The WPP employee petition lobbying against CEO Mark Read’s demand (if such it turns out to be) that employees return to the office four days a week (including two Fridays) now has over 15,000 supporters. At the last count WPP employed 111,000 worldwide. Petitioners don’t have to be WPP employees, it should be noted.
Whether they are or not this has become an existential crisis for Read and the world’s biggest ad company (by turnover, just.) WPP’s share price is down 12% since the turn of the year even though some shareholders might approve of Read cracking the whip. What’s certainly the case is that the natives are well and truly revolting, as here in some (unattributed) comments to Sky News:
“It is difficult enough across the industry to find and retain talent, and this mandate will only make it harder.”
“We can only anticipate more choosing to leave. Staff morale has already taken a large hit as a result… during a month when many are already feeling negative both financially and mentally.”
“There’s deep dismay at the way this has been handled. There needed to be some degree of consultation and debate.”
“(This) does not give the indication that WPP leadership cares about its people”.
And, most pointedly, “it’s a way of pushing people out of the door, saving WPP from paying redundancy terms once AI takes hold.”
Read made the company’s adoption of AI his main theme last year as he struggled to get WPP back to growth. On top of this the summons back to the office seems to have brewed up a perfect storm. WPP employees were worried about job losses anyway and AI, inevitably, will lead to many across the whole ad industry at a time when agency mergers are set to have a big impact too. former WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell reckons reckons there’ll be at least 10,000 across Omnicom/IPG if their merger goes ahead.
There’s never a good time to announce what, to many, is bad news although the timing and means of Read’s announcement (a memo out of the blue) might be questioned. It’s also worth noting that there are a fair number of caveats in it referring to exceptional cases (people who always worked at a distance etc.)
But it looks as though WPP has overdone it. Even the mighty Publicis is only demanding three days a week in the office. If, down the line, WPP starts firing people then the ordure really will hit the air conditioning.
WPP’s new chairman Philip Jansen, latterly BT’s CEO, took over from long-serving Roberto Quarta on January 1. It would be interesting to know what role (if any) he played in this decision. Ditto WPP’s heavyweight board of mostly non-exec directors.
However this plays out, Read will get the credit or blame.
