Ogilvy Malaysia introduces Mental Health Program and additional parental leave to vitalize and improve well being of its employees
Ogilvy Malaysia has introduced two key wellness benefits for all its employees to cover access to mental healthcare and additional maternity and paternity leave.
According to National Health Morbidity Survey 2015, there has been a troubling increase in mental health problems affecting Malaysians as more people are likely to experience stress from their workplace by 2020. Without proper exposure and medical access, mental health is expected to become the second biggest health threat for Malaysians.
Launched this month, its Employee Mental Health Program is designed to help employees manage their stress and anxiety better especially within current fast-paced market demands and quicker turnaround times.
“Ogilvy is committed to ensuring a more positive work environment and access to mental healthcare is essential to shine a light at the end of mental illness tunnel, said Nizwani Shahar, Chief Executive of Ogilvy Malaysia (pictured).
As part of the program, Ogilvy will be working with The Mind Faculty, a premium mental health clinic with over 25 experienced practitioners that works together to incorporate different therapy types to tailor a support plan that best suits individual needs.
All Ogilvy employees will have complimentary access to healthcare experts at The Mind Faculty with complete confidentiality guaranteed to respect employees’ privacy. The program kicked off with a talk by The Mind Faculty to give employees an overview of mental health issues, its effects in the workplace and the services provided under the program.
“Our people are our greatest assets and they are the lifeline of all the creative work we do for our clients. We are conscious of the mental stress issues within our field and we want to address any situation before it becomes a talent crisis,” said Shahar.
Aside from that, the agency also increased its paid maternity and paternity leave entitlement beginning 2020 to enable parents to enjoy additional time with their newborns. All mums will now enjoy additional 20 working days maternity leave on top of the previous 60 calendar days allocated. For dads, the previous 2 days provided will be extended to 5 days plus another 5 working days. These additional allocations of 20 days for mums and 5 days for dads can be utilised within six and three months respectively from the start of the parental leave period.
Shahar added, “By providing access to these mental health care and wellness programs, we want to effect more structured ways to help our people manage mental stress and support their families. This way, we want our people to stay ‘switched on’ so we continue to deliver the best to our clients. It’s the right thing to do. It’s also makes better business sense and helps with employee retention.”
75 Comments
Mental Heath Program for employees? Working under this management is driving us all crazy.
Ah yo!
What happen to the other CEO, the caucasian?
Ogilvy is changing CEO’s almost as fast as they are losing clients.
They have a bad reputation. All their staff are unhappy and nobody wants to join them.
Dear Ah Yo, I’m still with Ogilvy. I’m now doing a global job but still sitting in the KL office.
Agree with the comments.
The agency is just crumbling day by day.
So much for its star spangled “making brands matter” when only NOW you’re thinking making the people who make the brands matter, matter?
Many are already losing it there.
Good luck.
Don’t matter. Doesn’t matter anymore :/
Smart move. The industry is bleeding everyone dry. More should do this so that we can take care of our sanity.
It’s about time someone does something for creatives. We go through a lot and it’s a tireless job. Well done.
What all creatives need is a management that support them. Not point fingers and throw them under the bus!
All this main nickname #dudukdiamdirumahlah. Every agency has pros and cons. At least this one is trying to care for its people. I’m singing up if you’ll hire me but I can’t see you #becauselockdown
Yes, every agency has pros & cons. But our agency currently only have cons. So political. And our creative work is lousy.
For once us dad’s get a fighting chance! Paternity FTW.
Hey Ogilvy, great job in caring for your staff. Our work is never easy and knowing WPP hiring can be a pain. At least you are trying to ease it somehow. Keep it up and do more of this. If only others can follow your example and not like other agencies that make you work in the office during lockdown.
Hey Angellovemusic, you dont work in Ogilvy, so you dont know how it feels. What we need is a managment that trully cares and support their staff. Not throw everybody under the bus the moment there’s a problem. And just pretend to care.
I don’t know what is all the fuss about?
If you go crazy, you get to see some Mental Mind Faculty.
Shouldn’t the management of Ogilvy ask why their staff are having mental health problems.
The extra maternity and paternity leave are great! Well done, Ogilvy. But do it for the right reasons. No need to PR and tell the whole world about it.
The reality is that you need to be caring for the people and not the bottom line as priority first in order to care for their mental health. This is just a sorry excuse to spend more funds digging out of the bottom line, and ultimately creating a vicious cycle and frustrating agency people.
