Martin Agency helps fund employment of laid off staff

Posted by Simon Day on March 3, 2009 at 6:15 PM

Last week, advertising group The Martin Agency, cut 5 percent of its staff, as a result of client cutbacks. However, the 24 redundancies came with a severance payout and a unique offer: Martin Agency is willing to pay potential employers one half of the laid off employee's first month's salary, up to US$4,000, if hired before May, Advertising Age reported.

"We're trying to think creatively about how we can get the employees we let go hired by someone else, and hopefully incent them to get them on their payrolls right away," Beth Rilee-Kelley, partner at Martin and director of human resources, told Advertising Age. "We believe that it's important that if you are faced with a layoff situation, you think of creative ways to help our employees land on their feet."

The static economy has caused marketers to downsize and the job losses at The Martin Agency are the first since 2006. Further, the redundancies come on top of the agency's most successful year in its 43-year existence as predicted spending amongst its biggest clients continues to decline as the recession strangles marketing budgets, Ad Age reported. These clients include Walmart, Geico, UPS and the American Cancer Society.

The Martin Agency's commitment amounts to a possible $100,000.