The new Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) president Josh Krichefski has launched a three-pronged ‘People First’ agenda in a bid to boost the overall ‘health and wealth’ of the agency business.
Broadcast today at 3pm, Krichefski’s inaugural speech will look to open the ‘eyes, hearts and minds’ of those working within agencies.
This will entail re-framing advertising’s cultural and societal relevance in modern Britain to attract the best talent, helping retain and nurture advertising talent by being more inclusive, and looking after the well-being of everyone working in the ad agency business by focusing on and supporting initiatives that promote positive mental health.
“We don’t have factories, trucks, manufactured goods. Our people are everything. It’s their brilliance and imagination which is what makes us who and what we are. And that’s why we have to look after them,” Krichefski said. “Let’s take the steps needed to create the most inclusive workplaces imaginable. And let’s support a resilient, thriving and mentally healthy workforce and empower them to write the future of advertising.”
To re-frame advertising’s cultural and societal relevance, the president will look to air a programme to promote today’s industry, partner with TikTok to promote advertising agencies and also work closely with IPA City Heads to explore how agencies can attract talent into the industry.
In a bid to help retain and nurture advertising talent, the IPA will focus on promoting diversity and also create a programme that will invite IPA ‘iList role models’ to be public industry ambassadors for change. Krichefski believes that “everyone within the ad agency business must feel that they belong, that they’re seen, and they’re safe.”
In terms of the agenda’s focus on mental health, the IPA president will look to empower people and build mental health awareness, support workers by ensuring the right working conditions and also look to monitor workplace mental health and inclusivity.
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Krichefski added: “Prioritising mental health in the workplace not only benefits workers, but employers through increased productivity, retention, and innovation, and society as a whole through improved family and community well-being, social cohesion, and economic performance. Yet mental health is widely misunderstood and under-resourced by employers. Even those that want to support mental health can lack knowledge of best practices or resources to implement them, while others lack confidence in the utility of workplace interventions to produce positive returns.
“By providing employers with an effective, feasible, and flexible framework to implement within their organisations that supports worker mental health and in turn, fosters a healthy and productive workforce, I believe we will all win.”
The framework – developed over the coming months – will be housed and supported by a ‘New IPA Era on Mental Health Resource Hub’.
