WPP agencies Wunderman and Essence have escaped the holding company’s hiring freeze, which was announced earlier this week.
On Tuesday, B&T reported that WPP had ordered all managers to cancel any new recruitment as new CEO Mark Read grapples with a slowdown in the business globally.
However, B&T understands this freeze will not impact Wunderman and Essence, though details scant as to why the digital and data agencies were excused.
According to a report on the US news site Bloomberg, a memo has been circulated through WPP’s senior ranks asking managers to “take urgent action” to stop recruitment immediately in order to “try and protect” the business in the coming years.
It remains unclear how the hiring freeze will impact WPP’s Australian operations, a company spokesperson telling B&T: “WPP AUNZ has always worked closely with all its agencies to ensure costs are balanced against requirement.
“As part of this ongoing process, WPP AUNZ reviews all new hire requests with agency management. Each are approved or otherwise based on merit, and business performance.”
The news follows the shock resignation of WPP AUNZ chief executive Mike Connaghan last week.
B&T has contact WPP for further comment.
