Roundtable report: The Aquent Orange Book salary discussion

Sponsored by Aquent

www.aquent.com 

Chaired by: Steve Hutson – Aquent

The panel: 

Carla Cotterell – Advetising.com

Xavier Adam - AMC Network

Rob Sheffield – Aquent

Sue Nunn – Aquent

Gigi Dryer – Babycakes

Tom Kharl – Consultant

Andrew Gerrard - D-Marketing

Jo Brook – Dunnhumby

Peter Abrahams - e-consultancy

Sarah Hilton - Harvest Digital

Steve Miller  - IAB

Davina Lines – Netimperative

Robin Langford – Netimperative

Louanne Gronland – Unanimis

Session 1

Steve Hutson began the discussion by presenting the findings from the latest Aquent Orange Book,

a global annual salary survey and industry monitor for the marketing, communications and creative industries.

While respondents had largely seen steady growth in permanent staff and freelancers, the survey also indicated that there was a continued skills shortage.  In turn, companies were making further use of retention strategies to keep valuable members of staff, alongside ‘smarter compensation structures’ to encourage loyalty and hard work.

Despite the global economic crisis, 80% of digital companies predicted that they will increase permanent staff and freelancers, but will do so ‘in a more cautious manner’ than before.  In turn, they are seeking staff with’ hybrid’ skills in creative, technical and marketing.

In terms of sources, use of job sites had fallen, while ‘word of mouth’ referrals had risen. Specialist recruitment agencies also saw a slight rise in usage. Significantly, social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Xing were being used more and more for recruitment purposes, while traditional press media had seen a decline.

In terms of salary, both the client and agency sides predicted average annual salary increases of 14% and 4% respectively. However, ‘salary increases’ did not figure in the top 10 retention strategies for keeping staff.  These included: discretionary bonuses, training, flexible hours, career development programs and additional leave.

In terms of compensations, popular perks included pension contributions, dental and medical care, mobile phones and gym membership.

Steve concluded the presentation by looking at the effect of their credit crunch on staffing.  As the research indicated, Steve emphasised how companies don’t have to spend a fortune to keep staff happy, but recognising hard work and success, as well as providing platforms for career and personal growth, are key retention strategies.

Sue Nunn from Aquent thought a knock-on effect of the economic crisis was that ‘interviews were getting tougher’ as employers sought to create a more efficient recruitment process. Peter Abrahams from e-consultancy thought that these recruitment strategies had become tougher because digital “used to be trendy- now it’s serious”.

Rob Sheffield saw the crunch hitting the larger agencies harder than smaller, privately owned ones, which were able to adapt faster to changing market conditions.

Andrew Gerrard from D-Marketing warned against companies acting negatively during the crunch. “The one thing they shouldn’t do is cut back on staff” he said, arguing that signals panic and damages the company’s reputation. Steve agreed, harking back to Britains previous two recessions and saying the companies that made layoffs in that time aren’t around anymore.

Session 2

The second session began with Steve asking the panel if any findings from the Aquent Orange Book salary survey stood out. Peter was interested to know if the research showed how the number of roles in digital has grown, notably if it showed an increasing use of analysts. Steve said this was the case, and gave examples of how the rapid advance of technology online has subsequently created a need for more specialist roles.

Rachel Murray from Aquent though the econimic downturn has had a positive effect of bringing down inflated salarys that had been a symptom of the boom period. Carla Cotterel from advertising.com saw a fundamental shift in growth in the industry, with some of her clients now able to afford TV slots for the first time as they have become so cheap.

Speaking from his experience, Steve thought that agencies could learn something from the client side. He thought that agencies were too dismissive of candidates without agency experience, and added that they should take a more open- minded approach and look out for transeferable skills.

Consultant Tom Kharl agreed, and added how people from agencies often readily defect to the client side. Rob Sheffield had seen many example of this, citing how Royal Mail had recruited people from their agency Proximity because they ‘understood the ad process’.

Peter moved the discussion onto the rise of social media in the jobs market. Andrew Gerrard thought sites such as Linkedin and Xing were great for making initial contact, but face-to-face meetings were always going to be the crucial part of the recruitment process. Steve agreed, saying  the best business he did was ‘in the pub rather than the boardroom’.

Rob Sheffield felt that business social networks were being hampered by an influx of spam and bogus friend requests from people simply looking to expand their contact lists. He asked the panel if they thought more needed to be done to police social networks in the future.

The debate drew to a close with Steve asking the panel what they thought was the most salient point they had taken from the research and discussion. Tom wondered when the effects of the credit crunch ‘were going to bite’ and thought a key challenge was to take advantage of the situation and “find credit partners that share that view”.

Xavier Adam thought the research showed that it’s not all about the money , it’s about the benefits and how staff feel they are being treated. Carla agreed, saying companies need to harness a flexible approach. Peter added that during the economic downturn firms in the digital sector should focus on improving skills and using acquired sklls to better effect.

Sue Nunn drew parallels with the current situation to her experiences in the early nineties recession, where there was lots more socializing and communication to get business done. Gigi Dryer from Babycakes saw ‘opportunities in strange times’ and thought with good training packages and company strategies great things can be achieved. Andrew Gerrard thought the key challenges for agencies were to ‘retain good clients and retain good people’.

The debate finished with a discussion on the effects of new government legislation due to come in to force on April 1 2009, which gives all UK employees the right to 28 days paid holiday a year (up from 24 days previously). Bank holidays can be included in this minimum at the employers discretion.

The panel debated the effect this will have on digital business- cocluding it could hit smaller companies the hardest, and debated whether alternative holiday schemes, such as letting employers effectively ‘sell’ five of their days leave back to their employer.

Sponsored by Aquent

www.aquent.com

To order your copy of the Aquent Orange book, click here.