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Hello! Anyone work at GE Healthcare?
We're looking for a Senior AD who wants to produce lots of TV with crazy talented writers, a great REMOTE work-life balance and very few layers. You'll have access to C level daily. Most briefs are one, sometimes two teams and you'll produce what gets bought. Sound good?
If so please send your CV to Jsimotics@digobrands.com.
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Rising Star
Some try-hards will ruin it for all of us by making it the only way to get ahead.
Yeah, as an SVP I’d be fine without more promotions.
What I’m not hearing in any of this thread (Or similar threads is a solid argument for moving back into the office that extends beyond cost. There are arguments. But they’re not too solid. What would we be moving back into? The open seating plan?
Most of it sounds familiar to the arguments/lies that were told about the open seating plan back when agencies shifted away from people working inside offices. It was all about “collaboration” and “working together as a team” when in fact, none of that was happening right up to last March.
Strictly from a creative department standpoint, any time a creative team actually needed to sit down and concept together, they had to vacate their picnic table and go find someplace where they could talk alone. A trusted space. Someplace where they could share bad ideas as well as good ideas and work them through with their trusted partner - away from all the unwanted ears. And, when you went back to your desk to actually execute those ideas you had to put on headphones or you got nothing done at all. (Or you just went back to wasting time. Looking busy.)
Working remotely with zoom and teams has eliminated all that nonsense.
Simply put, open seating did not increase creative output, it only lowered cost per employee.
From my vantage point, WFH has restored the creative process and lowered costs per employee even further than open seating.
+1
I just accepted a new job and negotiated only part-time in the office when we go back. I can’t wait to be back in an office, but I don’t want to commute 5 days a week either.
This was an interesting read on this topic yesterday from The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/02/01/has-the-pandemic-transformed-the-office-forever?utm_campaign=likeshopme&client_service_id=31202&utm_social_type=owned&utm_brand=tny&service_user_id=1.78e+16&utm_content=instagram-bio-link&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&client_service_name=the%20new%20yorker&supported_service_name=instagram_publishing
I hope my company’s announcement of flexible working will be honored for some time because I do NOT want to go back to being stuck in an office 5 days a week.
Why? Concentration? Because an office is the best place for a junior to learn from others, be put into pressurized situations and meet like-minded people. Hiding away isn’t going to progress your career or you as a person.
And this is coming from an introverted writer, FYI.
Yeah, can’t wait
I suspect some companies will go back 5 days a week mandatory, some will have more grey area (flexible remote).
And once enough of the REAL talent at mandatory in-office agencies bitch and threaten to go to the more liberal places, the whole industry will shift flex.
WFH isn’t going anywhere. Major companies are giving up offices right and left. So much so there is expectation of a corporate real estate crash. Plus any decent agency will need to compete with the tech companies that have largely gone remote. And agencies are leaning into cheaper talent in cities that aren’t NYC etc.
Not sure where you are but at my place almost everyone has zoom fatigue. Some people who were nice and bubbly in person and downright rotten these days.
Plus, you work in advertising, if you are not out and about spending money... Who will pay for our services? Hard to convince certain verticals (automotive, casual dining, convenience stores, etc.) to hire your agency if your own people are not using the products.
I don’t think that’s a fair assumption. People aren’t going to stop using these services just because they’re WFH. Yes, some of us are limiting our consumption now in order to limit exposure to Covid, but once everyone is vaccinated, spending will likely go back to normal — e.g. I’m sure many people are looking forward to dining safely indoors again, instead of constantly having to cook for themselves.
The only thing that might change if we continue to WFH is context — people will continue to be consuming these services in personal, rather than professional, contexts. So, for the automotive vertical you mentioned, people will drive to visit friends/family or run errands instead of going to the office, which is what they’re doing right now anyways.
Hybrid model with some days in office and some WFH. Feel like after a month or two people will naturally go back to full time in office, but I’m sure WFH days will be more frequent in general
Great discussion. Worrying about going back to the office in the future takes away from you enjoying your WFH time today. I find it helps to focus on the present and try not to look to the future. I have this saying posted next to my computer: Live in the day. 😊
I work in-house, so I realize it’s different from agency life, but we are required to work in the office 5 days a month minimum (unless you are high risk and have pre-approval to wfh from HR). We have been doing this since July. We have assigned days we can come in (group a or b) and seats are assigned so no one is sitting directly next/across from each other). While 5 days a month is the minimum, leadership would prefer its 10 days a month. And cSuite who have offices, are coming in most days. I’m in Chicago and we just moved into a new phase so I feel like we will be told we have to come in 10 days a month soon. I’m sure we will be required to work in the office 100% once vaccines are available to all.
Well I already moved to a city where there just a few agencies so better hope it’s wfh! Hashtag YO muthafucking LO!!
ACD2 may not have heard there is a vaccine
You’re right, humans tend to learn from things quickly and efficiently, forgoing their personal culture and social pleasures for common sense and the greater good.
Lol I’m more worried about the value of my studio apartment plummeting because people now want more space. OTOH, it’s the surest way to self-isolate in a city...