“You could work it out with your partner, and be there for your kids as best as you both can,” the business manager said.
Documents obtained by ADWEEK show Omnicom offers 10 total weeks of paid parental leave, which must be taken as a continuous block and used within 20 weeks of birth, adoption, or foster placement. The policy also requires employees to exhaust all state or disability benefits before Omnicom pays anything.
“We’re going from a flexible, maximum six months to a rigid, not flexible, 10 weeks,” said the business manager. The media employee added the new policy is “so absolutely cruel to the workers and their children.”
Healthcare costs rise for “lower quality” coverage
Workers described IPG’s healthcare plans as comparatively affordable, with multiple options — including inexpensive Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) — and combined deductibles that made costs more predictable. Several employees said they previously paid into UnitedHealthcare or Cigna plans that felt “straightforward” and less confusing and expensive than their new plans.
Omnicom’s package, reviewed by ADWEEK, shifts all employees into Aetna EPO plans, which provide no out-of-network coverage except in emergencies. The plans also impose separate deductibles for medical and prescription drugs and, in many cases, carry higher premiums and out-of-pocket limits than the IPG plans they replace.
Employees can also opt into a more expensive plan with better out-of-network coverage options.
“It’s generally more expensive for lower quality care,” said the health creative. “If you do want the premier package, it’s notably more expensive.”
Return to office–or forfeit your severance
IPG did not enforce a return-to-office mandate before the acquisition, according to employees; many teams operated fully remote or hybrid.
Several workers said Omnicom’s policy, which requires employees to be in-office three days per week with a stated intent to move to five, represents an abrupt cultural change. Managers have been instructed to begin bringing in teams immediately.
The policy also allows Omnicom to deny raises and promotions to employees who do not comply, and explicitly states that workers terminated for violating the policy are not eligible for severance.
The business manager described it as “jarring,” while health creative added that Omnicom “is obsessed with RTO [return to office].”
Omnicom’s severance policy in general is also less favorable than IPG’s, providing roughly one week of pay per year of service, capped at 12 weeks for employees with five or more years of tenure.
IPG’s domestic employee termination policy, reviewed by ADWEEK, guaranteed employees two weeks’ pay after three months of service, three weeks at two years, and an additional week of salary for each year through their 14th anniversary. Workers there for more than 14 years earned two extra weeks per year — a structure that could easily exceed 20 or 30 weeks of pay.