Get real #makepeoplematter
If the management realky care about the staff, why have a photo of the Chief Executive. It all done to PR the agency.
Hahahaha. Also what happened to the Kwai Low?
So true and funny.
What is happening to this agency? The people are unhappy and you have lost some of the best talent. Makes us wonder why you would need to engage a 3rd party to do what management should already be doing. The Ogilvy name used to mean so much to marketers. Look at it now.
Modern thinking is embracing mental health as an important vector for employees.
Hey we go again. Modern Thinking, Modern Marketing, Modern Advertising.
What does all these mean. Remember, your actions speaks louder than anything. Do not hide behind these words.
So much angst sounds like leavers who left and unhappy. Agencys do good cannot win ; agencys dont do good also get it hard. I say at least this one tries to improve quality of life for their employees. A good starts.
Get a management team that the staff respects, trust and happy to work with.
Ogilvy, who’s your HR? At least you do something for your people. Yes, we all work hard. Yes, we all signed up for the job. Yes, it can be rewarding too once the work comes out. But not at the expense of the people’s health. We had to go into the office on day 1 of lockdown at my current agency. Are we truly that essential? The people, yes… the work, NO. Thank you for being fair and at least doing something right. My friends told me you guys planned the Work From Home way ahead of the industry and you planned it fair. That is a good system. So HR, please can I can get interview?
Sorry, we don’t have a HR department.
Haters gonna hate, so must angst and baggage. All agencies are about the same, of coz there are a few who are better at managing their people. I salute my management for trying and they are getting experts to help us, not lip-service. I personally look forward to visiting these experts, as it would be great to just talk to someone outside the industry to get some perspective. And with a baby otw, i look fwd to the extra daddy leave.
Sounds like somebody from Management
Hey Insane, dont be too quick to blame the management with no self-reflection. When i used to work there (i left abt 6mths ago to move to SG), folks complained about JWT. Now that they are gone, people still complaining. I guess its everybody else fault except yours?
If you’re going crazy, maybe you should be going to meet these MInd consultants instead of just complaining. That’s what it’s there for.
Papa don’t Preach, i’ve never worked in Ogilvy but i’ve also worked in a few agencies who are all toxic, political, tough and without any sense of duty of care. For what it’s worth it’s a step in the right direction. No management truly cares. It’s a business. Feels like you need to see what’s outside to see what you’ve got.
If you never work at Ogilvy, please don’t comment or try to correct me. I work here.
Its like when someone whacks you, then sends you to the clinic. Doctor says “u okay la. Just a slight bruise which you caused on your own. Off you go” Then rinse and repeat. 🙁
I was generally interested when i read the article’s sub-head of ‘a half day off’ but i didn’t see further details on it and there are better ways to fuel better mental health than to spend money by launching a ‘health programme’ that so clearly a Pr stunt. Start by fixing your agencies culture…and remove everything that makes the agency a toxic place to work in.
Why is Ogilvy Management commenting as Staff? If an Ogilvy staff feels so happy about working at Ogilvy KL, why wouldn’t they tell us who you are? You got nothing to hide. As for some of us, we can’t state who we are. The management don’t take any of our suggestions and black marked us for speaking out.
The suggestions & comments that we have made never get discuss. It’s all ignored and swept under the rug. Our HQ regional office are clueless how bad things are in the office. Everybody is so unhappy.
what half day off? got meh?
Tell me what’s the perfect agency? There is none. So no point grouching and hating so much. At least they take a stand to try and make life a little better. CX anywhere sucks but they are trying. So much negativity out there when in fact we are all equally tired in our own agencies. They know it, they made a step with the mental health program. All I have is a medicard for Panadol and Strepsils FFS.
TiredSuit, seriously time to change your agency if they only offer Panadol and Strepsils. My current agency provide dental and eyecare but no mental health but i dont need it. The 3 months maternity is Ogilvy is giving is very attractive. Even many MNCs dont offer that.
Please, don’t make blanket comments. There are a lot of good agencies out there. My friends that works in other agencies don’t hate their management.
Care for them from within the agency instead of sending them off to an external party. Imagine the stories they will reveal to consultants. That would not be ideal. Oh well, at least the agency doesn’t deduct annual leave during this lock-down, unlike some other agency. Good for that at least!
This has got to be a joke. You have to be mentally ill as well to be unable to see that the agency is the cause of its staff’s anxiety and stress…
Why does it feel like it’s written by their own internal people?
Both good and bad comments.
