WPP is changing its bonus scheme to reflect the state of the overall performance of the business better, and drive collaboration across the agency group.
Cindy Rose, chief executive of WPP, said linking the incentives more closely to the parent company will drive performance as part of her new strategy, announced last week, to move from being a holding company towards a single company.
Employees who work in each of the four main operating units—WPP Media, WPP Production, and the nascent WPP Creative and WPP Enterprise Solutions—will have half of their bonus tied to the performance of the division and the other half to WPP as a whole.
Those working as part of a corporate function, meanwhile, will have their bonus fully tied to the performance of WPP and global client leads will be paid on their client growth.
Rose told Campaign in an interview last week: “When everybody's paid on WPP’s overall performance, you unlock collaboration, resource-sharing, client obsession – you unlock a lot of great things. I think that's going to be really transformational for us.”
The changes are part of Rose’s Elevate28 strategy which was launched to investors last Thursday (26 February), as the business attempts to turn its fortunes around within three years.
WPP’s annual financial results revealed a 5.4% drop in revenues, less pass-through costs to £10.2 billion ($13.6 billion). This is the company’s worst performance since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company paid out £181 million ($241 million) in bonuses, which is down 50% compared with 2024 when incentives were £363 million ($484 million). WPP said that this was “due to business performance against annual incentive targets and the disposal of FGS Global”.
The staff payout is significantly lower than the record £592 million ($790 million) that was paid out in 2021 during the bounceback after the pandemic.
When Rose announced the move to four divisions, she explained: “WPP will no longer be a holding company, will no longer be a shopping basket full of stand-alone businesses, hundreds of stand-alone businesses.
“We're going to move to a single company model with four operating units across four regions with incentives that closely align to the overall performance of WPP. Being a single company with a simpler structure and common incentives are critical enablers of our strategy.”
When Rose was questioned about the new incentive scheme by analysts during an investor presentation, she said it would encourage more collaboration between different parts of the business, adding that when pitching for new business there will be a “more client-centric approach”.
She said: “If you're sitting in an operating unit, your incentives are 50% tied to your operating unit and 50% tied to WPP. If you're in WPP as part of a corporate function, you're 100% WPP. If you're a GCL [global client lead], you're paid on your client growth. It's that simple.
“It's dramatically different from where we are today where, if you're in an agency, you're paid on your agency results primarily. So that is very, very different. That's why I think it's going to unlock a very different behaviour, much more collaboration. In the past our agencies competed with each other. That was the model.
“Today, when we go into a pitch, we cast the right resource for the right client at the right time, and it enables that. It enables a much more client-centric approach to the business.”
WPP employed 98,655 people at the end of 2025, down almost 9,400 from a year earlier, after major cuts, including a restructure at media arm Group M, which became WPP Media.
In addition, WPP told investors it does not expect to increase its profit margin significantly in 2026 because it want to reinvest in the business and "rebuild incentives" to motivate staff.
Source: Campaign UK
