Advertising holding company Omnicom asks employees to work from home amid staff concerns over coronavirus outbreak - here's the internal memo
- Omnicom asked its employees around the world to work remotely as the coronavirus outbreak spreads.
- The other four major advertising holding companies Publicis, IPG, Dentsu, and WPP made similar policy changes earlier this week.
- Some Omnicom employees expressed frustration with a perceived delay in the company's response to the pandemic.
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Omnicom Group joined the other major advertising holding companies in asking most of its employees to work remotely for the immediate future starting March 16 as the coronavirus disrupts businesses and governments around the world.
In an internal memo sent March 15, chairman and CEO John Wren wrote that all those people except "essential staff" should work outside Omnicom offices, which will remain open.
The full memo is below.
The move came days or hours after the other major advertising holding companies made similar announcements.
Omnicom is the second biggest ad holding company by revenue and employs about 70,000 worldwide.
Omnicom employees described internal frustration as the outbreak spread
Three Omnicom employees who are known to Business Insider but spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their jobs expressed frustration with a perceived delay by the company in reacting to the virus.
On Friday, various Omnicom agencies advised employees to stagger commute times to avoid rush hour and adjust schedules so that no more than 50% of staff would be in an office at any given time.
But one employee said this led to some tension between company leadership and heads of local offices. A petition on Change.org, purportedly written by an Omnicom Media Group employee, called on the company to mandate office closings, sick days, and an overall travel ban.
A second employee at another Omnicom agency called the company's response as "too incrementally slow."
Other major holding companies have told employees to work remotely
All five major holding companies has now told the majority of its employees to work remotely if possible to minimize the risk of coronavirus infection.
According to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider, Publicis Groupe told all staff in North America to come into the office only when absolutely necessary starting Thursday morning; a spokesperson said that policy applied globally. IPG sent out a similar memo on Friday, and WPP did the same on Saturday afternoon.
A senior executive at Dentsu who spoke to Business Insider on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the matter confirmed that all employees were told on March 13 to begin working remotely. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
John Wren's full memo is below.