Ad Industry Morale Plummets 34% from 2015, says Annual Campaign US Survey

New York NY October 24 2016 It39s been a tumultuous year for the advertising industry and employees are feeling the fallout Today nearly half of industry employees say they suffer from low morale a significant increase from 2015 according to the second annual Campaign US Moraleamp160SurveyFortyseven percent of industry employees rated their morale as either quotlowquot 31 or quotdangerously lowquot 16 according to the survey That number is up a whopping 36 from 2015 whenamp160just 34 of employeesamp160said their morale was either quotlowquot 26 or quotdangerously lowquot 8One thing that hasn39t changed is the cause Asked to name the top three factors contributing to their low morale respondents overwhelmingly chose quotcompany leadershipquot 73 as the top answer Second was quotlack of advancementquot 45 and third was quotdissatisfaction with workquot 38 The leastcited causes were quotlack of diversityquot 13 and quotcompany performancequot 14 Sixtythree percent of respondents with low morale said they were actively job huntingquotThese findings are sobering butamp8212sadlyamp8212not surprisingquot said Douglas Quenqua editor in chief of Campaign US quotConversations with people at all levels of the industry reveal widespread frustration and even despondence about the industry and their own jobs But seeing the numbers really crystallizes how serious an issue this is for advertising particularly as it fights with other industries for tech and creative talentquotEmployees with high morale cited very different causes for their mood Those who rated their morale as quotsatisfactoryquot 22 quotgoodquot 20 or quotexcellentquot 12 most often chose quotworklife balancequot 62 as the prime reason quotSatisfaction with workquot was second with 49 and quotcreative freedomquot was third with 44 Those rankings closely mirror 201539s findings when quotworklife balancequot was also named the leading cause of high moraleMore than half of those with low morale 58 rated the leadership at their company as quotinadequatequot while only 3 rated it as quotexceptionalquotHow employees feel about the industry seems to depend largely on how long they39ve been a part of it with junior employees the most likely to feel good about their jobs Respondents who39ve been in the industry less than 5 years were twice as likely to say they had high morale than low the same was true of those making less than 50000 a yearThere also appears to be a midcareer dip in morale Respondents making between 101000 and 250000 were more likely to have low morale than highThough diversity was a defining issue in the industry this year with several highprofile leaders dismissed for discriminatory behavior theamp160surveyamp160found no significant correlation between gender and morale Black or Hispanic employees were slightly more likely to have low morale than high though the respondents were so overwhelmingly whiteamp8212about 85amp8212that the remaining sample size is too small for meaningful analysisamp160Sixtyone percent of respondents worked for a creative agency 13 for a brand and another 13 for a media agency The rest were split between social platforms publishers and freelancers Theamp160survey which received 294 responses was conducted online during the month of September 2016You can read the report here httpwwwcampaignlivecomarticle1412627About CampaignLaunched in 2014amp160Campaign USamp160is the American edition of the nearly 50year old British advertising trade magazine Campaign now has seven regional editions the UK the US India AsiaPacific Turkey the Middle East and Japanamp160It is part of the Haymarket Media group of titles which includes PRWeek Medical Marketing ampamp Media and DMNewsThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecom MyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Ad Industry Morale Plummets 34% from 2015, says Annual Campaign US Survey

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