HR Management Solutions for Marketing and Creative Agencies
Build people systems for an agency — where capacity is billable hours and the best people are the most poachable.
An agency sells its people's time and judgement. Creative, servicing, strategy, performance and production teams work to client deadlines that arrive together, and the pressure concentrates on whoever is good.
- Plan
- Hire
- Onboard
- Manage
- Develop
- Perform
- Engage
- Retain
- Exit
- Improve
When HR processes are weak, you may see
- High churn in creative and servicing
- Burnout on key accounts
- Utilisation invisible until margins slip
- Unclear progression for creatives
- Freelancers engaged with no record
- Appraisals driven by whoever shouted
- Knowledge lost with account leads
- Hiring reactive to account wins
We help agencies build career tracks, utilisation visibility and retention processes that survive a pitch season.
Who we work with
Adapted to agency size, service mix and how much work runs through freelancers and partners.
- Digital Marketing Agencies
- Advertising Agencies
- Branding Agencies
- PR Agencies
- Social Media Agencies
- Content Agencies
- Design Studios
- Video Production Companies
- Event Management Companies
- Media Companies
What the HR system covers
Most businesses take a few of these at a time, in an order decided by what is costing them most. Open any area to see what it includes.
Agency Structure
Creative, servicing and specialist lines.
What this coversHide
Agency Structure
Creative, servicing and specialist lines.
What this coversHideClient-facing
- Account Directors
- Account Managers
- Account Executives
- Strategy
- Planning
- Business Development
Craft and delivery
- Creative Directors
- Copywriters
- Art Directors
- Designers
- Video Editors
- Performance Marketers
- SEO
- Content Writers
- Production
- Organisation structure
- Account team structure
- Craft vs servicing lines
- Reporting vs project supervision
- Approval matrix
- Position levels
Career Tracks for Creatives
A ladder that does not force everyone into management.
What this coversHide
Career Tracks for Creatives
A ladder that does not force everyone into management.
What this coversHideAgencies lose senior creatives by offering only one route up: managing people. A craft track keeps the people who are good at the work doing the work.
- Level definitions
- Craft track
- Servicing track
- Management track
- Portfolio expectations per level
- Promotion criteria
- Review cycle
- Level-to-band mapping
Utilisation and Account Load
Who is on which account, and who is drowning.
What this coversHide
Utilisation and Account Load
Who is on which account, and who is drowning.
What this coversHide- Account allocation
- Billable vs non-billable
- Utilisation by person and level
- Overload identification
- Pitch-time load
- Reallocation process
- Capacity vs new business pipeline
- Freelance top-up decisions
Freelancer and Partner Management
The flexible half of the workforce.
What this coversHide
Freelancer and Partner Management
The flexible half of the workforce.
What this coversHide- Freelancer register
- Rate card and engagement terms
- Scope and deliverable record
- Confidentiality and IP terms
- Onboarding to tools and brand guidelines
- Quality and reliability record
- Payment turnaround
- Rehire and preferred pool
Performance and Appraisal
Measured on craft and on client, not on visibility.
What this coversHide
Performance and Appraisal
Measured on craft and on client, not on visibility.
What this coversHideCraft
- Quality of output
- Originality
- Turnaround
- Revisions required
- Brand consistency
- Skill growth
Servicing and account
- Client satisfaction
- Retention and renewals
- Brief quality
- Timeline management
- Scope control
- Revenue per account
Burnout and Workload
The retention issue agencies name last.
What this coversHide
Burnout and Workload
The retention issue agencies name last.
What this coversHide- Workload visibility
- Late-night and weekend pattern tracking
- Pitch-load distribution
- Leave actually taken
- Compensatory time off
- Manager check-ins
- Workload escalation route
- Wellbeing initiatives
Attrition and Retention
Churn concentrated where it hurts most.
What this coversHide
Attrition and Retention
Churn concentrated where it hurts most.
What this coversHide- Attrition by craft and level
- Attrition on specific accounts
- Manager-wise turnover
- Exit reasons
- Counter-offer pattern
- Stay interviews
- Progression conversations
- Critical-person backup
- Alumni and boomerang hiring
Agency HR Dashboard
Capacity and churn, monthly.
What this coversHide
Agency HR Dashboard
Capacity and churn, monthly.
What this coversHide- Headcount by function and level
- Utilisation
- Overload flags
- Freelance spend
- Open positions
- Time to hire
- Attrition by function
- Promotion counts
- Employee cost as share of revenue
- Training completion
Marketing and Creative HR maturity assessment
Each area is scored on the same five-level scale, so management can see where HR stands today and what to improve first.
Request an HR audit- 1
No defined process
Activities happen differently each time.
- 2
Informal, person dependent
Processes exist but depend heavily on individual employees.
- 3
Documented
Processes and responsibilities are written down.
- 4
Implemented and measured
Processes are followed and performance is measured.
- 5
Automated and continuously improved
Technology-enabled, measured and improved deliberately.
What you receive
Depending on the engagement. Scope and sequence are agreed after the audit.
- HR Audit
- HR Gap Analysis
- HR Improvement Roadmap
- Organisation Structure
- Manpower Plan
- Job Descriptions
- KRA and KPI Framework
- Competency Framework
- Recruitment Process
- Onboarding Framework
- Attendance and Leave Process
- Performance Management System
- Training Framework
- Employee Engagement Framework
- Retention Plan
- HR Policy Manual
- Employee Handbook
- HR SOPs
- HR Forms
- HR Templates
- HR Calendar
- HR Dashboard
- HR MIS
- HR Automation Roadmap
- HRMS Implementation Framework
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.
Build a people function that survives pitch season
A strong agency HR function helps the business:
- See utilisation before margins slip
- Keep senior creatives without forcing management
- Spread pitch load
- Reduce burnout-driven exits
- Bring freelancers into a record
- Appraise on craft and client outcomes
- Retain account knowledge
- Hire ahead of account wins
- Make progression explicit
Build a better people system for your agency
Whether you are a growing studio or an established agency, we can help build career tracks, utilisation visibility and retention processes.
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