Too much stress is damaging work at a large advertising agency
Davies–Miller is a large advertising agency on Madison Avenue in New York. It has expanded rapidly in recent years and has a number of famous companies as its clients.
There is very strong competition in the US advertising industry. Agencies compete to win new contracts or take clients away from their rivals. Advertising staff are well paid, but they work long hours. They worry about job security and become anxious if their company loses an important client.
Recently, Davies–Miller lost two of its major accounts. This had a significant effect on the employees. The agency decided to carry out a survey of the staff’s opinions about their working conditions. It showed that 65% of staff felt ‘highly stressed’ in their jobs.
Discuss how the high levels of stress could affect the performance of the agency.
Listen to / Read about four incidents at Davies–Miller which involved stress. In each case, note down briefly the key points of each incident.
James, Account Executive
Jessica Parker, a junior account executive, calls Sheila Murray in the human resources department from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, about her boss, James. They are currently negotiating an important contract with a client there.
Birgitte, Schedule Coordinator
Summary of an interview with Birgitte by a member of staff (HR)
Birgitte regulates the flow of work, coordinates scheduling and prepares cost estimates.
According to her, she is stressed because she is often interrupted at work by visits from other members of staff. She believes there is too much gossiping in the office, which stops her from doing her work.
She says that her supervisor favours certain members of staff and does not want to send her on training courses.
She lives a long way from work. Because of this, she gets back home very late and has no time to relax.
Juliana, Art Director
Extract from an e-mail sent to Head of HR
I’ve never been under such pressure in my work since I joined the agency. I have no time to listen to the problems of my colleagues. I spend all my time trying to meet impossible deadlines to produce designs for the Account Executives. We’re competing for too many contracts, that’s the problem. I just don’t understand the policy of the agency. It won’t help to hire more staff. Most of the creative ideas in the agency come from me. Sometimes I wonder if they want me to leave and bring in someone younger. I’m worried because the situation’s beginning to affect my health. I can’t seem to relax when I get back home.
Jolanta, Assistant to Art Director
Part of an informal conversation between Jolanta and a member of the HR department
“I’ll be looking for another job soon. I feel really stressed out. Juliana never tells me anything. She never asks for my opinion. It’s incredible. I’ve got a Master’s in advertising, but it doesn’t seem to impress her. She only gives me boring jobs and shouts at me if I make a mistake. I think she’ll have a nervous breakdown soon. She never praises anything I do – it really upsets me. I was hoping to have a career here. No chance of that.”
1 You are members of the HR department. Work in small groups and discuss these questions.
2 Compare the results of your discussion with other groups.
3 Meet as one group. Make suggestions for practical ways of reducing the stress levels of staff in the agency.
As Head of Human Resources, write therecommendations section of a report to Davies–Miller’s CEO. Outline your practical suggestions for reducing stress in the company, both in the short and long term.
Recommendations
The management team met on July 5 to discuss ways of dealing with stress in the company. The following recommendations were made:
Anti-stress training
All staff members will go on a weekend course that gives ideas and techniques for reducing feelings of stress. All staff will go on this course together, to allow employees to discuss the things that cause stress. This will also be a good opportunity for team building. Dates to be announced.
Free gym membership
All employees will be able to go to a nearby gym to ‘de-stress’ at the end of the day. The agency will pay for this gym membership.
Work–life balance
This will be a new priority. We will encourage employees to go home on time at 6p.m. We will no longer expect staff to work at home in the evenings or at weekends.
Recruitment
Enough staff will be recruited to deal with the work that needs doing at any one time. If necessary, we will use more temporary staff.
Job evaluation
All jobs in the agency will be evaluated so that people are doing jobs for which they are qualified, but not over-qualified. (Some will be promoted, and no one will lose their job as a result of this!)
Positive work environment
We hope that the actions above will improve morale at the agency. We know that it’s impossible to stop gossip, but we hope the gossip will be more positive in the future. There will also be a new rule: please do not interrupt colleagues when they are working, unless necessary.
