You may have read something about there being a ‘talent crisis’ in the world of agencies. If you’re working in the world of agencies, you were probably aware of this crisis long before it was even written about. But what is this talent crisis and what is your agency supposed to do about it?
What is the current talent crisis?
The roots of this crisis go back to the start of the pandemic when many agencies were thrown into chaos as clients put a pause on their spending. Staff lost their jobs or were furloughed while those who were not found a taste for remote working that many weren’t keen to lose when offices opened up again.
Throw in the Great Resignation of 2021 and the current cost of living crisis and it’s no wonder agency staff are in high demand. Talent has been so hard to come by that some agencies have had to turn down work, or not even pitch for it in the first place, simply because they don’t have the staff to service the client alongside their existing workload.
Why you shouldn’t worry
But if this is all sounding familiar or you’re starting to worry about your own potential talent crisis, don’t panic. There are solutions out there that can help you both attract and retain staff as well as ensuring that you are winning new clients with the confidence that you can wow them with the talent you’ve got at your disposal.
This starts with embracing the rise of hybrid working in the UK. As the working from home instructions came to an end last year, some of us stayed remote, others went back to the office full-time and the rest started a whole new world of splitting our time between the two. And the truth is… hybrid is working.
What is hybrid working?
So what does hybrid working look like? The best answer is that it varies. The beauty of hybrid working is that it offers staff the flexibility to build a work/life balance that suits them, as long as deadlines are being met, of course. From one day a week ‘team time’ to a ‘two days in, three days out’ model, hybrid working best practices mean listening to the needs of your talent and shaping their working patterns around them.
Surveys have shown that almost half of employees would look for another job if their company doesn’t offer flexible working. We’ve had a taste of a world outside of the 9-5 commute five days a week and no matter what Elon Musk might say, companies that don’t respect this risk losing valuable talent. And as we’ve already seen, this is enough of a challenge for agencies already.
Why would the hybrid model work for your business?
But how can the hybrid model work for your agency? In the past, home working could be eyed with suspicion by bosses as just an excuse for slacking off, and there’s clearly still some that see it this way but the pandemic showed that agencies could still operate while having to work fully remotely. Staff have earned your trust, so to go back to the old ways of thinking will alienate them.
Hybrid working best practices mean having ‘team days’ in the office which is a way to bring people together for in-person meetings, brainstorm sessions and team bonding, while remote days can be spent focusing on delivering the work without those distractions. It’s a best of both worlds solution that also leaves the option open for people to spend more time in the office if that is what suits them.
The freelancer support model
Of course, when it comes to delivering quality work without needing to be in the same room as everyone else, there’s already a workforce that has proven this can work. Freelancers have been working remotely for years, sometimes even on a hybrid basis where there has been the need for occasional office days with clients, with both sides able to reap the hybrid working benefits.
Freelancers also have an important role to play in this current ‘talent crisis’ for agencies who are struggling to fill full-time gaps in their teams. Whether you need digital marketers to maximise ROI or someone to craft compelling content, we can help you find the first person to complement your services and plug those gaps so that your clients don’t even notice.
Plugging freelance talent into your team will help you show that this ‘crisis’ isn’t affecting your agency negatively as well as demonstrating just how to manage hybrid working seamlessly with both full-time and temporary staff. There’s usually an opportunity in every crisis, and this is your chance to reshape the way you work for the better, so why not get in touch and see how we can help?