One of the arguments traditionally used as a negative for hiring women in advertising is that they have babies.

Women have broken their own backs – and spirits – for decades to get around the “problem”. One agency, AMV BBDO, has worked out a solution any agency could have – but didn’t.

It is offering permanent, half-time roles.

The new hiring programme is designed, first and foremost, to help the agency attract the best female creative talents who may have taken a career break to have children or look after a family member and now find themselves in a quandary about working full time. It is not exclusively for women. Male parents who are in a primary care role and are attempting to return to work are also eligible to apply.

But with women filling less than one third of board positions and just 25% of creative departments in adland, it is they who are missing from a diverse agency make-up.

Kelly Knight, HR director at AMV BBDO, commented, “We’re pleased that our new programme could help turn this issue on its head and demonstrate that there is an untapped pool of talent currently outside of the industry just waiting to get back in and wow the industry.”

AMV will be offering creative roles built around half the working hours required in standard working contracts (3.5 rather than 7 working hours a day), so that employees can plan their working days around their family or care needs. The roles will be permanent positions, rather than freelance or short-term, and each new hire will be connected to a mentor from outside the agency to help with their transition back into work. All the roles will be part of the main AMV BBDO creative department, and employees on the new contracts will receive the same kind of creative briefs, training opportunities, and appraisals as full-time members of the department. Remuneration for the roles will be pro-rata based on contractual hours.

AMV BBDO will also provide a range of options for people taking the new roles, from working as solus creatives, to partnering with other part-time creative employees, or working on a variety of projects with creative colleagues on full-time contracts. And these employees will have full flexibility as to how they complete their work – which part of the working day they choose to work, and whether they work from home or in the office,

AMV is looking to hire between 8 and 10 half-time roles to its creative department, and intends to extend the programme to other departments in the future.

Ian Pearman, chief executive officer of AMV BBDO, commented, “The research clearly points to motherhood being a significant “off-ramp” for women in business careers because there are a dearth of properly designed “on-ramps” to help mothers return in a form that truly balances their professional commitments with their family ones. There are plenty of ‘returnships’ run by agencies, which let women returning from a career break gain invaluable experience, but they don’t go far enough in changing the fundamentals. The point of this programme is to give parents and care givers permanent positions within our creative department with flexibility built in at a contractual level.”

Michele Oliver, vice president of marketing at Mars UK, added, “As a client of AMV BBDO, I am proud to know the team working on our brand are leading the industry and broader business world with another great diversity initiative, one that can only help to make our output stronger and richer.”

Kelly Knight, HR director at AMV BBDO, commented: “We’re pleased that our new programme could help turn this issue on its head and demonstrate that there is an untapped pool of talent currently outside of the industry just waiting to get back in and wow the industry.”