If this is really a good intention from Ogilvy why tell the whole world?
Just implement it. Nothing to shout about.
What you guys need is a restructure. From the very top. Ogilvy now outputs poor quality of work. Symptom of too much funds channeled to ‘top management’ and peanuts to the freelancers.
TooLateToApologize, are you a demanding freelancer? Haha I think you channeled your frustration at the wrong place.
The funds should channeled to the staff. You can’t run without your staff Ogilvy.
The way you treat your people is clearly so bad that you need to use a gimmick like ‘Employee Mental Health Program’ to brainwash them to make them suck it up and deal with the stress that you put on them. What has Ogilvy become?
We have a bad reputation out there. We just lost the Tiger Pitch. Many of our other clients are calling for re pitch. It’s worrying. We are working very hard but there’s no vision. It’s sad. Our livelihood are in danger. Ogivly needs to understand that it’s not just about awards or doing creative work. It’s putting rice on your dining table. Currently there’s no confidence with the current management. I hope someone from our Regional office would step in and help us.
I have to say this is a good PR stunt to recruit talent because nobody wants to go there. People are leaving, they are afraid Clients will not stick around. This stunt is not solving clients complaints and I don’t get how it can help employees any better. This is quite a bad time for ogilvy, always in the news but for the wrong reason.
So many bad comments. These are clear signs that their staffs are unhappy.
Thank you Campaign Brief for allowing us to air how we really feel. We don’t need to visit The Mind Faculty. But we take the 2 extra days off.
We have no way of expressing ourselves in the office. Other then just resign and leave.
For everyone else complaining what are you doing to make your environment better? Let’s get real, we all work like dogs in advertising right? Which one of you leaves the office at 5pm sharp and clock in at 9am the next day. No perfect job out there. There is so much negativity in the world. I am glad to see some agencies making a difference. Small but big difference. I have bipolar and even disclosing it at the workplace I would feel like a crazy person. Here, this agency is giving the people an outlet to be taken care of mentally. That is a big move. Definitely sending in my resume if they can accept a crazy kook like me.
I have been in a business a very long time. The choice of leaving at 5 or 6pm or 4am is entirely a self choice. Being disciplined enough to up and leave, but ensure your work is done before the morning starts again is entirely on your own onus. I don’t think thats the problem here, I think the problem is that its publicized as if they’ve changed the world – they haven’t. And lets be honest, the grass is always greener on the other side.
Betul!
We have a staff that leaves the office 5pm EVERYDAY and she heads straight to the gym. She manages her time well.
She isn’t a slave to the company.
Make brands matter and make people matter. Good move by Ogilvy and WPP. I don’t see other network doing the same thing for their people.
Now you wanna talk about culture? Please, the culture begins with the people. Take care of the people and the culture will be there.
Now you wanna talk about people leaving? Please, people come and go in this industry. Don’t be a noob when you want to comment.
Dear WriteNow, Culture begins from the top. From our leadership.
If you got great leaders, your staff will be loyal and respect.
When you have lousy management the staff leave and don’t look forward to coming to work everyday.
Patient zero – you do realise there is doctor-patient confidentiality right? Mental health is like physical health, what you have with your doctor is private. So the stories they will “reveal” is for their own mental wellbeing. To feel better, to learn to organise thoughts, cognitive behaviour treatment or event medication to help anxiety or depression. This comment and some others leads me to see that in fact so many people are unaware how important mental health is and that we assume the fatigue and exhaustion can’t be managed. Work will never get easier, but here they are trying to make it more worth working for as a culture. Well done, Ogilvy.
Hey Shawn Liew, first of all I think you confuse medical mental health being and culture, fundamentally two completely different things though interconnected. So let’s get one thing straight don’t mix the two. If your culture is practiced through the ranks the odds of of mental health challenges then become little to none. And before you tell me that I don’t know what I am talking about, I can guarantee you I do – I come from a generation of ad people that probably did more work and spent more time in the office then today’s gen.
And sure work will never get any easier but it is the work that should be hard, not cross managing upwards and downwards (ok to be fair that’s the suits job). The main point of contention in this very colourful thread is the fact that the Ogilvy Malaysia leader is banking on branding herself in this effort. It isn’t about the people, seen clearly by the fact its her image showcased and not a single soundbite from the downliners, nothing.
I do applaud the CEO for making the effort to instal this but if an agency needs to get into a medical approach to solving people’s well being then the problem is clearly out of control.
Hey Shawn, why you sound like management?
