While millions of people are still recovering from India’s loss at the recently concluded ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, Gurugam-based advertising agency Marketing Moves decided to cheer up its downcast employees. It gave its employees a day off. Some couldn’t believe it and thought it was a prank. One of the employees, Diksha Gupta, posted a heartfelt note on social media, which caught the attention of netizens.
Storyboard18 asked Riya Ahuja, vice president of operations, Marketing Moves, what made the company do this for its employees. She said that over the last couple of months, her teams have been invested in World Cup brand campaigns and in the game, day in and day out. “We realised that all of us (as cricket enthusiasts) had a bad day, and a one-day relaxation must be given to our employees in order to recover from the loss and come back to work with enthusiasm. We give so much importance to physical health, and we have policies for sick leave, but mental well-being must not be ignored.”
Ad agencies don’t really have a reputation for maintaining work-life balance. A lot of industry folks see this as a welcome change. Ahuja told us that a thoughtful strategy is required to nurture a people-oriented approach in advertising companies that have difficulty with work-life balance. Flexible work arrangements that might comfort employees with multiple responsibilities should be considered by agencies’ managers. These could be flexible schedules and work-from-home policies, among others. Also, it is important to emphasise the overall well-being of employees. Along with physical health, initiatives must be taken to promote mental health, which includes programmes like counselling or stress reduction strategies. In short, how to create a stress-free environment in a company must be an important topic of discussion, she said.
“Another important factor is a work environment with openness and communication. Employees must be able to talk about their workload and the problems they face. The management should take note of the workload of its employees, the discomforting culture, significant policies, and changes necessary in the existing policy and show that it cares for them by responding,” she suggests.
Marketing Moves has worked on campaigns for brands like Tata Motors, Emami, Airtel, and TVF, among others.