Industries
Why agency employees leave and how to understand why
Creatives, planners and account teams leave for reasons beyond pay. How to run an exit conversation in an agency, spot patterns by account and act on them.
7 min readRead article
Marketing, Advertising & Creative Agencies · Social media agencies
HR for Social Media Agencies: Always-On Accounts, Content Calendars and Wellbeing
A social media agency runs client accounts that never close. Daily posting, comment monitoring and sudden trends keep a young team on call, and the strain on wellbeing and on weekends is where good people are lost.
Not sure what you need? Tell us about your business in six short steps and we will come to the first meeting prepared.
Share your requirementsA social media agency manages brand accounts across Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and other channels. Content planners, writers, designers, video editors and community managers deliver monthly calendars, then reply to comments, track trends and handle complaints in public. Posts go out on weekends and festivals, and a brand's reputation can turn in an hour. Teams are young, often in their first or second job. Brand comments can be rude, and moderators read them all day. See also HR for marketing agencies.
- Plan
- Hire
- Onboard
- Manage
- Develop
- Perform
- Engage
- Retain
- Exit
- Improve
When HR is weak in social media agencies, you may see
- Posting does not stop on holidays
- Moderators read abuse all day
- Trend chasing causes rushed approvals
- Everyone is new to work
- Many accounts, thin teams
- Shared logins and handles
- Short stays and quick moves
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
Who does the work in social media agencies
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
- Social media strategists
- Content planners
- Copywriters and caption writers
- Graphic designers and motion artists
- Video editors and reel producers
- Community managers and moderators
- Influencer coordinators
- Analytics executives
- Account managers
- Freelance creators
Where HR strains in social media agencies
Posting does not stop on holidays
Calendars include festivals, match days and weekends, so someone is always scheduled to publish or respond.
Moderators read abuse all day
Community managers meet rude, hostile and distressing comments from the public and rarely have anyone to talk to.
Trend chasing causes rushed approvals
A trend appears at noon and the client wants a post by evening. Approvals and mistakes follow.
Everyone is new to work
Many staff are on first jobs, with little experience of deadlines, client behaviour or office habits, and managers are young too.
Many accounts, thin teams
One designer touches ten brands. Mixed-up files and handles can lead to a post going on the wrong page.
Shared logins and handles
Passwords for client accounts move around chats, and nobody is sure who still has access when someone leaves.
Short stays and quick moves
Staff move agency to agency for small pay rises, and the cost of retraining repeats.
HR topics for social media agencies
Start with the topics that matter most here: Health, Safety and Wellbeing; Policies, Compliance and Governance; Employee Administration. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for marketing, advertising and creative, not in general.
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Policies, Compliance and Governance
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Employee Administration
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
HR Strategy and Workforce Planning
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Organisation Design
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Recruitment and Talent Acquisition
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
Onboarding and Probation
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Compensation, Payroll and Benefits
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Performance Management
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Learning and Development
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Career and Succession Management
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Employee Engagement and Experience
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Employee Relations
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Retention and Attrition Management
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Exit and Alumni Management
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
HR Technology and Automation
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
HR Analytics and Management Reporting
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
HR Operations and Governance
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
What a working HR set-up looks like
The pieces a social media agencies business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Roster publishing and monitoring fairly
A rotation for weekends and festival days with time off after, written into the workplace health, safety and wellbeing practices.
What this coversHide
Roster publishing and monitoring fairly
A rotation for weekends and festival days with time off after, written into the workplace health, safety and wellbeing practices.
What this coversHideA rotation for weekends and festival days with time off after, written into the workplace health, safety and wellbeing practices.
Support community managers
Shorter moderation shifts, a rule for escalating abusive content and a regular check-in with a trained listener or counsellor arranged by the agency.
What this coversHide
Support community managers
Shorter moderation shifts, a rule for escalating abusive content and a regular check-in with a trained listener or counsellor arranged by the agency.
What this coversHideShorter moderation shifts, a rule for escalating abusive content and a regular check-in with a trained listener or counsellor arranged by the agency.
Create an approval path for trends
A named person who can approve quickly, a client sign-off rule for sensitive topics and a log of what went out.
What this coversHide
Create an approval path for trends
A named person who can approve quickly, a client sign-off rule for sensitive topics and a log of what went out.
