OMG Programmatic differentiates itself in its industry by taking an open and educative approach to what they do. A lot of ad tech companies silo themselves off and speak in a complex stream of jargon. Omg Programmatic puts an emphasis on being transparent. The company culture is one of a start-up tech company within an already innovative organisation. Their staff are encouraged to be decisive, accountable and present.
They have teams in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. As with many service businesses, their success relies heavily on their workforce. As with most agency work – job roles are structured around the services they provide to each client. Besides product groups and knowledge share sessions, many staff do not work directly with other teams and the wider agency. This means that a clear majority of an employee’s engagement is through their Manager. As a result, employing Managers who can recognise top talent and are genuinely invested in their team’s development and happiness are critical to OMG Programmatic’s success.
OMG Programmatic’s Management and Leadership training is paramount to their success. All new managers undergo five modules of ‘Pursuing #Remarkable Management’ training which includes a mix of internal and external training, coaching sessions, mentoring, workshops, 360 feedback analysis to support the mid-level and senior management learning experience. Training is tailored to build competency across all levels and on an individual basis.
The company has also implemented an internal Mentoring Program. The purpose of this program is for the Mentor to share their wealth of knowledge and experience, whilst providing them with a sense of personal and professional satisfaction.
Staff performance discussions happen on a quarterly basis – with the appraisals in March and September and interim appraisals in June and December each year. The organisation has worked closely with external consultants who developed framework to support Managers in retaining and engaging their teams. This framework established five key factors that influence employee engagement within the organisation:
Feedback – Encourage 2-way conversations between managers and employees. The goal is to elicit open, honest, feedback from employees.
Objectives – Minimise any disconnect between Manager and Employee performance expectations. Each employee knows how they contribute to OMG Programmatic’s vision and objectives.
Career Development – Understand how employees want to grow (vertically or horizontally) and what opportunities are available for them.
Underlying Motivators – Allow staff to have the ability to direct their own work lives and understand they are part of a bigger picture to keep them engaged and motivated both professionally and personally.
Strengths – Understand what individuals are truly good at (and love to do) and then enable them to apply these abilities as often as possible.
This strategy is to create a motivated and hard-working environment, where client satisfaction is their primary goal. To achieve this, they aim to build teams of specialists who are passionate and happy to serve their clients and support their colleagues. The organisations latest staff engagement survey results indicated that 95% of employees feel proud to be part of OMG Programmatic Team. OMG Programmatic have been recognised as an Employer of Choice in The 2017 Australian Business Awards.
Des O’dell, Joint CEO of OMG Programmatic said “With young people being the crux of an industry that is expanding and has a tight talent pool to select from, we see our talent as investors in OMG Programmatic – they either choose to share their expertise and skills with us, or not.
Each employee has a ‘built in return on investment meter’ that is continuously assessing whether they are gaining or losing from an employment relationship with Omnicom Media Group. The only logical thing for us to do is “build the best” – to heavily invest in training and development to ensure our employees are always gaining from their ‘investment’ with us.“
