PS. A friend had to explain to me what ‘outplacement’ was. I had no idea!!!
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In a time of negative, I just wanted to provide a positive about a boss. I am a sole parent working in an experiential agency. My boss has allowed me flexible hours to ensure I can pick up my child, he is always genuinely concerned for everyone’s welfare and celebrates our achievements. I know he is often under enormous pressure but he doesn’t take it out on us. He does have his faults, but I feel quite privileged having him as my boss. Thanks Rich
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Maybe Mumbrella could partner with Hewitt in a “Worst Employers” study of marketingland and mediaville?!
http://was7.hewitt.com/bestemp...../index.htm
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Unfortunately I don’t think the ‘macho’ managers (and note it’s definitely not just the guys that can be ruthless wankers) have ever left and it’s a shame as it stifles growth and creativity. Recession is an opportune moment for them to not have to hide their nasty sides but the working world is a small place. I’m sure there are more than a few agencies that people will avoid once we’re back on an even keel.
Gen Y will just opt out of media land, they may be annoying but they are the future 🙂
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Hi Adam,
It’s a good suggestion. But also one that, I fear, could potentially involve me spending some time in libel corner. Unless anyone can suggest a bulletproof methodology?
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
just use a disclamier along the lines of the one that should be used in the daily newspapers….*this article contains rumors and conjecture in addition to accurately reported facts. Any information may or may not be true*
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Great post Tim, thanks for putting the issue out there.
I just don’t ‘get’ that sort of behaviour. When you work in a people business, your people ARE your business. They are also your ambassadors out on the street, in the pubs, at parties and barbecues. The goal of any company, large or small, should be to develop a happy, positive and enthusiastic culture so that employees in turn help spread goodwill about the organisation. They also pull together when times get tough. This sort of behaviour will eat into what’s left of these companies’ corporate ‘reputation’ to the point where good people won’t want to work for them and commercial partners won’t want to do business with them. Talk about a downward spiral.
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Tim, further to my comment above, in Edelman’s just-released Australian 2009 Trust Barometer, media ranked lowest in the industry trust stakes (http://tinyurl.com/cm9q8v).
I cover the issue of trust in my blog post: ‘Corporate Australia Cops a Bloody Nose in Edelman’s Latest Trust Findings’ – http://tinyurl.com/bntyvd
Interestingly, according to the Edelman report: “Treating employees well is just as important as offering high quality products or services, communicating openly, having trusted leadership and operating within the law.”
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I’ve taken the liberty of tweaking Philip Larkin’s poem, “This Be The Verse”:
They fuck you up, your managers.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any staff yourself.
Poultry in motion …
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Um, having started my career in the media department of a large ad agency and done my time in media enterprises, um sorry to say but um that’s life isn’t. the said executive will get karmic retribution and be sacked by new private equity owners for being overpaid and not contributing either sales or the creative/technical product… but the employee also needs to not be the victim and standup / play the game / beat said idiot executive. it’s not like in hollywood everything is nice and pretty behind the veneer. In my world its not macho management but the new rockstars are the googly computer programmers who pick and choose their projects… just as the macho media creative director types did in the day. anyway, just to provide some balance. assholes should be shot if u can get away with it. but im not into victimology.
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Interesting, because most of the buzz about employing Gen Y concerns their experiences in the office and the lifestyle they lead. If that’s to be believed then ‘Gen Y’ will start thinking twice about agency jobs – I know most of my friends would rather leave a bad boss.
Reminds me of the CD-hurling, constantly stressed creative director in ‘Trust me’…if nothing else, it’s an accurate agency drama!
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