Mr President has launched flexible working for all staff and warned the ad industry that the policy should not be regarded as a "mum thing".
The independent creative agency will now empower all of its employees to work away from the office as they deem appropriate, as long as their whereabouts are logged in their work calendars and line managers are aware.
Meanwhile, all meetings must be booked between the hours of 10am and 5pm wherever possible to allow for flexible arrival and leaving times from the office.
Mr President’s people director, Mizzy Lees, announced the policy in an email to staff today and has invited her colleagues to suggest more formal arrangements for non-working hours or fixed days from home.
Claire Hynes, chief executive of Mr President, said: "We’ve always had a flexible working culture, but we felt that in order to make it feel like a genuine option to everyone, it was incumbent on us to write it down.
"The perception in the industry is that flexible working is essentially a ‘mum thing’, but it shouldn’t be so. It benefits everyone and at Mr President we believe it should be up to the individual to decide how they choose to balance their work and personal lives.
"When people are given the freedom and respect to balance their work and private lives, they are happier and more productive, ultimately delivering better results for our clients."
Flexible working is high on the industry agenda as the advertising and media sectors look to increase diversity in the workplace and compete with a wider range of companies for talent, such as tech giants, consultancies or newer media companies.
However, Timewise’s Flexible Jobs Index last year found that the advertising, marketing and PR industries fall behind the national standard in offering flexible working to employees: 15% of overall vacancies had flexible working options, compared with just 12% in advertising, marketing and PR.
Listen to the latest episode of the Campaign podcast, where Anomaly's Camilla Harrisson, Gravity Road's Mark Eaves and Campaign's Gurjit Degun discuss flexible working.
