Amid the great 'office return' – and increased competition for talent – London agency Frank PR has taken a quirky route with the offer of a free tattoo at Diamond Jacks Tattoo Parlour in Soho.
It's part of a new FlexiFrank employment package, which includes more standard benefits such as flexible working hours and days, unlimited holidays, a health and wellbeing programme, mental resilience training, pension contributions, enhanced maternity and paternity benefits, and free breakfasts.
Graham Goodkind, chairman and founder of Frank, which underwent a management buy-out in March, said: “I think other PR companies might get the needle with us for introducing free tattoos as part of our FlexiFrank staff benefits package, tatt’ll do nicely for us if they do! Young, creative, expressive people are the lifeblood of Frank and many of them love tattoos, so we thought this was a perk that would potentially be very popular and give us an edge over our rivals.”
Meanwhile, creative comms agency Here Be Dragons has launched a “work from (any) art gallery” initiative, which encourages staff to regularly work from an art gallery across the UK, whenever possible.
All staff can get an annual National Arts Pass, giving free entry to hundreds of museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK, alongside 50 per cent off major exhibitions. The agency – formerly known as Mc&T, which relaunched earlier this year – said the aim is to encourage employees to be creatively inspired, balance their mental health and inject much-needed revenue back into the arts sector.
Founder Paul McEntee said: “Our studio used to be an old gallery, and creativity and culture are inherent to our everyday jobs. The best work is done when you’ve been exposed to the outside world and not tied to a desk. If you can work from anywhere, why not an art gallery? Creativity isn’t sedentary, and we need diversity of thinking more than ever in our industry.”
Has your PR firm or in-house department introduced unusual employee benefits in the current climate? Email john.harrington@haymarket.com
