How to keep agency staff happy and why this indie worries about tomorrow's leaders

“Some of that is a natural correction after the COVID-era hiring boom, where we were all paying a premium for talent. Budgets have been tightening year after year, and that was always going to catch up. AI is also starting to impact the number of people required in an agency setting.” 

Akkermans’s concern is the junior jobs being replaced by AI, all in the name of cost savings.

"If we're not investing in the next generation now, where does tomorrow's senior leadership come from?  

“There are as many questions as there are answers with AI right now, because someone still has to interpret the data, present it back to the client, and give strategic recommendations. Those soft skills don't develop on their own.” 

Equality Media strategy director Leah Cioccio said job opportunities seem to be getting fewer and further apart, but independents can thrive on new work and people. 

“Media + Advertising is a volatile industry, macro market events impact demand and innovation impacts supply, and I think that the headlines about redundancies and businesses right sizing is mostly reflective of business and legacy operating models that need to keep pace with change," Cioccio said.

“At the same time, it’s important to remember that our industry is fuelled by entrepreneurial spirit and that translates directly to business ownership - there are more smaller businesses than big ones and as an industry built on people, those entrepreneurs will always be looking for and creating space for people who are good at their job.” 

The Trinity P3 New Business report identified 440 pitches through trade magazine reporting, confidential communications with agencies, contract portals and other resources. 

Independents have surged and across particular client categories are now securing the majority share of market volume based on the number of tenders awarded. 

Akkermans said there is tension in the pitch process between clients and agencies. 

“Clients are taking longer on their side, briefings are delayed, timelines blow out, but then they expect agencies to turn things around at pace once they're ready,” she said 

“So, the overall process stretches, but the pressure on the agency end intensifies. 

“We've been fortunate to build a business largely on referral, so we're not in the land of constant pitching. But for the pitches we do participate in, they rarely run to the original timeline, and it's usually because the client side falls behind.” 

Cioccio believes that any shifts that may be surfacing comes back to the value that agencies represent in the market.   

“We fill a gap in knowledge and expertise that generally doesn’t exist within a clients business or marketing team," Cioccio said.

“I think marketers have been asked to step up their knowledge and remit in the last decade and perhaps with that their expectations of their agency partners have rightly increased.   

“If agency partners aren’t on the same page, then it might feel like expectations are raising, but I think it’s just about an expectation that has or should have always existed around being accountable for the recommendations you make and the results they deliver. 

“Pitch processes are rigorous, the traditional model of an invitation to pitch, a chemistry session, a short list followed by presentations isn’t just reserved for the big advertisers who are reviewing their roster.  

“Smaller businesses are also taking more time to review their partnerships and while the relationship and chemistry component is still fundamental, the close analysis around agency expertise is more heavily considered and tested during the pitching process.” 

With client demand shrinking in output time and agency headcount shrinking, Akkermans said that the biggest shift in the ways of working is the speed of expectation. 

"There's a relentless demand for things to be done quickly, but then a long tail where decisions drag and timelines blow out,” she said. 

“Everything is left to the last minute with no time to do it properly, and then the process stretches on anyway. It's a paradox the whole industry is grappling with. 

“Then there's AI. And while we're fully supportive of integrating AI, I think our industry tends to chase the shiny new thing.  

“Plenty of businesses still aren't getting the basics right - strong creative, solid conversion strategy, a clear customer journey.  

“Things move at a million miles an hour on the surface, but the fundamental shifts take much longer.” 

Cioccio said that part of the change is due to the necessity of it.

"There’s been huge and necessary shifts in the ways of working across all sectors of business in Australia, that really came about due to necessity,” Cioccio said. 

“Hybrid working is the biggest and most obvious bit. It’s been on a rollercoaster journey of being a perk to a penalty (COVID).

“It's about acknowledging that the human race lives very differently this century to the last and the way we work naturally needs to adapt."

Part of investing in the next generation of talent in the workforce is also understanding the changes to the employee-employer relationship. 

Gen Z make up 48% of the workforce, according to the Media Federation of Australia (MFA). 

Only 6% believe long hours equals working hard, with 82% saying it’s about working efficiently and meeting deadlines, according to MFA’s NGEN Workplace 2025 Survey. 

Akkermans said young people are choosing organisations that will look after them as a whole person, not just one that provides career progression. 

“At mid-career, it's about what I call the mid-career drop-off, particularly around parenthood,” she said. 

“The businesses that retain talent through that stage are the ones that genuinely support flexibility and the transition from individual contributor to working parent.”   

Equality Media has grown from one employee in 2018 to 30 in 2026. 

The agency has been recognised in the AFR Best Places to Work listing for the fourth consecutive year, ranking number one in the Media and Marketing category three out of four years. 

Staff retention has stayed in the 90% and above range. 

The agency also provides an internship program called Equality Elevate, which creates pathways of people who are looking to experience agency life regardless of their education background. 

“We operate a four-day work week at full pay through our Equality Time initiative, we offer additional leave, including cultural leave, gender affirmation leave, and parental flexibility, and a hybrid work model,” Akkermans said. 

“At the core of it, we try to support the whole person. We know that when people are happy and well, their output is better. It's not just the right thing to do, it makes good business sense. 

Equality’s approach to AI is to harness the platforms that have massive investment behind them and apply them to its clients' challenges. 

“We've fully integrated tools like ChatGPT and Claude across the business,” Akkermans said. 

“In creative services, we're using AI to save time on repetitive production tasks, like resizing ads, so that our team's hours are spent on the work that actually moves the dial.  

“We're also exploring deeper integration into our reporting, attribution modelling, and client dashboards. 

“The technology is evolving faster than any single agency can keep pace with, so the smart play is integration, not reinvention.” 

Cioccio hopes to see businesses that are right sizing or starting from the ground have more female senior roles. 

"That would be a great sign that as an industry we’ve stepped into our role as innovative, entrepreneurial and creative workforce and are leading change and progress,” she said. 

“The latest MFA report showed a gap in juniors entering the industry and an increase in the regrettable job loss rate – that’s a warning sign that we are not necessarily the attractive industry that we thought we were.   

“While instilling change one business a time makes about as much sense as trying to build a brand one campaign at a time, there are some great blueprints for workplaces of the future so the more we share stories and genuinely adopt an open door policy – the faster our industry will become the ones that engineers, designers and people persons will be attracted to.”