Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 23.10.2024 
Being shortlisted for an award is not something that happens every day. But to be shortlisted for three is truly special.
We’re delighted to be in contention for Best Independent Agency of the Year (large), Best Agency Culture, and Best Flexible Working Policy at this year’s UK Agency Awards. This is recognition of the hard-work, creative thinking, and dedication our team has put into creating a workplace that gives our team the foundations to thrive. This is the foundation that allows us to deliver truly outstanding results for our clients.
Who we are
At GingerMay, we have always aimed to do things differently. We know that being an independent agency means never standing still and this year we have pushed ourselves to deliver even greater results for our clients, be more sustainable in everything we do, and create an environment where our team can truly thrive. Not only did we achieve our targets this year, we smashed them. And all while staying 100% carbon neutral.
We managed to achieve this because of our focus on people: our team, our clients, and our community. Over the last 15 years, we have consistently achieved success thanks to our focus on elevating those around us, ensuring every member of the team has the tools to thrive.
Our Agency Culture
The last year saw us strive to create an even more equitable workplace by nurturing talent both at GingerMay and in the wider industry, successfully executing an ambitious plan to maintain client and team satisfaction while expanding our industry-leading benefits package.
Diversity is vital to unlocking innovative thinking and driving the creativity that independent agencies need to deliver outstanding results. We are incredibly proud to buck many of the trends within the PR industry, especially for those in senior leadership positions – 80% of our board is female or non-binary versus the industry standard of 30%.
However, we cannot tackle PR’s diversity problem just within our own company. That is why over the last year we provided greater opportunities for traditionally underrepresented groups, working with the charity Digilearning. Alongside this, we delivered 16 work experience programmes to budding young individuals, giving them a vital first step within the media relations industry to get their career supercharged.
Another key goal was to make our processes more efficient, allowing us to deliver higher-quality client work, while ensuring our team has a great work/life balance.
After team consultation, we implemented multiple efficiency-driving measures, including streamlining monthly and quarterly reporting, and reevaluating account team configuration. By March 2024, we saw an impressive boost in efficiency, allowing us to take on the equivalent of three additional client accounts without affecting team numbers.
We managed all this while maintaining the same exceptionally high standard of service for our clients, maintaining our outstandingly high Net Promoter Score (NPS). At the same time, the majority of our team (88%) felt that they were able to find an effective balance between work and leisure time.
In Focus: Flexible working
The changes we made to our flexible working benefits are something we are really proud of. With many workplaces calling their team back into full time to the office, we felt it particularly important that we continue to empower our team to work in the way that works best for them.
We have long allowed our team to utilise flexi-hours to better fit their work around life. With 25% of our team being working parents, this is a particularly important workplace benefit. The team is also encouraged to take advantage of our benefits to do everything from self-improvement classes to condensing their hours to work four day weeks. Almost a third (30%) of our team take advantage of flexi-working and in the last year we approved 100% of requests.
As our team has grown and diversified, we needed to adjust and expand our remote working package to fit their needs. Gingers took extended time remote working to see their families in locations that included India, Barbados, Dubai, Sweden, Italy, and Ireland.
While there are many benefits to flexible and remote working, we ensured our team had the support they needed, when they needed it. Mental health support is therefore a vital component of our flexible working package. Our team of Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) are trained to recognise the early signs of stress or declining mental health and are a highly visible first port of call for the team.
Account Director, Geneviève Benoit: “The juggling act of parenthood isn’t always easy, but having a supportive work environment allows me to thrive in both facets of life. It’s a balance I deeply value.”
