“It’s the worst severance package I’ve ever seen,” the health creative said of the Omnicom plan.
Workers describe a breaking point
Many employees are interpreting the new benefits package as an attempt to push people out voluntarily, in addition to the 4,000 staffers already cut from the combined company’s ranks. Omnicom declined to comment on potential future layoffs.
“I’m fully expecting to get laid off or fired in the next six to 12 months,” said the media employee. “I don’t think Omnicom is going to keep most of us around.”
The business manager pointed out that younger talent is especially disheartened. “Younger talent who entered the industry in the last couple of years have only ever experienced layoff after layoff for pretty blatant shareholder value gains,” they said. “We’re at the precipice of it not being sustainable for employees.”
Some employees said the upheaval has revived conversations about organizing.
“I’ve probably talked to three people about unionization in the last couple of days,” said the business manager. “With the way these holding companies are operating, it’s so clearly a race to the bottom.”
“Workers are shafted in every possible way,” the media employee said, adding that the real obstacle is leverage. “If we went on strike, they’d replace us in 30 seconds.”
