What’s the problem with recruitment and retention among ad agencies these days? Lisen Stromberg answered this question and then some during her keynote presentation to kick off the inaugural 3% Conference Australasia today in Sydney. 

The chief operating officer of The 3% Movement addressed the fact that ad agencies these days tend to favour availability over creativity when it comes to recruitment and retention. 

“We’re not getting the right people through the door,” Stromberg told attendees. 

“It is no longer good enough to win clients on creativity alone. Culture also wins. 

“We’ve got to look at culture as equally as important as creative.” 

Stromberg also highlighted the benefits of having a gender-diverse team in adland, backed up by The 3% Movement’s equation – diversity = creativity = profitabiity. 

“This isn’t about feminism or equality or doing the right thing. This is about business,” she said.  

“What’s going to drive more award wins [for your agency]? Women,” she said. 

Check out what Stromberg had to say when B&T caught up with her post-keynote below… 

The 3% Movement has also come up with a list of 100 things that you, your company and your client can do right now to #changetheratio, which can be downloaded here. 

Furthermore, if you’re keen on assessing how your agency’s culture supports women, click here. 

And finally, if you want to find out how much bias you have when it comes to gender, take the Project Implicit test courtesy of Harvard University.