VIEWPOINT: Belated agency move to remedy HR oversight will pay dividends

<p>Considering that an average ad agency network in Asia has a myriad of </p><p>roles and hierarchies and operates in a cross-cultural field, it will </p><p>come as a surprise to many outside the industry that an HR position </p><p>isn't one of them. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Only now - decades after other service industries like finance, banking, </p><p>and technology - has the advertising sector awoken to the urgent need to </p><p>take a pro-active approach in managing HR. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Which is why we now have a spate of HR hires (see page 31), although </p><p>Ogilvy and Burnett have been a lot quicker off the mark. In the former's </p><p>case, by at least a decade earlier. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>How this glaring oversight is only now being plugged beggars belief. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Time and time again, we have heard that it's staff who make the </p><p>difference between being at the top or bottom of the agency heap. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Yet, at this fundamental level of their operations, the majority of </p><p>agencies here have been sorely negligent. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Naturally this has made their talent pool particularly vulnerable to </p><p>poaching by clients, and, most memorably by the once staff-hungry dotcom </p><p>firms. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>For agencies nursing a high staff turnover, it must take an incredible </p><p>amount of chutzpah to turn around and service a client, who has managed </p><p>to recruit and retain some of the best and brightest advertising-trained </p><p>talent to its team. Yet this is the uncomfortable scenario agencies are </p><p>likely to face time and again - at least until they can turn this into a </p><p>two-way talent flow. By the look of things, we are probably years away </p><p>from seeing this happen. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Indeed, reflecting the absence of an HR tradition in the industry, </p><p>agencies have been forced to look outside the business for suitable </p><p>candidates. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Not that that is a bad thing. A fresh perspective should go a long way </p><p>to - first whip agencies out of their complacency - then help them focus </p><p>laser-like on an issue which will ultimately decide their very </p><p>future. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Perhaps, more than the West, HR presents a far bigger challenge to </p><p>agencies operating in Asia. Asia's cultural diversity does present an HR </p><p>minefield for any agency with multi-market operations. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Which makes a regional HR role crucial in today's agency set-up in </p><p>introducing best practices as well as consistency to how an agency </p><p>recruits talent, evaluates, compensates, trains, prepares a rewarding </p><p>career path and ultimately retains human capital. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>By becoming an employer of choice, a network will happily discover that </p><p>the biggest dividend of a carefully-crafted HR policy is that clients </p><p>will also begin to view it as the agency of choice. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>