Indie agencies vs. hold cos - what’s the vibe right now at each? Is one better than the other for work life balance and culture? Pros/cons of each?

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I think work/life balance is a crisis everywhere right now unless you’re somewhere small. And having worked in small places, there’s cons like lower salary, less upward mobility, and less HR support (if any). But speaking from personal experience, I’m so fed up with our holding company. Maybe there’s more financial stability (theoretically), but the out-of-touch decisions they make for the rest of us are so frustrating. My agency would’ve preferred more remote solutions but Publicis has zero flexibility with mandated RTO which we all know by now isn’t for the benefit of anyone but shareholders. Culture is hard to sustain when you’re so busy and tied to your desk. I don’t know if anywhere is doing long lunches or happy hours like we were before COVID.

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Holding companies have and always will be garbage.

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Indie every time man, better pay, work life, environment, creative and faster turnaround for stuff.

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Worked at 3 holding cos and now at Vayner-it’s so much better here. The culture here is founded on kindness and respect. 2 days in office, less bureaucracy and less self congratulating and ego. Some holding cos were nice (spark foundry/carat) and some were trash (wavemaker/phm). Think it really depends on team and size.

I like companies where I can casually talk to upper management (I’ve share an elevator with Gary v, held the door for everyone) which means smaller ones…

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