How do you solve problems like agency vacancy, churn, pay and diversity?
Last week saw a real focus on the gender pay gap among media owners and agencies. But TrinityP3’s Ellie Angell asks if there’s another industry survey, the MFA Census, which we should also be examining.
There’s an old proverb that says: “Never ask a question unless the answer makes a difference.”
I thought of this as I was reading the annual MFA 2023 Industry Census data that was released a couple weeks ago.
As it always does, the Census provided interesting reading, and some positive headlines across the trades. The MFA, supported by Mediai’s surveys, is to be applauded for this annual exercise in transparency but as I read it, I found myself left with as many questions as I had answers, particularly on key industry issues like vacancy rate, staff churn, pay equity and diversity.
Tackling the dual problems of vacancy & churn
Let’s start with some of the good news: the media agency talent war (which has been the bane of many an agency boss and their HR Director) appears to be abating. From a high of 12.1% in the wake of the pandemic, we’re down to 7.2% (with the 4.1% in 2020 an unusual year, given the pandemic/lockdowns).