What this coversHideA named person who can approve quickly, a client sign-off rule for sensitive topics and a log of what went out.
Run a proper induction for first-job staff
A short plan on workplace habits, deadlines, client etiquette and tools, supported by a buddy for three months.
What this coversHide
Run a proper induction for first-job staff
A short plan on workplace habits, deadlines, client etiquette and tools, supported by a buddy for three months.
What this coversHideA short plan on workplace habits, deadlines, client etiquette and tools, supported by a buddy for three months.
Write access and conduct rules
A policy on handling client passwords, personal posts about clients and use of devices, issued through HR policies and governance.
What this coversHide
Write access and conduct rules
A policy on handling client passwords, personal posts about clients and use of devices, issued through HR policies and governance.
What this coversHideA policy on handling client passwords, personal posts about clients and use of devices, issued through HR policies and governance.
Keep staff records tidy
One record per person, with role, accounts handled, access held and exit steps, built with employee information management.
What this coversHide
Keep staff records tidy
One record per person, with role, accounts handled, access held and exit steps, built with employee information management.
What this coversHideOne record per person, with role, accounts handled, access held and exit steps, built with employee information management.
Start by checking where you stand
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirements- Count weekend and festival publishing shifts for each person in the last quarter.
- Ask your community managers how many abusive comments they read daily and who they tell.
- Write down who can approve a trend post at 6 pm and what they check.
- Check who currently has the passwords for your clients' accounts, and whether anyone who left still does.
- Ask first-job staff what they wished someone had told them in week one.
- Confirm with a qualified professional the employment, working hours and online conduct rules that apply to a social media agency like yours.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
How GullyHR helps
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
- Workplace health, safety and wellbeing
Moderation limits, weekend rotation and support for staff who read abuse as part of the job.
- HR policies and governance
A clear policy on account access, personal posting and conduct, in language a young team reads.
- Employee information management
Records of who handles which account and what access they hold, tidied at joining and at exit.
- HR process consulting
A review of how hiring, joining, rostering and leaving work today, with a short list of fixes.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Our HR transformation approach
- 1
Assess
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
- 2
Identify gaps
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
- 3
Design
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
- 4
Implement
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
- 5
Automate
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
- 6
Measure
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
- 7
Improve
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
Blogs worth reading first
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in marketing, advertising and creative, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
Industries
A practical safety routine for rubber product makers: who checks what, and when
A shift, weekly and monthly safety routine for rubber plants that names who checks platen guards, mill trip bars, autoclave doors, burst-test cages and slings, and who acts on near misses.
7 min readRead article
HR Process
What should an employee handbook include?
A practical contents list for an employee handbook in a growing Indian business: what to cover, what to leave to policies, and how to keep it usable and current.
5 min readRead article
HR Process
One employee, three versions of the record: fixing employee information management
Payroll says one joining date, the personal file says another and the manager remembers a third. How to establish a single trustworthy employee record and keep it that way.
7 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Questions owners ask
Publish a rotation in advance, count the days each person works and give time off after. Confirm the rules on weekly rest and holidays with a qualified professional. Fair, visible cover keeps staff willing.
Limit moderation hours, rotate the task, set an escalation rule and arrange someone trained to talk to. Ask them what would help. Treat it as part of the job's real demands, not as a weakness.
Agree a single, controlled way of holding access, record who has it and remove access on the day someone leaves. Confirm any data-handling duties with a qualified professional.
Name an approver who can decide quickly, tell the client what you will and will not do in a rush and keep a log. It cuts mistakes and protects the team from last-minute blame.
Often pay, tiredness and no visible growth. Show a ladder, give feedback in the first months and watch hours. A little structure goes a long way with first-job teams.
We would ask how weekend publishing is shared, who reads the abusive comments and who has access to client accounts today. A good first project is a fair publishing rota plus an access and conduct policy. Scope is then written down for you to accept or change.
More on HR for marketing, advertising and creative
All 8 business types in marketing, advertising & creative agencies · Find another business type
Digital marketing agenciesSEO agenciesVideo agenciesAdvertising agenciesBranding studiosDesign agenciesHealth, Safety and Wellbeing in marketing, advertising and creativePolicies, Compliance and Governance in marketing, advertising and creativeEmployee Administration in marketing, advertising and creative
See all HR topics for marketing, advertising and creative, or another industry.