Founded by Virginia Scully (lead image), formerly managing partner, – people at independent media agency Hatched, Human Kind Collective has launched today.
The First of its kind people and culture consultancy is a people, talent and culture consultancy tailored for the dynamic media and communications industry.
“The world of work has dramatically changed and, in many respects, isn’t actually ‘working’. We need to leave the practices of treating humans as resources in the past. To do that, a collective of HR revolutionaries is required. So we created one,” Scully said.
With a focus on supporting media agencies of all sizes with a passion for helping independents, the offering encompasses a broad range of people and culture services, including salary benchmarking, policy development and implementation, as well as psychosocial safety and mental health support.
“Indies are adaptable to rapid change and open to experimenting with new ideas. They can embrace innovation more readily with fewer layers of decision-making giving them an enviable competitive advantage. Often they have the biggest care factor but the least time and resources. Being independent, there’s no global HR support which could result in reputational, legal, financial and human risk. They don’t know what they don’t know,” said Scully.
Calling on Scully’s expertise, an award-winning people and culture leader with several Best Places to Work accolades and a B&T Women in Media trophy on her mantle, Human Kind Collective will plug the HR gap by partnering with media agencies with large hearts and limited resources.
“Agencies are facing several challenges from women over 30 leaving the industry in droves to managing multigenerational workforces and a concerning level of mentally unhealthy employees. And that’s on top of an ambitious legislative agenda with the compliance and governance bar rising. This is not a time to go it alone,” said Scully.
As a starting point, Scully has created a culture health check for agencies that points them in the direction of easy-to-apply services that will see positive social and cultural impact. Agencies requiring more assistance can engage Human Kind Collective to develop and action programs, systems and training.
The Collective has already joined forces with its first agency partner, Media Republic.
“Unlike our hold co counterparts, many independent agencies don’t have the headcount to justify in-housing a full suite of P&C functions. But without them, we’re flying by the seat of our pants. We’ve been waiting for something like Human Kind Collective to come along. Virginia has hugely impressive creds and working with her simply makes sense,” said Media Republic founder Steve Fagan.
Human Kind Collective will be partnering with select agencies and offering members of the Independent Media Agencies Association (IMAA) complimentary access to the culture health check in addition to receiving a discount on a range of Human Kind Collective services.
“Our mission is to simplify complex challenges and build a foundation of kindness to drive positive change. Together we can fuel industry economic growth through supporting gender equity, mentally healthy workplaces and organisations,” said Scully.