Hey Patient Zero, why would you suggest that this be done internally. If there are offering some mental health care program, should that be handled by people who know what they’re talking about instead of sub-standard HR folks?
Anyhow, from where im sitting, the grass is really looking greener at Ogilvy. My so-called world class agency is so cheapo, telling us that we might soon have to look at unpaid leave due to the loss from Coronavirus.
Hey Agencyphile, when your agency put a press release like this out there, then you can give them hell.
all agencies are somewhat toxic. Ogilvy may not be the worst. But what I don’t understand is why they keep getting strategists and planners from India for Malaysia or local clients. Aren’t local planners good enough? Maybe cause the head of planning is also that fella from India. Hire local talent who know the local landscape and are better position to advise your clients.
it shouldnt be about where people come from as long as they are good. if they’re not good just say they are not good. no need to bring up that they not good basis they are from India or anywhere else.
Typical management respond and tactic! Point to somewhere else and swift the blame. Smart move!
Would like to know if Kim Shaw interviewed Ogilvy for this article? i dont see any story elsewhere so this must be an exclusive. And if you interviewed the CEO why not ask her if the staff are struggling and facing mental health issues. Also feels like this is only for Malaysia. No way WPP will pay for this.
At least 1 piece of communication from them that’s getting everyone talking.
Didn’t they have a grandfather ECD? Haven’t seen any work from him out of this office.
Abang Grab, that’s coz he dont need to take credit for everything he does unlike some of the young punk creatives who thrive on the “it’s all me” culture or middling creatives who have left to become big fish in a small drain.
If only Campaign Brief and Kim Shaw would open up the comments to actuals vs pseudonyms. That’s more fun.
that way, no one would comment…all too scared. keyboard warriors, rule.
We are all busy but at least it is always explained and we are supported. This is not new. Times are harder, clients and companies both squeezing more out of us for less. Some things cannot be changed but they are giving these benefits back to us that I’ve not seen anywhere. I am trying for another baby and now I know I am in the right place because Ogilvy will be supporting my journey at being a new mum when it’s time.
This is amazing to see coming out of Ogilvy. I’ve never seen this in other marketing functions in Malaysia. It’s such a taboo matter and if anyone said they can’t cope it is always the fault of the employee or the employer. Mental Health needs to be more normalised and talked about. A leading example that many can model.
Nothing new. A lot of companies are already doing it. They just don’t make a huge deal out of it.
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/why-mental-health-employee-benefits-are-good-for-business-4083143
https://theolsongroup.com/11-benefits-support-mental-health/
https://www.girlboss.com/wellness/companies-mental-health-benefits
https://www.inc.com/sophie-downes/mental-health-benefits-perks-best-workplaces-2019.html
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/294143
Who is the ECD or CCO at Ogilvy Malaysia? Sounds like you need Eugene Cheong back.
I’ve tried the program and it helped me. I managed to speak to someone about personal issues which did effect me at home and at work. It’s a process and the 3 sessions will be useful. So say what you want. If this helps me at work and in my relationships better, I am OK. The bill goes to Ogilvy and it’s anonymous so they won’t know whom when and for what ailment. I appreciate that as I always knew I needed to see someone but didn’t know where and who to go to.
I see the new management trying. They are open with us. Very candid and transparent. When times are tough, it’s explained. When we win, it is shared. I feel the anger here is either the ones who have left and not happy Ogilvy is still standing tall, or are leaving due to a bad experience and is looking to rip it up from inside. My colleagues are great and some clients are even greater. I think now with the MCO so many people have nothing better to do than to troll. Idle hands makes for the devil’s playground.
Look its simple really. The fact that the Ogilvy Management is installing this is great but as an existing staff who drinks the real soup thats been served, it isn’t just about farming out our mental challenges needs or giving us more leave – this is great. But its more about the fact that our boss is flaunting her capability in this article and the harsh reality that the daily shit show is so obvious, management aside I dont see how the above comments really did come from any of my peers, I could be wrong.
It troubles me that even with our constant loosing of good people (and its really scary k i meet new people to only say goodbye really quickly) to the fact that we are loosing clients left right and center – this isn’t being addressed. Making it really hard to stay positive everyday, MOC aside. Maybe this offer to see the shrink so to speak will be good afterall but only to come back to daily sweat shop we go through.
I think they need to bring their legend, Gavin back . When he was around, everything was in order and the agency was well respected. Ogilvy is now a pale comparison to what it was back in the day. Bring Gavin back.