‘Four&Flex’: Adam & Eve/DDB pushes policy to bring staff together in the office

Adam & Eve/DDB wants staff to come into the office four days a week and has adopted what it calls a “Four&Flex” model – with an annual contribution of up to £1,500 per person towards travel costs because of the rising cost of living.

“Four&Flex” means that “everyone comes in four days a week” but people have flexibility – “the flex” – about the day they choose to work from home and the time that they spend in the office during the working day.

Tammy Einav, chief executive of Adam & Eve/DDB, said the Omnicom-owned agency believed that employees should spend more time together in the office because it would improve creativity and connections between staff.

“Many people join the creative industries because they enjoy working in a team, and the number one thing our people felt they’d lost in the pandemic was connection. They were missing the energy and buzz of the agency,” she said. 

Learning from each other, in particular, is “much harder to do when we’re not together” and the agency has had a “significant” number of new joiners since the start of the pandemic – many of whom have “never had the chance to experience first-hand the culture of the agency they have joined” until now, Einav explained.

Adam & Eve/DDB, Britain’s biggest advertising agency, employs nearly 500 people and staff attendance in the Paddington office in London has been around two to three days a week.

However, there were some challenges because some people came in on different days and ended up having video conversations, even when they were in the office, “so it wasn’t rewarding as an experience,” Einav said.

“Why come into an office when you’re going to spend all day on calls? The use of the office should be – and is – a better, more rewarding experience for us all when it’s all about coming together around client business and the work.”

Einav added the agency had resisted imposing a plan until now as staff adjusted to the gradual relaxation of rules around the pandemic and the return to the office.

“Our answer is Four&Flex,” she explained. “The ‘four’ means everyone comes in four days a week. The flex is about the day people choose to work from home and importantly flexibility within the working day.

“It’s not for me to define what days people work from home, it’s up to them to choose the day that suits them. Likewise, we trust people to know if it makes sense for them and their clients and team to come in a little later or leave a little earlier if they need to. 

“Flexibility is built on the recognition that our lives have ebbs and flows, and different pressure points, and that has to be respected.”

The agency moved to “Four&Flex” earlier this month and the office now has a greater “energy” and “a buzz”, according to Einav.

Helping staff with the cost of living as well as encouraging them to come into the office was a motivation for Adam & Eve/DDB’s decision to subsidise the cost of a season ticket.

Einav said: “We recognise the difficulties people are facing at the moment with the cost of living crisis and we know that travel can present a real barrier when thinking of returning to the office, which is why Four&Flex also includes a funded season ticket scheme.”

The agency will contribute up to £1,500 towards the cost of a season ticket for anyone on a full-time annual salary equivalent of £75,000 or below. It is thought the contribution will be treated as a taxable benefit, rather than a salary top-up.

Other media and advertising businesses will be watching Adam & Eve/DDB’s move closely because there has been a wide variation in policies.

Many companies have adopted a “3:2” model, with staff spending two or three days in the office and the others at home, while some have offered entirely flexible working.

Stephen Woodford, chief executive of the Advertising Association, told the Enders Analysis/Deloitte media conference in London earlier this month that “leaders want people back to the office”, although he did not expect a return to five days a week in the office. 

Adam & Eve/DDB is ranked as the biggest advertising agency by Nielsen billings, with clients including John Lewis & Partners, Lloyds Bank and Marmite. It recently lost Virgin Media in the UK but won Deutsche Telekom and is setting up a new Berlin office to serve the German company.