STW Group media agency Ikon has hit on a magic formula when it comes to people and culture.
Their churn rate – that is, rate of staff turnover – is a third of the industry average. And last year they were ranked the 13th Best Place to Work in Australia by BRW.
What’s their secret?
We talked to Ikon’s National People and Culture Director Leonie Kerley about what she and her 6-person team get up to. Here’s what we found.
1. Dipping into the talent pool: recruitment.
Ikon rarely use recruitment agencies and prefer to hand pick staff themselves. As well as saving them nearly a million dollars in fees, it’s allowed them to choose exactly who joins the team and who best fits their culture. They use a mix of internal referrals (with a $1000 finder’s fee for staff!), the Ikon Talent Bank, a well-oiled machine tracking the industry’s top talent, and – of course – social media. They post jobs to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to tap into people who have already shown an affinity for the agency and its work by self-selecting to follow them.
2. No awkward loitering in the kitchen: welcoming new staff.
Even hardened extroverts find their first few weeks of a new job difficult to manage. Who do you eat lunch with on the first day? How can you learn so many new people’s names – and when are they going to bother to learn yours? Ikon gets it. They send round profiles of new staff to make their first conversations easier – and they often take new people to lunch on their first day. They get an induction day where they meet MDs and team leaders, and a mentor assigned from their own team to look after them over the next few weeks. Then there’s the weekly “Cuppa,” or team meeting – and Friday night drinks every week. No one stays new for long at Ikon.
3. How to be on fire without burn out: retention.
The industry has a turnover rate of 30.4% – Ikon’s is a third of this. There’s the little things: no one has to work on their birthday, and the Friday before payday (always a personal finance low point) they run a BBQ for lunch; staff “lie in with their lover” on Valentine’s day and don’t have to come in til 10.30; there’s a free ski trip to Thredbo. But above and beyond the stuff that makes you smile, there’s a commitment to fairness and rewarding loyalty. Ikon parents are offered 12 weeks paid parental leave; after four year’s service staff are entitled to five weeks annual leave, not four.
4. Keeping sharp: training and developing.
At many communications companies, training is ad hoc. Ikon, on the other hand, is systematic. Every employee has their own CDP: Career Development Plan. Ikon College is a 14 week program covering trading, planning and digital skills; “Managing People” goes for 8 weeks and provides leaders with the skills they need to mentor effectively. Their Parallel Universe program links up Ikon staff with Google staff to swap roles and strengthen their knowledge of both businesses. And Ikon hosts the AdSchool Media Planning and Buying program, with the content sourced from their internal programs. All of this training resulted in 55 people being promoted nationally last year.
5. Beyond the open door policy: listening.
Ikon prides itself on having an open door policy, and there’s a range of ways staff can make their voices heard both formally and informally. But national CEO Dan Johns has taken that a step further by setting up a confidential email address for those times you want to send him an email and absolutely don’t want anyone, to read it.
And does this approach work?
Ikon were ranked 1st in Mumbrella’s Media Agency Review 2012. For the 5th consecutive year running they were ranked the No.1 worldwide media agency by RECMA. They’ve won lots of awards too: a Silver and 2 Bronze Lions, 3 Festival of Media Global Awards, Best Mobile advertising for AIMIA and IAB Awards, and Best Social Media Marketing Award for IAB in 2012 alone.
It’s clear that Ikon’s staff are something special. Wouldn’t you do anything to keep them happy, engaged and learning?
The company’s goal is now for Ikon to be the best employer in Australasia by 2014.
Visit Ikon’s website and follow them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.