Where are The Workplace Elders?

5 minute read

After decades of hard work and adaptability in the world of advertising, I’ve been in the position to take four months off work this year. After the death of my Dad in 2020, and the previous passing of my Mum in 2013, there was a lot of processing to be done: bittersweet and poignant is the backdrop of my life now, with parental care over, childcare almost finished (I have an 18-year-old son), yet freedom to enjoy life, and/or work more. Heading towards 58 and more energised than ever, I want to return to work, but on my own terms. Being a believer in dynamic attraction, I know the role is out there for me, despite encountering continual ‘nos’ to the type of position I want – freelance and flexible - instead, it seems companies want me five days a week in the office.

But working in account direction for advertising agencies, as well as having clients of my own, has allowed me to manage to work a four day week pretty much for 17 years. I negotiated it all the way along with anyone I was contracted to, and when working independently, I pretty much always stopped on a Thursday evening. I know without a doubt that I put in a more effective four days in the knowledge that I could have that flexibility on Fridays. I think it should be written into law. Was there ever a disaster at work on a Friday on my watch? Never. Did a client ever feel they had no one to contact? Never. Did I make myself available for key meetings or issues on a Friday? Always. No client or colleague was ever abandoned on my Friday off. The only thing I ever missed on a Friday in the office was the fun. I am willing to concede that one.

where are the workplace elders?

I had a wonderful conversation last week with a company called Zengility, run by Paul Stephenson, who speaks my language: he left corporate life to coach people out of business and back in on their own terms. We discussed everything from corporate values to millennial mindsets to asking

Where is the wisdom of the ages gone? Why is the sage and mentor no longer valued?

The impact of Covid has not been fully felt. There is an entire restructuring of how people now want to live their lives – including remote and flexible working – on the horizon: I don’t think companies have caught up yet. They are paying a lot of lip service to it, but not following through. Corporations continually focus on scarcity: the next quarter, the next pitch, the next deal, little or no nurturing goes on in the middle – related skills training, yes, but not recalibration coaching. It is all about what the employer can get out of the employee as opposed to what they are required to put in.

An environment with a small basketball court and orange bean bags or branded bread (yes Microsoft brand the bread in the canteen) is transparent and no longer effective as team incentives; post-covid employees want more and we are only at the tip of this iceberg. A recent IAPI (Irish Institute of Advertising) study of people under 30 showed that 40% of employees would not recommend working in the (advertising) business, although the study quoted the 60% that would. I think this statistic is almost alarming. What are advertising leaders doing to offset this? Imagine the money saved and the talent retained if those employees were coached? Maybe the employers themselves need it too?

benefits of senior freelancers

I maintain that there is a huge benefit to taking on experienced freelancers and skilled part-timers for companies. They can pick up the senior slack when management doesn't have time to get involved; they can be objective in commentary on employees and clients as they have no long-term investment in the company; they can leave politics at the door and save emotional energy in doing so, and they will be more committed to their part-time role as there will always be an end in sight. In addition, they come with no requirements for employer PRSI/USC contributions or the need for benefits, as well as shorter notice time if the role is finished – two weeks is standard and generally, there are no HR issues.

Surely we must look on this nimble approach as the future of work for both contractor and employer?

A friend of mine, also self-employed, looked at me quizzically at me when I said I was struggling to find a ‘role in advertising’. She said to me, ‘But you told me you would never go into an agency full time again, so that’s the message you have sent the universe’. You can’t attract what you don’t want. She was right. It is time to further develop my own offering in line with my belief for how it should be. It’s funny, as you begin to write it down, it actually becomes the only logical thing to do. What am I waiting for?