We need to make a public list of agencies who treated people well, and horribly, so when these same agencies desperately need people, we can go to the good ones and leave the horrible ones to fall apart.

As someone who’s been full time at a handful of agencies for a long time, and then freelanced at another dozen, I’m going to say this: the list of agencies who treat people like billable hours with a name is long, and the list of agencies that treat people like people fits on a post-it note.

Leo Burnett Chicago did pretty well so far. I may be wrong but it seems like Publicis as a whole was on a scale of pretty good to great on their response.

Pretty fast on social distancing to begin with, shipped all my hardware to my home, and my client has been reasonable (our leadership set expectations properly back in Feb/ March to allow fluctuations in timing). No layoffs yet, and I haven’t seen a pay cut.

We also receive weekly updates from Publicis, and biweekly from our own leadership.

Overall I have a better opinion of Publicis and LB after this than I did prior to Covid, which is surprising.

I'm incredibly grateful for everything our leadership is doing for us at this time.

Saatchi has been fantastic so far.

Add a column to the salary spreadsheet

Who is doing the spreadsheet? It’s a good idea.

There's this one agency in Chicago that laid off 40 people in one day and then their CEO said their task for the day was done. Now where's that 'good' list???

imre and imre Health have been amazing. We had been growing rapidly and even opened an office in Feb. so timing was rough (duh). But the leadership seemed really prepared, communicated in a human way, and pulled levers so that no one was fired. We already had a flex policy so remote work had been ironed out. I feel very fortunate and am happy that we have been encouraged to work with local schools, donate old computers and the leadership has been very understanding how difficult it is to balance work/life right now. Clients seem to recognize it too and we have replaced some paused work over the last month. I’m sure size has some affect. But the ethics of a company really lead the way.

Horizon has been great so far. Transparency from CEO, no layoffs, 15% of top workforce agreed to take some salary cuts. As a whole I’ve felt very good about being here (still in my first year, was previously at publicis). We are also being encouraged to take mental health days/ PTO. It’s honestly refreshing

Oh jeebus. If only that were the way the world actually worked.

Can they figure out who we are on here? I’m still employed but have soooo many stories, but I hesitate to post

I agree with Golin 1. I know we just had lay offs, which seems unavoidable given the massive cutbacks in client spending. But I believe leadership has really gone above and beyond to keep as many people safe as possible.

I’ve felt great about the way that TBWA\C\D NYC has handled the situation. Reassuring peoples jobs, taking onboard people who were going to be lot go from LA and still producing some great creative work.

Horizon leadership has been great, middle management have been absolute nightmares

For as much as people criticize Havas Chicago, they brought me over from a failing agency and I thrived from day one. There I met so many talented people and made lifelong friendships who have also gone on to great roles since. I left on a high note but only because my time there had been enough for me to move on in my career and it was a very hard decision to make. I think it’s all about timing, circumstance and how hard you want to work to make your career your own.

This spreadsheet idea nice...but there definitely HR folks out there who will absolutely fill it with bullshit.

TracyLocke Chicago and Wilton offices are great examples... horrible sweatshops with HR that fills the Glassdoor reviews with fake positive reviews.

It’s unavoidable. Faceless holding companies are making cuts based on spreadsheets.

Don’t even get me started. JMW is one of the most toxic places, and it’s been that way for years.

As hard as it was/is, I felt Ogilvy did a good job. Leaders took a voluntary pay cut. A lot of care, analysis, and time went into actions across the US market (all locations). Never easy but done with a lot of thought and care. Obviously not everyone will be happy with the decisions but it was a good blend of cuts, reduced work weeks, and salary sacrifice. Time will tell if it’s enough.

FCB Chicago has been giving a masterclass in how to treat employees in a pandemic. I’m constantly impressed by all they’re doing to ensure our wellbeing, and how human the communication has been.

I'm at Ogilvy Chicago and they've been amazing. Super transparent, lots of time with leadership, they took pay cuts to save jobs, and they have been beyond supportive of our needs with a work from home environment. Yes, we have been impacted, which always sucks, but I think they've been doing a great job.