Pros
- Supportive leadership and team members. Honestly, a main reason why I stayed as long as I did. - There are some truly talented staff and leaders who make going to work every day a pleasure. - If you prove yourself--and make in-roads with decision makers--you will be staffed on more interesting accounts. - Strong workplace culture--HR clearly cares about its people as evidenced by the required "360 reviews" and small acts of appreciation: Bagel Fridays, Happy Hours, kudos cards (employee recognition). - Respected firm with name-brand recognition for your resume. - Ketchum will likely always be around but perhaps in a different capacity over the next few years.
Cons
- Omnicom management expects too much of Ketchum to please its investors. The large agency model is no longer sustainable and despite the 2018 pivot to a consultancy model, Ketchum just isn't equipped for it. This rattled a lot of older talent and added new stressors. - Because Omnicom outsourced many of its IT and Financial operations, billable employees now have to contend with limited tech support and take on FINANCIAL PLANNING for their accounts. Administrative financial tasks (completing multi-tab Excel grids and staff projection tools) can easily account for 30% of your job if you're VP or above. - Ketchum can't shake its old school PR reputation which makes it hard to win new business from truly exciting clients. Without new business, it's hard to sustain a thriving agency. As a result, layoffs become more frequent. - The office space itself is tired and dated, recalling an earlier era of Ketchum's glory days.