8 HR Challenges Trending Among Marketing Agencies

Quick look: Fast-paced deadlines, active collaboration, and out-of-the-box ideas power the marketing industry. For marketing leaders, HR stabilizes the foundation supporting their employees’ everyday successes and opportunities. Explore this blog to discover the human resource trends reshaping how marketing agencies manage their workforce operations.

Marketing agencies rely on their teams’ research skills and creative thinking to provide exceptional services to their clients. These work efforts thrive when employers foster a supportive and harmonious workplace. To cultivate such an environment, marketing leaders must recognize and address obstacles affecting daily employee operations. Read ahead to uncover the top HR challenges marketers face today and actionable tips to solve them.

High employee turnover

Employee turnover remains a trending occurrence in today’s job market, with 3.5 million Americans voluntarily quitting their jobs in May 2024. Professionals in the marketing industry also contribute to the nation’s high turnover, often leaving to pursue a competitive job offer or alternate industry position.

Such employee departures lengthen employers’ task lists, requiring them to interview, hire, and onboard replacements. Restarting the recruitment process is not only time-consuming, but the average cost businesses spend to acquire new hires is approximately $4,700.

Talent acquisition for specialized roles

Marketing agencies run best when the industry’s best lead their workforce. However, finding and retaining talented workers for specialized roles can present a significant HR challenge. Executive, associate, and entry-level jobs require a mix of marketing-focused experience and higher education. SEO analysts, graphic designers, and other digital marketers hold additional certifications and receive specialty training for their positions.

Employers need to update their recruitment strategy to hire the right applicants for available roles. They can win the attention of top candidates with job postings featuring clear-cut expectations and pay transparency. Agency leaders can also determine the best fit for a role with a thorough interview process.

Employee burnout

Marketers handle full plates of responsibilities each day, from office work to project assignments. The volume of tasks and the pressures of deadlines spike the likelihood of employee burnout. Burnout affects 44% of U.S. employees and has been shown to hinder  productivity, physical well-being, and mental health.

Marketing agencies can counter burnout with work-life balance solutions like having flexible office hours, offloading time-consuming tasks like HR administration, and offering full-scale employee benefits. With these strategies, marketers focus less on stress and more on achieving business goals.

Health and wellness benefits

Employee benefits are standout offerings that help marketing agencies show appreciation and dedication toward their team. Health and wellness plans are among the most sought-after benefits by workers; in fact, 43% of workers have left their original employer for one that provides better benefit options. Employees are more likely to be engaged and satisfied at work when an agency offers these perks.

Before tapping into these advantages, marketing agencies must assess their teams’ evolving needs to tailor their offerings effectively. Healthcare packages should include medical and insurance providers that cater to diverse workplace demographics, along with perks that help minimize workplace stress and support essential aspects of employees’ personal lives.

Finally, there should be a balance between the costs and the actual value of each benefits package. Meeting these expectations helps marketing leaders create healthcare and wellness perks that empower, not limit, their employees.

Skill gaps

The marketing industry evolves rapidly, revolutionizing the possibilities of its technologies and plans each day. This growth can lead to skill gaps among marketers, hindering their overall productivity and performance on routine tasks.

Agencies can stay ahead of these industry changes with upskilling—a learning and development tactic that connects employees to advanced training opportunities. While upskilling strengthens employee career expertise and experience, only 40% of workers state their employers have an upskilling plan in place.

Performance management

Another HR challenge for marketing agencies is creating a performance management process. Tracking workers’ performance helps marketing leaders analyze where their team excels and where extra assistance is needed. This analysis identifies standout contributors who may qualify for leadership roles available when internal recruiting and succession planning occurs.

Though rewarding, performance management can be a complicated task for marketing agencies. On top of defining fair performance objectives, businesses need an evaluation system that gathers individuals’ performance data and stores those findings within thorough reports. Leaders must also determine how to share constructive and transparent feedback, which 65% of employees desire more of within their workplace.

Marketing compliance standards

The practices of marketing agencies must abide by laws set to protect consumers, clients, and their data. Federal regulations that impact marketers include, but are not limited to:

• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act: Protects consumers from unfair and deceptive business practices
• The Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetics Act of 1938: Enables the FDA to monitor and prevent food, drugs, medical devices, and cosmetics from being mislabeled, claiming fraudulent information and being safety hazards
• The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Outlines data collection and processing best practices that companies working with EU and EAA consumers must follow
• The Communications Act of 1934: Develops and regulates interstate and international telecommunications under the Federal Communications Commission

Meeting marketing compliance standards also requires companies to research and adhere to guidelines mandated by their local and state governments. Clients may ask agencies to follow additional best practices based on their industries’ strict standards. This complicated yet necessary HR responsibility takes dedicated effort and vigilance to complete.

DEI in company culture

Creativity and critical thinking are at the heart of every marketing campaign. Agencies gain better access to these mindsets by having diverse employees with different perspectives. Attracting this team dynamic is easier when marketers promote an inclusive company culture. Embracing workplace diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) fosters additional advantages. While inclusive teams are 35% more productive, strong DEI measures make a company 2.6 times more successful at retaining its workforce. 

Still, leadership teams come across different obstacles while adopting DEI. Small- to medium-sized businesses often need more resources and a larger budget to match the DEI commitments already adopted by their enterprise-level competitors. Time also becomes a disadvantage when teams’ everyday duties minimize their availability to the roadmap and test DEI strategies.

Transform your HR challenges with ExtensisHR’s PEO solution

A marketing agency should focus on mastering industry trends instead of navigating the complex world of human resources. Working with a certified professional employer organization (PEO) makes this reality possible.

ExtensisHR takes the stress out of HR management with its comprehensive PEO solution. With over 25 years of expertise, we specialize in tailoring HR services for marketing agencies, aligning your operational goals and upholding the industry’s highest standards.

Included within our PEO solution is:

• Complimentary full-scale recruiting services that help you attract and hire talent
• Enterprise-level healthcare, insurance, and employee benefits that put your team’s well-being first
• Professional learning and development assistance to upskill employees’ career and industry knowledge
• Affordable access to performance management tools and analytics through our 15Five partnership
• Guidance on creating and introducing DEI policies and programs into your company culture
• Risk and compliance management services to protect your business
• Customer-first support from your dedicated account team of HR experts, including an HR Manager and an Implementation Manager
• And so much more!

Don’t let HR challenges overshadow your KPIs. ExtensisHR elevates the potential of your agency’s workforce by boosting your employee operations’ strategies and success.

Contact our experts today to learn how we improve HR for marketing agencies.